I would agree with anyone that the wreck in new Hampshire was unplanned.
I don't think Maura set out to stage a car accident because nothing supports that.
having said that, the question then becomes what happened to Maura once she had an unplanned accident that threw off whatever her initial plans were?
I believe any scenario becomes possible (post accident), however, I go back to what little evidence is believed to be known.
It is believed (by family and investigators) that Maura took a backpack and some bottles of alcohol and nothing else (leaving everything else behind in her car or back at her dorm) from the accident scene.
In what scenario that you can come up with ... does a stranded motorist take a backpack and a few bottles of alcohol with them and nothing else?
If she was going for help, what do you need a backpack and bottles of alcohol for?
If she was meeting someone, you mean to tell me you aren't going to bring your personal belongings and valuables when you enter your friends car, just a backpack and some bottles of alcohol. I am pretty sure a true friend would want you to get your valuables and clothing before you leave your stranded car and would take the additional minute or two to allow you to get that stuff before you leave the area.
If she is hiding evidence. Why not chuck the bottles of alcohol in the nearby woods as you walk away from the car, there are plenty of hiding spots where Maura went missing to conceal a couple of bottles of alcohol. And why do you need your backpack as well.
I can only truly think of one scenario that makes sense when it comes to having on your person just a backpack and some alcohol and you are in the mountains ... and it does not have a happy ending.
The question then becomes, how did Maura go about it.
My own theory is that she caught a ride away from the accident from a stranger. The stranger didn't have to know what Maura was up to, didn't have to know what was in her backpack. And the stranger could've easily taken Maura further down the road, or to Maura's intended destination and that was the last of it.
Because of the location, I would venture to say, that Maura could've been picked up by someone (not local to the area) and therefore, that someone may have never heard anything about Maura murray before in the media.
They just happened to be a good samaratin that night and have never thought back to that night again.
Long time follower, full time lurker, and very, very part time commenter, here on Maura's case..
I am fine with the suicide theory to a degree in that I do see it quite plausible that Maura had come to a breaking point, so to speak, thus setting in motion her leaving town with no dead set plan of suicide, but rather the thought crossing her mind as a possibility.. The main objective IMO was just for her to get away as soon as she possibly could and once away from all things(school, fam, life, stressors, etc, etc) that she would would go from there as to what would happen next..
IMO that's the frame of mind that Maura was in when setting out on this road trip to get away from EVERYTHING and from that point nothing at all being written in stone as to how/what she would do from that point on.. IMO it was Maura, and Maura alone on that back road that night, having indulged in some of the alcohol she'd earlier purchased, and found herself in the single car accident.. IMO no doubt about it that this was very much a single car accident and NOT a planned/staged "accident"..IMO.
This accident she had was exactly that, an unplanned accident. One observing neighbor saw Maura in a "flurry of activity in the back seat and at the trunk". Once she realized that the police might be on their way, Maura was frantic to get the heck out of their as quick as possible. IMO the priority of the liquor being taken is IMO obvious due to the main purpose being she knew that most likely police would be on the scene thus her taking the liquor was a priority for her in that frantic, hazy frame of mind that she was in when fleeing from her vehicle as quickly as she could... IMO she had every intention on at some point retrieving her car and other personal items left behind.. BUT AT THAT POINT IN TIME, BEING OF FRANTIC THINKING, HER ONLY PRIORITY WAS VERY, VERY SHORT TERM THINKING IN WHAT SHE MUST DO TO AVOID TROUBLE AT THAT TIME(she was not clearly, nor rationally thinking what the long term plan would be, nor what repercussions she would be facing..her thoughts were frantic and focused solely on the short term, immediate remedy)..
Back to her alone at her car after the accident.. Butch Atwood clearly stated that in the minutes before the police arrived there were "a few vehicles" that passed down that road. IMO it is one of those vehicles that "passed" that holds all the answers as to what/where/how Maura permanently "disappeared"... The dog's scent traced her 100 yards east of the accident, which is the way she was heading already. Once she started running away from there, she quickly realized that it was way too cold to make it very far. She opted for a ride with one of the passing vehicles.
IMO this choice made on a spur of the moment, frantic, and in a likely hazy mindset is what led to Maura's demise of opting for a ride with one of those passing vehicles..
IMO first and foremost Maura didn't commit suicide because she never made it to the position of having that choice of whether or not to commit suicide(in going with the theory that she was getting away to clear her head and decide what to do from there..work on problems, suicide, etc?..).. Had she not had the car accident that night and instead safely made it to her planned destination of somewhere to get away from all of life's problems..IMO, yes I believe it possible that Maura may just have committed suicide..but IMO she didn't due to the fact that her destiny was set in motion and fate sealed upon her decisions made immediately following her single car accident on Wild Ammonoosuc Rd..culminating in her accepting and getting into a stranger's vehicle a mere few hundred feet away from where her car sat wrecked...
IMO it is that decision and it it is that individual that is the reason and the person who is responsible for Maura's "disappearance"(IMO abduction/murder).
All jmo, and now back to lurk mode..
**Please forgive the limitations that come w/my posting via mobile ATM**