NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - # 7

[april_showers]

Hi all. I followed this case religiously in the first few years of Maura’s disappearance (before I even knew about Websleuths!). It was just one of those “close to home” cases that struck a chord with me - Maura & I are similar ages, from similar areas etc etc. I just recently revisited things, and have been catching myself up on the discussion here.

I know a lot of this has already been hashed and re-hashed, but one thing that always struck me was the “Maura was fine”stance that her family has steadfastly maintained from the beginning: the continual “all American girl” references on the family website… Fred Murray’s position that nothing prior to the accident bears any significance… etc etc. I am not trying to undermine the family’s statements in any way, it just strikes me as a bit odd.

And, I want to counter that by saying that I completely understand why the family would place a ton of importance on depicting how “fine” Maura was. We all know what happens to interest/attention/resources in a case the second the subject is labeled as “troubled” or “lost” or “in a bad place” etc.

However, why go to such extents to make sure we, the public, are only shown this side of things? Because Maura’s mental state at the time is important -- and, I’d argue,possibly key to cracking the mystery. “Fine” is pretty subjective, but the clues don’t really point to someone in the best state of mind. The drinking (self-medicating?)… multiple car accidents… the breakdown at work… leaving town… And, even perhaps in the broader sense, leaving West Point?

No one close to Maura can point to anything in her life that they believe would have caused these mysterious actions. She didn’t appear to have any large-scale external issues. So what, then, if these issues were internal? She was right at the age where many serious mental illnesses tend to rear their ugly heads. Her uncharacteristic actions in those days leading up to her disappearance could easily be attributed to someone in the throes of a manic episode, or even perhaps someone grappling with the first signs of schizophrenia. I don’t want to play armchair psychologist, but I do think it is important to consider mental illness. If it were, say, a manic episode, it would also explain a lot about how she reacted (irrationally) after the crash on Rte 112. I’d be curious to know why the family circled the wagons so close around her well-being prior to her disappearance. What she really fine? I’d be curious to know if her family has a history of mental illness? Did she show other signs before that? I understand Fred Murray’s position in light of the tragedy, but is someone who drunkenly crashes their father’s car really fine? And, if it were just a “drunken college kid” type of accident, wouldn’t she have been punished? My dad would have killed me if I’d done something like that, not told me it was ok. I know every family is different, but that too seemed really odd to me. It seems to me like the family knew Maura was really fragile before that, and didn’t want to exacerbate that. Why?

Again, I mean no disrespect to Maura and her family, but just wanted to through that out there….

 

[McSpy]

Actually I meant that maybe Mr. Noatak already made up his mind as to who "might" have had something to do with Maura's disappearance. As far as percentages are concerned I gotta disagree with you on this one. The area from which she disappeared from was a sparsely driven road that prob had mostly local people driving on it most of the time. This is not to say that a complete stranger could not have given Maura a ride. Given all the elements of the situation and there are many, but not as many as say someone being abducted in a crowded city, lets say that the odds of Maura taking a ride from someone familiar with the area is 3 in 10. Now, lets say that the odds of her being abducted by aliens are 1 in 1,000,000 and no I am not trying to be funny just can't think of anything else that rare. So in this situation you need to go after the obvious first as opposed to the not so obvious and then try to rule out certain scenarios.

I certainly don't know as much as LE or many on this board about this case,
but given what little I do know I am some what surprised that LE has not gone after someone by now. I have read more than once that LE said they had a suspect in mind so why hasn't anyone up to this point been arrested? Maybe that person is dead by now and no I am not referring to the bus driver.

It may be a low percentage, but all it takes is that one creep on the road at that time. There is a surprisingly number of sex offenders in the area too. Since it isn't a populated area, it does make me think she had succumbed to the elements, but because she is a young female, I can see some creep using that isolated area to their advantage. The Molly Bish case comes to mind.

As for someone being arrested, it looks like they don't have enough evidence to convict or they haven't enough to zero in on a suspect.

JMO

 

[McSpy]

Hi all. I followed this case religiously in the first few years of Maura’s disappearance (before I even knew about Websleuths!). It was just one of those “close to home” cases that struck a chord with me - Maura & I are similar ages, from similar areas etc etc. I just recently revisited things, and have been catching myself up on the discussion here.

I know a lot of this has already been hashed and re-hashed, but one thing that always struck me was the “Maura was fine”stance that her family has steadfastly maintained from the beginning: the continual “all American girl” references on the family website… Fred Murray’s position that nothing prior to the accident bears any significance… etc etc. I am not trying to undermine the family’s statements in any way, it just strikes me as a bit odd.

And, I want to counter that by saying that I completely understand why the family would place a ton of importance on depicting how “fine” Maura was. We all know what happens to interest/attention/resources in a case the second the subject is labeled as “troubled” or “lost” or “in a bad place” etc.

However, why go to such extents to make sure we, the
public, are only shown this side of things? Because Maura’s mental state at the time is important -- and, I’d argue,possibly key to cracking the mystery. “Fine” is pretty subjective, but the clues don’t really point to someone in the best state of mind. The drinking (self-medicating?)… multiple car accidents… the breakdown at work… leaving town… And, even perhaps in the broader sense, leaving West Point?

No one close to Maura can point to anything in her life that they believe would have caused these mysterious actions. She didn’t
appear to have any large-scale external issues. So what, then, if these issues were internal? She was right at the age where many serious mental illnesses tend to rear their ugly heads. Her uncharacteristic actions in those days leading up to her disappearance could easily be attributed to someone in the throes of a manic episode, or even perhaps someone grappling with the first signs of schizophrenia. I don’t want to play armchair psychologist, but I do think it is important to consider mental illness. If it were, say, a manic episode, it would also explain a lot about how she reacted (irrationally) after the crash on Rte 112. I’d be curious to know why the family circled the wagons so close around her well-being prior to her disappearance. What she really fine? I’d be curious to know if her family has a history of mental illness? Did she show other signs before that? I understand Fred Murray’s position in light of the tragedy, but is someone who drunkenly crashes their father’s car really fine? And, if it were just a “drunken college kid” type of accident,
wouldn’t she have been punished? My dad would have killed me if I’d done something like that, not told me it was ok. I know every family is different, but that too seemed really odd to me. It seems to me like the family knew Maura was really fragile before that, and didn’t want to exacerbate that. Why?

Again, I mean no disrespect to Maura and her family, but just wanted to through that out there….

To be honest, when I first read about this case in the news I thought she was going through a breakdown. She didn't seem to leave any time for contemplation on any of her actions for several days. She seemed to have just reacted on emotional impulse. However, maybe her family and friends didn't notice any big personality changes prior to the car wrecks. I do think that her father was more upset with her about crashing his car than he admitted on the TV show "Disappeared." I don't blame him for it, but I think he was not happy (understandably) and told her so. He doesn't come across as a guy, who would say little on the subject. I do think Maura was mortified with herself over crashing his car and sometimes, I think this may have been the only reason she became an emotional wreck. She was the middle child in that family and maybe she was always trying to please her dad. Perhaps, she felt she disappointed him when she dropped out of West Point. Crashing his brand new car was icing on the cake. I'm just speculating here. I could be way off base on this, but I agree, she could have been going through some type of mental breakdown.

I'm not convinced that it is important to know so much about her before she disappeared. It may explain why she fled to NH, but it doesn't answer what happened to her after the car accident. We all know she wasn't in a good state of mind.

 

[Mr. Noatak]

Reading between-the-lines is tricky.... none of us knows what really really happened.... going by percentages doesn't help us since who knows if a one-in-a-million event took place, and I wouldn't discount that since there are probably thousands of times a year a gal takes off like MM did and nothing happens. We know of MM because something unique happened here.

I tell myself, not to be quick to accuse.... for example, let's say, someone from LE was first on the scene, and instead of wanting to harm or take advantage of the situation (seems we always like to go the route of someone wanting to harm), he wants to help her and so he gives her a ride to someplace miles away (pick a place) a bar/restaurant, a motel/hotel.... and he leaves her. It's from there, later on, after he has left that MM gets into trouble... Now might the fictitious LE character in my scenario be most reluctant to say anything since his trying to do good will get him in a heap of job trouble?

My opinions only, no facts here:

Good buddy, you seem to be more-or-less saying what I am, the police are NOT INVOLVED in harming Maura. When the the police approach an abandoned car that is off the road, they assume correctly that the driver has fled the scene to avoid a DUI. Because the US made DUI practically a capital crime in every state, people often flee the scene and put themselves at more risk. I admit that I would like to see a return to the no harm-no foul approach to DUI so events like this do not have to occur.

Your scenario is intellectual and clever, but I personally believe that law enforcement would not drop Maura off, she would be taken down to the hoosegow, and booked for DUI. Nothing more, nothing less. In my day, the police would stop a drunk driver and give them a ride home. But nowadays we all become instant criminals, so we flee, and there is a price to be paid for this and it is the Maura Murray case.

A one-in-a-million case requires that there be a million distinct hypothesis for the solution of a crime. Virtually every crime that has happened in human history could be fit into a dozen or two dozen scenarios.

Read between the lines my friends.

 

[Mr. Noatak]

Actually I meant that maybe Mr. Noatak already made up his mind as to who "might" have had something to do with Maura's disappearance. As far as percentages are concerned I gotta disagree with you on this one. The area from which she disappeared from was a sparsely driven road that prob had mostly local people driving on it most of the time. This is not to say that a complete stranger could not have given Maura a ride. Given all the elements of the situation and there are many, but not as many as say someone being abducted in a crowded city, lets say that the odds of Maura taking a ride from someone familiar with the area is 3 in 10. Now, lets say that the odds of her being abducted by aliens are 1 in 1,000,000 and no I am not trying to be funny just can't think of anything else that rare. So in this situation you need to go after the obvious first as opposed to the not so obvious and then try to rule out certain scenarios.

I certainly don't know as much as LE or many on this board about this case, but given what little I do know I am some what surprised that LE has not gone after someone by now. I have read more than once that LE said they had a suspect in mind so why hasn't anyone up to this point been arrested? Maybe that person is dead by now and no I am not referring to the bus driver.

My opinions only, no facts here:

I have no complaints with your analysis.

 

[OldSteve]

It may be a low percentage, but all it takes is that one creep on the road at that time. There is a surprisingly number of sex offenders in the area too. Since it isn't a populated area, it does make me think she had succumbed to the elements, but because she is a young female, I can see some creep using that isolated area to their advantage. The Molly Bish case comes to mind.

As for someone being arrested, it looks like they don't have enough evidence to convict or they haven't enough to zero in on a suspect.

JMO

BBM

Yes! While it seems the time exposure MM had to others was very short - it was actually a bit longer in that she first stopped for gas locally, and then LE's response to the crash would be all be things that would have increased her exposure to the locals - via scanner monitoring of LE, and anyone seeing/talking about he at the gas station..

 

[OldSteve]

My opinions only, no facts here:

You would have to read my prior entry for the following to make complete sense.

Part 2: As I stated previously, I believe that the crime started at Bradley Hill Road at about 1 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. I am aware of the rag or whatever stuffed in the tailpipe of Maura’s car. I acknowledge it could have been sabotage by another or even a suicide attempt, but this detail somehow seems so irreverent that is has to be overlooked for now. But if someone were to argue that all of the white noise in the case ended when the car slid off the road and the initial crime occurred right there, I would not vehemently argue against them. But I still believe that Maura walked the 100 yards from the car wreck to Bradley Hill Road at about 1 Wild Ammonoosuc Road by herself.

The people who permanently lived around the location of Maura’s disappearance all seem to be respectable and decent. Some of them have subsequently been hounded and I cannot blame them if they are tired of talking. The officers who stopped by the accident scene early on (but Maura was already gone), also appear to be stalwart individuals who acted professionally. I suggest the sleuth look a wee bit beyond the presently-known names for a suspect.

I usually list a calculation of the odds of certain outcomes in an unsolved criminal case. This shows the readers where my mind is at and what my biases are. So here goes:

Maura was abducted by someone who was a “sometimes-resident” of the area- 3 out of 7.
Maura was abducted by someone who was a permanent resident of the area- 2 out of 7.
Maura was abducted by someone randomly passing through- 1 out of 7.
Maura wandered into the woods and died in a non-criminal manner- 0.5 out of 7.
Maura went on a marathon run down the road to places unknown- 0.5 out of 7.

To be continued…..

BBM
Agree 100%

Also, gotta say, I get a kick out the odds you list.... always
something-out-of-7.... they are good though!
Has me thinking about the odds of finding her:

Remains found in the woods by a hunter/hiker.
A prison snitch mentions something.
A spouse/friend mentions something they know/overheard.
Someone confesses.
New home owner finds something in a house.
She comes out of hiding.
She is never found.

 

[McSpy]

BBM
Agree 100%

Also, gotta say, I get a kick out the odds you list.... always
something-out-of-7.... they are good though!
Has me thinking about the odds of finding her:

Remains found in the woods by a hunter/hiker.
A prison snitch mentions something.
A spouse/friend mentions something they know/overheard.
Someone confesses.
New home owner finds something in a house.
She comes out of hiding.
She is never found.

My bold

These are several good reasons for making sure her disappearance stays in the spotlight.

 

[jeffries]

New here.

First, I just want to thank everyone in this thread for the incredibly thoughtful and insightful posts. Because of this thread, and your contributions, MM will certainly NOT be forgotten, and the possibility of solving this case still remains, well, a possibility -- however slight it may seem after over 7 years.

JMO...
I am not convinced that MM wandered off into the woods (for whatever reason), and died there sometime later. I am much less convinced that she fled in order to "get away," start anew, make a new life for herself, etc. For all intents and purposes, the drive to NH was an emotionally-charged, spur-of-the-moment kind of decision, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of a planned escape or anything of that nature.

Like Mr. Noatak, I think that whatever happened to MM leading up to the accident doesn't have much, if any, bearing on what happened to her after, and why/how she disappeared. That short window of time, after the accident and before police arrived, is what is most crucial.

I will not name names, but I am very suspicious of one particular individual.

I would recommend looking back at this post, from the previous MM thread, which I believe to be very pertinent. (Just to clear up any confusion, I am not the "Bill" poster which jodierenee mentions).

Does anyone remember the psychic who claimed that Maura was murdered and her remains were at a construction site? The original article link doesn't seem to load properly for me, but here's a post from a forum with the full text. I don't believe in psychics as much as the next person, but the "construction" detail is a strange coincidence, in my opinion. I think this psychic's "reading" may not be too far off from the reality, ironically.

I can't say much more, but I think the post from the previous websleuths MM thread which I linked to helps connect some of the dots. This is just my hunch, though; I may be completely off-base.

Again, thanks to everyone for the great posts.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Jeffries,

Thank you so much for bringing that interesing post back to the forefront. I believe Maura was abducted and murdered, and that the killer would almost have to be a local. If the individual had an influential family, that might explain why some members of NH LE were eager to call it suicide and forget it.

Just a response to the "Maura is fine" issue raised by april showers. With NH LE trying to calll her a suicide or a runaway, of course her family and friends would make the argument that she was "fine" and not either bent on self-destruction or walking/running away from her family. Maura was very young when she disappeared. She had tried West Point and it wasn't for her. Kida leave colleges, fail out, get into minor difficulties not because they are mentally ill, but because they are kids, with still-forming brains, and no clear idea of who they are or what they want. She wasn't 30, married, and a mother of 5 or an adult with a full-time job; she was still a college kid, and clearly aware of the latittude and freedom that position gives someone in our culture.

There's no doubt that Maura was upset about something, but humans of any age look for "time out" sometimes, whether from a night of drinking or a break from school or both. There is overwhelming evidence, however, that she was still deeply connected to people she loved, from her bad decision to drive her dad's car to his motel to picking up the insurance forms to texting and calling her boyfriend to taking tokens of comfort and affection on the trip. I think she might have discovered that she wanted to leave school (again) or that she missed her boyfriend and didn't want to wait to see him or (even) that she was confused and unhappy but didn't know why.

As a distance runner, I can say people who pursue running as a serious disciple or passion are often intense, focused, and perfectionistic (if that is a word). Those qualities often make life difficult for college-age kids (and older people)until they figure out that they don't always have to be the best, the fastest, etc. Those individual traits, as well as her family's view of her as "fine" might have made it very hard for her to admit she was struggling in some area of her life. Maybe if she hadn't wrecked her dad's car, she would have arrived at his motel full of "alcohol courage" and told him what she needed to tell him and we wouldn't be having this discussion. I think she WAS "fine," in that she was not suicidal or so callous as to walk away from her family.

 

[McSpy]

New here.

First, I just want to thank everyone in this thread for the incredibly thoughtful and insightful posts. Because of this thread, and your contributions, MM will certainly NOT be forgotten, and the possibility of solving this case still remains, well, a possibility -- however slight it may seem after over 7 years.

JMO...
I am not convinced that MM wandered off into the woods (for whatever reason), and died there sometime later. I am much less convinced that she fled in order to "get away," start anew, make a new life for herself, etc. For all intents and purposes, the drive to NH was an emotionally-charged, spur-of-the-moment kind of decision, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of a planned escape or anything of that nature.
Like Mr. Noatak, I think that whatever happened to MM leading up to the
accident doesn't have much, if any, bearing on what happened to her after, and why/how she disappeared. That short window of time, after the accident and before police arrived, is what is most crucial.

I will not name names, but I am very suspicious of one particular individual.

I would recommend looking back at
this post, from the previous MM thread, which I believe to be very pertinent. (Just to clear up any confusion, I am not the "Bill" poster which jodierenee mentions).

Does anyone remember the psychic who claimed that Maura was murdered and her remains were at a construction site? The original article link doesn't seem to load properly for me, but here's a post from a forum with the full text. I don't believe in psychics as
much as the next person, but the "construction" detail is a strange coincidence, in my opinion. I think this psychic's "reading" may not be too far off from the reality, ironically.

I can't say much more, but I think the post from the previous websleuths MM thread which I linked to helps connect some of the dots. This is just my hunch,
though; I may be completely off-base.

Again, thanks to everyone for the great posts.

Welcome and thanks for the kind words!

I remember the psychic. It was in the news around April 2004. It does make one wonder if there is something to it.

I checked out your links. Very interesting. I believe the "Bill" on Topix is Bill Wood, who has been recently posting on the Maura Murray Missing facebook page. I don't know what to think about the RS character. I wonder why some people of Woodsville and Bill think RS was responsible for Maura's disappearance? I wish there was more details on the reason. I'm not entirely convinced that people are scared of RS's powerful family. Although, it does happen from time to time around the country, so I could be wrong. Was it RS's wife or mother who is the county attorney? She has more to lose if she attempts to silence people or cover something up. It could ruin her career very easily. Is there any evidence on this guy? Do people actually know something? Has anybody done a criminal background check on him? If this guy is responsible for Maura's disappearance, wouldn't people be scared he may do it again? They need to talk. A good private detective should check these rumors out. Maybe a piece of evidence can break this case.

 

[McSpy]

Jeffries,

Thank you so much for bringing that interesing post back to the forefront. I believe Maura was abducted and murdered, and that the killer would almost have to be a local. If the individual had an influential family, that might explain why some members of NH LE was eager to call it suicide and forget it.

Just a response to the "Maura is fine" issue raised by april showers. With NH LE trying to. all her a suicide or a runaway, of course her family and friends would make the argument that she was "fine" and not either bent on self-destruction or walking/running away from her family. Maura was very young when she disappeared. She had tried West Point and it wasn't for her. Kida leave colleges, fail out, get into minor difficulties not because they are mentally ill, but because they are kids, with still-forming brains, and no clear idea of who they are or what they want. She wasn't 30, married, and a mother of 5
or an adult with a full-time job; she was still a college kid, and clearly aware of the latittude and freedom that position gives someone in our culture.

There's no doubt that Maura was upset about something, but humans of any age look for "time out" sometimes, whether from a night of drinking or a break from school or both. There is overwhelming evidence, however, that she was still deeply connected to people she loved, from her bad decision to drive her dad's car to his motel to picking up the insurance forms to texting and calling her boyfriend to taking tokens of comfort and affection on the trip. I think she might have discovered that she wanted to leave school (again) or that she missed her boyfriend and didn't want to wait to see him or (even) that she was confused and unhappy but didn't know why.

As a distance runner, I can say people who pursue running as a serious disciple or passion are often intense, focused, and perfectionistic (if that is a word). Those qualities often make life difficult for college-age kids (and older people)until they figure out that they don't always have to be the best, the fastest, etc. Those individual traits, as well as her family's view of her as "fine" might have made it very hard for her to admit she was struggling in some area of her life. Maybe if she hadn't wrecked her dad's car, she would
have arrived at his motel full of "alcohol courage" and told him what she needed to tell him and we wouldn't be having this discussion. I think she WAS "fine," in that she was not suicidal or so callous as to walk away from her family.

You said it very well.

 

[Kiln Wood]

Welcome and thanks for the kind words!

I remember the psychic. It was in the news around April 2004. It does make one wonder if there is something to it.

I checked out your links. Very interesting. I believe the "Bill" on Topix is Bill Wood, who has been recently posting on the Maura Murray Missing facebook page. I don't know what to think about the RS character. I wonder why some people of Woodsville and Bill think RS was responsible for Maura's disappearance? I wish there was more details on the reason. I'm not entirely convinced that people are scared of RS's powerful family. Although, it does happen from time to time around the country, so I could be wrong. Was it RS's wife or mother who is the county attorney? She has more to lose if she attempts to silence people or cover something up. It could ruin her career very easily. Is there any evidence on this guy? Do people actually know something? Has anybody done a criminal background check on him? If this guy is responsible for Maura's disappearance, wouldn't people be scared he may do it again? They need to talk. A good private detective should check these rumors out. Maybe a piece of evidence can break this case.

I am fairly new to WS, and I definitely do not want to be banned for saying the wrong thing! If you were to go back and research the various WS threads and posts about MM, I believe you would learn the "county attorney" is the stepmother of the person you're referencing. The rest of your questions I cannot answer because I don't know. What I do know from personal experience is that the area where MM went missing is deeply insular.....

 

[Weird Tolkienish F]

I have this feeling this case will never be solved, at least not in our lifetimes. It's one of those mysteries that seems destined to always remain a mystery.

Hope I'm wrong.

 

[jeffries]

Welcome and thanks for the kind words!

I remember the psychic. It was in the news around April 2004. It does make one wonder if there is something to it.

I checked out your links. Very interesting. I believe the "Bill" on Topix is Bill Wood, who has been recently posting on the Maura Murray Missing facebook page. I don't know what to think about the RS character. I wonder why some people of Woodsville and Bill think RS was responsible for Maura's disappearance? I wish there was more details on the reason. I'm not entirely convinced that people are scared of RS's powerful family. Although, it does happen from time to time around the country, so I could be wrong. Was it RS's wife or mother who is the county attorney? She has more to lose if she attempts to silence people or cover something up. It could ruin her career very easily. Is there any evidence on this guy? Do people actually know something? Has anybody done a criminal background check on him? If this guy is responsible for Maura's disappearance, wouldn't people be scared he may do it again? They need to talk. A good private detective should check these rumors out. Maybe a piece of evidence can break this case.

Thanks - this is a great forum and I'm glad to have found it.

As Kiln_Wood pointed out, the county attorney is the step-mother of the person in question. As to your other questions, honestly I don't know much more than you do. From what I read on the Topix discussion, this guy is thought to be rather disturbed, even "psychotic," by most or all who know him. The kind of person you get a bad gut feeling from just spotting randomly in public. I would guess his family has a hunch he could be responsible for MM's disappearance, but they don't know for sure. I do agree that it's unlikely that he did it, they know it, and there is some sort of massive cover-up to save their family reputation.

Anyway, even disregarding this guy's unseemly reputation, it raises flags that his father's concrete company poured a new concrete floor, in the dead of winter, not long after MM disappeared -- and denied LE the right to search the property.

Assuming for a moment this guy is the perp: what's perturbing is the thought that he may have committed other crimes, who knows how many. There is, after all, an alarming number of women who went missing not all that far from where MM did. Brianna Maitland springs to mind. Just a thought.

 

[jeffries]

I have this feeling this case will never be solved, at least not in our lifetimes. It's one of those mysteries that seems destined to always remain a mystery.

Hope I'm wrong.

I hope you're wrong, too. It's a troubling case, no doubt, but I hold out a little hope that something might come to light sooner or later. Especially if this RS theory is on the right track.

Much worse, I think, (and not to get too O/T here...) is a heartbreaking case like Jennifer Kesse's: no witnesses, no helpful evidence, no real leads, just a very blurry photo of a person leaving the scene. She practically vanished into thin air; at least with Maura we have something to work with.

 

[Mr. Noatak]

BBM
Agree 100%

Also, gotta say, I get a kick out the odds you list.... always
something-out-of-7.... they are good though!
Has me thinking about the odds of finding her:

Remains found in the woods by a hunter/hiker.
A prison snitch mentions something.
A spouse/friend mentions something they know/overheard.
Someone confesses.
New home owner finds something in a house.
She comes out of hiding.
She is never found.

My opinion only, no facts here:

"A prison snitch mentions something".

When the police make an arrest of the same person more than once they should think about the possible total history of the suspect based upon prior charges and/or convictions. Then we would not have to hold out for prison snitches. I call it "exploratory interrogation". Say for example you brought in a suspect for their second or third case of assault. Once they have confessed to the current crime, then say to them "we think there is another violent event you are not telling us about". About 2 in 7 would immediately 'fess up to additional nefarious activity.

 

[OldSteve]

My opinion only, no facts here:

"A prison snitch mentions something".

When the police make an arrest of the same person more than once they should think about the possible total history of the suspect based upon prior charges and/or convictions. Then we would not have to hold out for prison snitches. I call it "exploratory interrogation". Say for example you brought in a suspect for their second or third case of assault. Once they have confessed to the current crime, then say to them "we think there is another violent event you are not telling us about". About 2 in 7 would immediately 'fess up to additional nefarious activity.

By prison snitch I meant an inmate who overhears another inmate telling of something.... the one who overhears then believes he can use this info to help him get a parole or something...

 

[OldSteve]

Jeffries,

Thank you so much for bringing that interesing post back to the forefront. I believe Maura was abducted and murdered, and that the killer would almost have to be a local. If the individual had an influential family, that might explain why some members of NH LE were eager to call it suicide and forget it.

Just a response to the "Maura is fine" issue raised by april showers. With NH LE trying to calll her a suicide or a runaway, of course her family and friends would make the argument that she was "fine" and not either bent on self-destruction or walking/running away from her family. Maura was very young when she disappeared. She had tried West Point and it wasn't for her. Kida leave colleges, fail out, get into minor difficulties not because they are mentally ill, but because they are kids, with still-forming brains, and no clear idea of who they are or what they want. She wasn't 30, married, and a mother of 5 or an adult with a full-time job; she was still a college kid, and clearly aware of the latittude and freedom that position gives someone in our culture.

There's no doubt that Maura was upset about something, but humans of any age look for "time out" sometimes, whether from a night of drinking or a break from school or both. There is overwhelming evidence, however, that she was still deeply connected to people she loved, from her bad decision to drive her dad's car to his motel to picking up the insurance forms to texting and calling her boyfriend to taking tokens of comfort and affection on the trip. I think she might have discovered that she wanted to leave school (again) or that she missed her boyfriend and didn't want to wait to see him or (even) that she was confused and unhappy but didn't know why.

As a distance runner, I can say people who pursue running as a serious disciple or passion are often intense, focused, and perfectionistic (if that is a word). Those qualities often make life difficult for college-age kids (and older people)until they figure out that they don't always have to be the best, the fastest, etc. Those individual traits, as well as her family's view of her as "fine" might have made it very hard for her to admit she was struggling in some area of her life. Maybe if she hadn't wrecked her dad's car, she would have arrived at his motel full of "alcohol courage" and told him what she needed to tell him and we wouldn't be having this discussion. I think she WAS "fine," in that she was not suicidal or so callous as to walk away from her family.

Always enjoy what you have to say and your thought process!

I BBM your mention of running and wanted your opinion... I'm sure you have seen the video (I'll get a link to it and post it ETA) of MM's last bit of travel, the video shows the road conditions similar, but while there is still light outside... Now imagine that road at late dusk... would you chance running? As a runner, I wouldn't! Had to many close calls running at night and twisting ankle on stones in roadways. Imagine it with a bit of snow/ice...

Link to video:
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - #7

 

[OldSteve]

I have this feeling this case will never be solved, at least not in our lifetimes. It's one of those mysteries that seems destined to always remain a mystery.

Hope I'm wrong.

When you say sloved, there are three parts -

First, will her remains ever be found (I don't like saying that, seems so impersonal for me to say that of anyone's child and loved one).

Second, will a perp ever be named.

Third, will a perp ever be convicted.

Just have the first of these three parts solved would be something since it might at least tell us whether or not it was a homicide, accident, or possible suicide...