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

[scoops]

In reading all about the Lauren Spierer case, I've learned that many college gals use fake ID for a variety of reasons... so wonder if MM might have checked into that Motel under a different name?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but do you believe she passed the Motel before she crashed? In other words she would most likely have known it was there...

The jewelry her bf had given her was locked up in the car's trunk.... if it was hidden there, I think it plausible that she would have left it in the car, rather than bring it to the Motel...

Old Steve,

It is assumed that Maura took I-91 north to the 302 snake-like highway, and if she did do that then she would've ran right into the town of wells river which is where the wells river motel is located. The 302 then goes on and connects right to wild ammoonusic rd. (sp?) and just a little bit down is where Maura had her wreck. if she hadn't wrecked where she did on Wild Ammoonusic (and this is key) then she was headed straight for the white mountains.

 

[McSpy]

I think it's even possible she has been found, but requested LE not to reveal her location to anyone. If she truly ran away from her family, she could have every right in the world to stay missing. Perhaps she never met foul play at all. She just didn't want to be found.

That theory always seemed to make sense to me. If the bus driver went to call for help, it would make no sense for her to just run off by herself, nor would it make sense for her to take a ride from a complete stranger unless she didn't want to be found.

That said, does anyone know what evidence the police found that suggest she was murdered? Or is that just a rumor?


Sent from my iPad

LE would not have her on the Cold Case list, if they knew of her whereabouts. Also, I would think LE would tell the family that they had located her and that she was safe, but she doesn't want anyone to know of her whereabouts. I really don't think they would keep this kind of info (she being alive and safe) from the family even if Maura requested it.

 

[McSpy]

I would think the motel would have had record of Maura checking in, also while her bottled alcohol and bookbag were missing from her car when police searched it, many of her valuables (not neccessarily monetary value) were still left in her car.

I also think she was heading away from any eating establishments, if he is suggesting she may have been looking for somewhere to eat. Since Dartmouth College and Woodsville are up there, I would think she would have stuck around that area to eat.

 

[McSpy]

I read on here that there was a new team on the case, and they were treating it as a homicide. I'm not sure if that's accurate as I haven't seen anything about that in the news.


Sent from my iPad

Here's an article from 2009. I think I got things a little mixed up about the investigators (sorry), but I do know they have a fairly new researcher with the new Cold Case unit. To me, they seem to have some fresh eyes on the case. She's been working there for about a year. She was featured on NPR back in 2010.

http://www.eagletribune.com/newhampshire/x1650953606/NH-may-get-cold-case-unit?mobRedir=false

 

[OldSteve]

Old Steve,

It is assumed that Maura took I-91 north to the 302 snake-like highway, and if she did do that then she would've ran right into the town of wells river which is where the wells river motel is located. The 302 then goes on and connects right to wild ammoonusic rd. (sp?) and just a little bit down is where Maura had her wreck. if she hadn't wrecked where she did on Wild Ammoonusic (and this is key) then she was headed straight for the white mountains.

I had forgotten what you show in bold - so if she hadn't crashed her car, where was she going? Into those mountains at night in a car that has troubles? Now that is very strange.
Interested in what you think about that.

 

[McSpy]

I had forgotten what you show in bold - so if she hadn't crashed her car, where was she going? Into those mountains at night in a car that has troubles? Now that is very strange.
Interested in what you think about that.

I think she was only cutting through to get to the Bartlett area possibly. Supposedly, most people take the longer bigger freeway route in the winter, because it is safer, but she decided to cut through the National Forest. I don't think she frequented the area in the winter, so she wasn't as aware of the dangers. Just a thought.

 

[scoops]

I had forgotten what you show in bold - so if she hadn't crashed her car, where was she going? Into those mountains at night in a car that has troubles? Now that is very strange.
Interested in what you think about that.

Old Steve, For the majority of the time I have known about this case, my theory was that she likely succumbed to the elements that night after crashing her second car in three days and having alcohol in her car, in which she took some of it before securing her car and leaving the scene. I figured she was simply wanting to avoid law enforcement and got a little too deep into the woods.

The only theory that makes sense to me concerning foul play would be that she stumbled upon the wrong house for help that night. I believe the contractor (whose story is a little shady) had a house that was on the very same side of Maura's wreck and would've been one of the first houses she came upon if she walked due east after securing her car.

But as of late, I am leaning more towards suicide. I would hope the contractor has been looked at closely and dismissed by now by law enforcement as a suspect. But to me, Maura didn't seem to want help that night, she had the SBD and houses right across the street she could've easily gone too at 7:30 at night. She had a book that dealt with people who enter the mountains and never come back and she was definitely going through some issues at the time.

 

[OldSteve]

Scoops - I've thought that while she might not have gone on her trip with the intention of ending-it-all, I can imagine the frustration that set in after her car crashed with alcohol all over the inside of it - at that point she might have left the scene in a "I don't care what happens to me state of mine".... I also agree with your theory of wanting to hide in the woods until LE had left and maybe she after drinking she fell asleep... though it wasn't frigidly cold that night IIRC - low 30's, upper twenties... still if drinking it might have been cold enough... but what bothers me about this is then why wasn't she found?
Bears would still be hibernating I think...

Oh, just to be sure, don't want this sound like I'm disputed what you say.... I'm just jabbering away...

 

[telemag]

I'm not sure if Maura had intentions of suicide, but I do know from personal experience with people that when someone intends on killing themselves they often do what some people think is some very odd things. Things that would be totally opposite of someone who spontaneously commits suicide. I do not think it odd that Maura contacted her teachers and packed up her room if she was thinking of ending it all. For example, years back I knew a guy who was renting an apartment from my parents. In the days leading up to his suicide he told no one what he intended to do, but he went to great lengths to clean the apartment and pack up his stuff so when the time came things would be tidy for my parents. He even wrote a letter and dropped it in the mail to explain his actions and apologized to them for how he left them without a tenant. He also did not commit the act in his apartment so as not to leave a mess. My point is that there is no exact way to act if you are going to commit suicide.

 

[scoops]

You all have been making good points

I also believe from everything that I have heard that Maura was practically obsessed with mountains and her google or mapquest searches the night before she went missing were to moutain areas such as stowe vermont.

It might mean something and those searches that police discovered on her computer might not.

I think it was her father who believes she was going to Bartlett because that was the area that she was familiar with from summer vacations with the family.

But her searches the night before on her computer were actually west of bartlett and even west of her final crash destination.

 

[gnomony]

I also believe from everything that I have heard that Maura was practically obsessed with mountains and her google or mapquest searches the night before she went missing were to moutain areas such as stowe vermont.

IIRC, her Google search was for Burlington, VT, which is not a mountain area. If Wiki is correct (and perhaps it is not), the inquiries about Bartlett and Stowe were by phone.

I think it was her father who believes she was going to Bartlett because that was the area that she was familiar with from summer vacations with the family. But her searches the night before on her computer were actually west of bartlett and even west of her final crash destination.

If she consulted Google for directions to Burlington, to Stowe or to Bartlett, she would not have gotten any recommendation to take the road she took. So, either she took a wrong turn, or she decided to take an alternative route via a less traveled road, or she changed her mind en route about her destination, or she wasn't immediately headed to any of these three places. Or something else?

 

[OldSteve]

I'm not sure if Maura had intentions of suicide, but I do know from personal experience with people that when someone intends on killing themselves they often do what some people think is some very odd things. Things that would be totally opposite of someone who spontaneously commits suicide. I do not think it odd that Maura contacted her teachers and packed up her room if she was thinking of ending it all. For example, years back I knew a guy who was renting an apartment from my parents. In the days leading up to his suicide he told no one what he intended to do, but he went to great lengths to clean the apartment and pack up his stuff so when the time came things would be tidy for my parents. He even wrote a letter and dropped it in the mail to explain his actions and apologized to them for how he left them without a tenant. He also did not commit the act in his apartment so as not to leave a mess. My point is that there is no exact way to act if you are going to commit suicide.

BBM

Enjoy reading your thoughts about this case... IIRC, it wasn't that she had packed her things up, she had not yet unpacked them after coming back from the break...

 

[OldSteve]

IIRC, her Google search was for Burlington, VT, which is not a mountain area. If Wiki is correct (and perhaps it is not), the inquiries about Bartlett and Stowe were by phone.



If she consulted Google for directions to Burlington, to Stowe or to Bartlett, she would not have gotten any recommendation to take the road she took. So, either she took a wrong turn, or she decided to take an alternative route via a less traveled road, or she changed her mind en route about her destination, or she wasn't immediately headed to any of these three places. Or something else?

BBM

Looking at Google Maps, it's interesting that there's a Haverhill MA - check it out - it's not too far north from Boston close to 93 I'm wondering if in her search for Bartlett or? she noticed Haverhill NH and became curious about it, and decided to head there....

 

[telemag]

BBM

Enjoy reading your thoughts about this case... IIRC, it wasn't that she had packed her things up, she had not yet unpacked them after coming back from the break...

Thanks and are you sure about this? Reason I ask is I've heard conflicting info regarding her packing or unpacking.

 

[OldSteve]

Thanks and are you sure about this? Reason I ask is I've heard conflicting info regarding her packing or unpacking.

Not at all sure at this point... looking to see if I can find more about this, but for now it is something that some say she packed, others that she had not unpacked....

 

[xLiqoricex]

If she took a ride from someone--then why not accept help from the SBD? If she had been drinking, even a bit, she might have feared being caught and given a breathalyzer, probably thinking that would be the last straw after the previous wreck. So her decision to bolt might have been the equivalent of teenagers running away from a minor wreck to avoid a DUI. The issue then become how to get away in the dark before the police show up. Hiding in the woods wouldn't make sense because it is very hard to sit still when it is cold and she likely wasn't dressed for prolonged exposure if she was driving. Maybe the fear of being caught overcame her fear of getting in the car with a stranger. And if the person picking her up was young, and she asked him or her not to tell--well, maybe Maura is still alive. That is the kind of decision making that might result from fatigue, drinking, and much stress. And once she was gone, she was out from under whatever else had been bothering her and she could just start a new life somewhere else.

I have to agree with you about this scenario after I saw the disappeared addition of what happened to her. I think she refused help because she was scared of getting a DUI from the police. She did put alcohol in a different bottle according to police. Maybe she thought if her dad knew she was drinking it would totally disappoint her father and so she didn't want him or anyone to find out. She probably didn't want to have to tell her father that she had another car wreck and then to add the drinking along with it she probably would have thought it would make things worse. To avoid this she just fled the scene feeling trapped and out of control with no way to get around having to explain to her father what happened and why she did it. IMO I think the first car wreck she had really shook her up and I think she felt A LOT of overwhelming guilt and thought she was a failure. Afterward, she probably wasn't the same person after the wreck and that's why it caused her to make an odd decision to leave school and family for that time- for her to think about what just happened with the wreck. She could have just wanted to get away for a little while and didn't really want anyone to know about it. Maybe she didn't want anyone to know how deeply stressed she really was. I just think she had this overwhelming guilt that put her to shame and it took a toll on her. When some people try to calm down or unwind some people are known to open up a bottle of wine to relax with. Maybe her drinking was part of her trying to come to peace with stuff in her life. But instead, her entire plan fell apart because of the second car wreck. She didn't know what to do then just fled.

But it also makes me wonder if she had a bit of an alcohol drinking problem she didn't want her parents to know about. There are functioning alcoholics and since she was at school a lot maybe her family didn't know about a lot of what she was doing. Could have her last car wreck be related to drinking? I never heard that anyone found alcohol. Especially when someone is drinking alone in privacy, that is very alarming and signs that a person could be an alcoholic or the start of one.

IMOE- in my own experience- I have been into so much trouble in my past that if I was at risk for a DUI it would not have fazed me. Even to this day it probably wouldn't. I wouldn't see it as a big deal and I'd just move on.
But she seemed like the type of girl who wanted to be truly a good person who avoided doing anything wrong or risky. I don't want to say she was a perfectionist but maybe she was really innocent and hasn't experienced a whole lot of risky stuff in life. So when she had the wreck and then the second wreck it truly messed her up emotionally. The again, maybe she was risky and she just didn't want it to be exposed. I'd hate to judge someone like this but anything can be possible when a person goes missing.

She liked being with family- especially her boyfriend. Plus, I remember from the disappear episode that she was going to get tickets to something her and her friends were supposed to go to. So with that information, she planned on returning.

I think she wanted to return home after her get a way for a while. But because of her situation, I think she may have decided not to come back and in the process she could have met with foul play later on.

I just don't think she planned on disappearing for good. I think she just wanted some time away...but not forever.

She has to realize that no one will scold her for a mistake. People still love her regardless and I really do wish this young lady would come home

Has there been any information about the voicemail left on the boyfriends phone about her supposedly breathing and sighing heavily without saying a word? I don't understand that or why she would have done that.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

How easy is to start a new life somewhere on a whim? Wouldn't you need a new social security number? How easy is it to change your name? It has to be even more difficult if she went into Canada.

If Maura decided to disappear on purpose because she was scared that her family and friends would find out she had a drinking problem, then I think she would be less likely to ever return after all the attention on her case in NH.

 

[Weird Tolkienish F]

Old Steve, For the majority of the time I have known about this case, my theory was that she likely succumbed to the elements that night after crashing her second car in three days and having alcohol in her car, in which she took some of it before securing her car and leaving the scene. I figured she was simply wanting to avoid law enforcement and got a little too deep into the woods.

The only theory that makes sense to me concerning foul play would be that she stumbled upon the wrong house for help that night. I believe the contractor (whose story is a little shady) had a house that was on the very same side of Maura's wreck and would've been one of the first houses she came upon if she walked due east after securing her car.

But as of late, I am leaning more towards suicide. I would hope the contractor has been looked at closely and dismissed by now by law enforcement as a suspect. But to me, Maura didn't seem to want help that night, she had the SBD and houses right across the street she could've easily gone too at 7:30 at night. She had a book that dealt with people who enter the mountains and never come back and she was definitely going through some issues at the time.

How did she commit suicide? With what?

 

[CanManEh]

How easy is to start a new life somewhere on a whim? Wouldn't you need a new social security number? How easy is it to change your name? It has to be even more difficult if she went into Canada.

If Maura decided to disappear on purpose because she was scared that her family and friends would find out she had a drinking problem, then I think she would be less likely to ever return after all the attention on her case in NH.

I highly dought someone would disappear simply because she had a drinking problem.

 

[goodgirl65]

I have to agree with you about this scenario after I saw the disappeared addition of what happened to her. I think she refused help because she was scared of getting a DUI from the police. She did put alcohol in a different bottle according to police. Maybe she thought if her dad knew she was drinking it would totally disappoint her father and so she didn't want him or anyone to find out. She probably didn't want to have to tell her father that she had another car wreck and then to add the drinking along with it she probably would have thought it would make things worse. To avoid this she just fled the scene feeling trapped and out of control with no way to get around having to explain to her father what happened and why she did it. IMO I think the first car wreck she had really shook her up and I think she felt A LOT of overwhelming guilt and thought she was a failure. Afterward, she probably wasn't the same person after the wreck and that's why it caused her to make an odd decision to leave school and family for that time- for her to think about what just happened with the wreck. She could have just wanted to get away for a little while and didn't really want anyone to know about it. Maybe she didn't want anyone to know how deeply stressed she really was. I just think she had this overwhelming guilt that put her to shame and it took a toll on her. When some people try to calm down or unwind some people are known to open up a bottle of wine to relax with. Maybe her drinking was part of her trying to come to peace with stuff in her life. But instead, her entire plan fell apart because of the second car wreck. She didn't know what to do then just fled.

But it also makes me wonder if she had a bit of an alcohol drinking problem she didn't want her parents to know about. There are functioning alcoholics and since she was at school a lot maybe her family didn't know about a lot of what she was doing. Could have her last car wreck be related to drinking? I never heard that anyone found alcohol. Especially when someone is drinking alone in privacy, that is very alarming and signs that a person could be an alcoholic or the start of one.

IMOE- in my own experience- I have been into so much trouble in my past that if I was at risk for a DUI it would not have fazed me. Even to this day it probably wouldn't. I wouldn't see it as a big deal and I'd just move on.
But she seemed like the type of girl who wanted to be truly a good person who avoided doing anything wrong or risky. I don't want to say she was a perfectionist but maybe she was really innocent and hasn't experienced a whole lot of risky stuff in life. So when she had the wreck and then the second wreck it truly messed her up emotionally. The again, maybe she was risky and she just didn't want it to be exposed. I'd hate to judge someone like this but anything can be possible when a person goes missing.

She liked being with family- especially her boyfriend. Plus, I remember from the disappear episode that she was going to get tickets to something her and her friends were supposed to go to. So with that information, she planned on returning.

I think she wanted to return home after her get a way for a while. But because of her situation, I think she may have decided not to come back and in the process she could have met with foul play later on.

I just don't think she planned on disappearing for good. I think she just wanted some time away...but not forever.

She has to realize that no one will scold her for a mistake. People still love her regardless and I really do wish this young lady would come home

Has there been any information about the voicemail left on the boyfriends phone about her supposedly breathing and sighing heavily without saying a word? I don't understand that or why she would have done that

BBM

Didnt they find a leaking box of Franzia wine in the car? Also, IIRC there was a soda bottle/can found at the wreck site that had alcohol in it.

As for the phonecall/voicemail left for Maura's boyfriend, that was discounted by LE early on, and the new investigation by this guy specifically states why:

http://mauramurray.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-07-05T07:49:00-07:00&max-results=7