Some good thoughts Sineox.
Unless Maura went to the contractors house that night and something happened, I believe based on what is known, that Maura did accept a ride that night.
but where I differ from some is that I believe nothing sinister happened from that ride.
Maura's case is not that popular in the whole scheme of things. For websleuthers and lovers of shows like Disappeared and 20/20, Maura's case is well known.
But Maura's case never came close to being a media firestorm such as the Natalie Holloway case.
What I am saying is that a good samaratin could've easily picked Maura up that night and taken her further east (away from cops) and dropped her off and went about their business and never thought back to that night again. They could've been just driving through the area and not have been from around there and therefore they really would not have been exposed to much Maura murray local media coverage.
One other point.
It was night and it was very dark out.
When you think of someone prowling around looking to kidnap someone, I would go out on a limb and say that they wouldn't be out looking for a young women in the pitch dark in the middle of nowhere. It just seems like the odds of an encounter for a predator might not be very good.
And as far as just an opportune circumstance that an axe murderer just happened to cross paths with Maura that night randomly, just keep in mind that it was dark and anyone driving a vehicle in the pitch black dark that sees a figure (with dark clothes on walking or running) is not (right away) going to be able to make out whether or not that person is even male or female. Maura was likely covered up somewhat because it was February.
I had an encounter (less than a year ago) with someone on a highway around 1:30 a.m.
This person was standing a few feet off the road along the side of the highway jumping up and down and waving their arms as I was getting ready to approach.
I noticed the person's arms moving, but nothing else as I approached. It scared the p-jesus out of me. But I did slow up. I did not immediately stop right next to this person, I turned and stopped my car plenty of feet away from this person so that the front of my car was angled right at this person and I turned my high beams directly on him. It was then that I noticed he was by himself and he didn't have a vehicle nearby and he looked to be in his late 20's or 30's and in good enough health. After being able to make him out once I was stopped, I made the assessment to not help him and I quickly left the scene.
Turns out he had crashed his car almost nine miles down the highway (DUI) and had knocked the power out in part of my home town from hitting something (a pole or something). The police were at the site of his wrecked car as I drove into town and it was then that I put two and two together. And it was in our paper two days later.
I agree that it is hard to see the gender of a person on the side of the road in that kind of darkness, but maybe the surprise of seeing a person walking or running in such a dark and isolated area caused the driver of the car to turn around to investigate. Maybe they thought the person (Maura) was lost or in some kind of trouble.
Another thought, since the dogs followed her scent to a lighted area (corner of Bradley Hill Rd.) and the scent ended there, perhaps she did look like a female. So, the driver slowed down and asked her if she needed a lift. The driver could have put 2 and 2 together, when he saw her wrecked vehicle in the distance with the flashers on. He may have even slowed down, because he was going to make a turn at that intersection, so he had a decent look at her.
Just some thoughts