NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - #10

[BillNH]

Eerie similarities in the case of Teleka Patrick in Michigan. I am not trying to draw a connection to Maura but the headline did grab my attention.

For the NH LE haters, LE found her car abandoned in a ditch around 10pm, did not search for her until she was reported missing the next day when she did not show up for work. Police S.O.P., not ineptness.

http://www.ibtimes.com/teleka-patri...-after-receiving-mysterious-call-work-1517596

 

[Love Coco]

These mysterious calls are creepy.

 

[justagirl247]

So just some of my thoughts and plz keep in mind I read on mauras case periodically so I'm sure there are several details I have missed so plz forgive me if I repeat anything ect... While I think everyone has great points I do personally think its highly likely that the could have been a crime of opportunity ... Just by the person or persons didn't have time to plan it or we're taking a 50/50 chance doesn't make it any less likely IMO there are so so so many cases like that there are soooooo many possibilities and so little evidence I don't think anything really can be ruled out at this point. I agree with whoever said that her family never made a plea to this "boogeyman" being an interesting point from what I have seen most families of missing ppl will plea to anyone/anything they can so I do believe they know more then what we do here

 

[justagirl247]

But I think it great that even after so long so many ppl are still trying so hard to figure out her case

 

[scoops]

So just some of my thoughts and plz keep in mind I read on mauras case periodically so I'm sure there are several details I have missed so plz forgive me if I repeat anything ect... While I think everyone has great points I do personally think its highly likely that the could have been a crime of opportunity ... Just by the person or persons didn't have time to plan it or we're taking a 50/50 chance doesn't make it any less likely IMO there are so so so many cases like that there are soooooo many possibilities and so little evidence I don't think anything really can be ruled out at this point. I agree with whoever said that her family never made a plea to this "boogeyman" being an interesting point from what I have seen most families of missing ppl will plea to anyone/anything they can so I do believe they know more then what we do here

I believe what they know (Maura's family) is that Maura is no longer alive and they have known that from very early on (like the first two weeks after she went missing).

Fred shifted very early on and has remained very consistent some 10 years later.

He went from "Maura come home, we can work things out" to "Look at what the police bungled up. They let my daughter get away and disappear when they should've taken her accident more serious and found her that night."

 

[justagirl247]

I believe what they know (Maura's family) is that Maura is no longer alive and they have known that from very early on (like the first two weeks after she went missing).

Fred shifted very early on and has remained very consistent some 10 years later.

He went from "Maura come home, we can work things out" to "Look at what the police bungled up. They let my daughter get away and disappear when they should've taken her accident more serious and found her that night."

i agree i dont believe that they think she is alive either and you make a great point sometimes its not what they say but what they DONT say

 

[OldSteve]

Searches were never done, CMIIW, of areas in the White Mts where she had been to in the past and might have headed to? Perhaps too much focus was placed on local searaching and thinking she had been taken and not enough on her making to where she was headed....
a sad thought crosses my mind of a young woman who's life has become such a mess that she makes an allout effort of casting her fate to the wind by going to a place where she believes her love (if he truely loves her) will find her, love her, and shelter her in time before the elements take her...

 

[scoops]

Searches were never done, CMIIW, of areas in the White Mts where she had been to in the past and might have headed to? Perhaps too much focus was placed on local searaching and thinking she had been taken and not enough on her making to where she was headed....
a sad thought crosses my mind of a young woman who's life has become such a mess that she makes an allout effort of casting her fate to the wind by going to a place where she believes her love (if he truely loves her) will find her, love her, and shelter her in time before the elements take her...

Fred has searched for Maura in the white mountains. Investigators have not.

 

[OldSteve]

Fred has searched for Maura in the white mountains. Investigators have not.

So much for my "waiting for love on the mountain" idea ... Fred would have known better than anyone what places she would go to....

 

[JamesRenner]

Police have, in fact, searched the White Mountains twice.

 

[Fireweed]

To me a search does not prove that much. Look at the search for Steve Fossett. Despite a massive search effort, his remains were only discovered coincidentally by hiker much later, and the Fossett searchers had the benefit of looking for an entire airplane.

I know some speculate Maura was suicidal, but I still have a heard time wrapping my head around a lone woman going into the cold, dark, snowy woods alone. It just seems like such a bizarre way to commit suicide. It also goes against research regarding suicide, which is that the decision to commit suicide is much more immediate to the time of suicide - something like a few seconds. People may think about killing themselves for a long time, but the time that passes from the final decision to act itself is a very short amount of time. Going off to freeze to death goes against what we know about how people kill themselves. People want a quick, final act (jumping, shooting themselves, etc), and they want something that they cannot chicken out on part way through.

 

[scoops]

Police have, in fact, searched the White Mountains twice.

A helicopter search is not exactly what I was referring to.

 

[scoops]

To me a search does not prove that much. Look at the search for Steve Fossett. Despite a massive search effort, his remains were only discovered coincidentally by hiker much later, and the Fossett searchers had the benefit of looking for an entire airplane.

I know some speculate Maura was suicidal, but I still have a heard time wrapping my head around a lone woman going into the cold, dark, snowy woods alone. It just seems like such a bizarre way to commit suicide. It also goes against research regarding suicide, which is that the decision to commit suicide is much more immediate to the time of suicide - something like a few seconds. People may think about killing themselves for a long time, but the time that passes from the final decision to act itself is a very short amount of time. Going off to freeze to death goes against what we know about how people kill themselves. People want a quick, final act (jumping, shooting themselves, etc), and they want something that they cannot chicken out on part way through.

Not a bizarre concept for me at all.

If I had the opportunity to pick my final destination before I died, I would choose somewhere I love.

Maura loved the White Mountains. From the accounts I have heard, she talked about them all the time. And her honeymoon was being planned for the White Mountains.

 

[McSpy]

Merry Christmas everyone


I seem to change my mind daily but sadly, I believe that Maura is no longer alive. I believe she left for the mountains to *possibly* kill herself, the plan went terribly wrong and she either succumbed to the elements or was abducted by a stranger. If she is still alive I would be utterly gobsmacked, but also really happy

I was thinking about another missing case recently that also seemed to make no sense whatsoever, no matter which way you looked at it. It was a complete riddle. Then, some information came to light and BOOM, everything made total sense. I believe and hope that this will happen in this case too. It only takes one small grain of information for this to happen. I truly hope so.

bolded by me. .

I'm not ruling suicide out entirely, but one thing that makes me feel she didn't go up to NH to commit suicide was her telling the nursing school director (don't recall exact title) that there was a family emergency and she needed to be out for a week (don't recall exact words). It suggests she was thinking about the consequences of taking time off from school. Supposedly, absences from nursing school can get you kicked out of the program. IMO, a suicidal person wouldn't care about the future in this way.

 

[Fireweed]

I am merely pointing out that it would be a bizarre way to commit suicide, based upon how people usually commit suicide. It would be a statistical anomaly in terms of suicide.

It is not a bizarre concept to you, probably because you are not suicidal. Thus it makes "sense" to you to go to some place you love to have your final moments. That is simply not the reality of actual suicides, and very rarely are suicides done in any sort of slow manner (i.e. freezing to death). Of course it could certainly happen that way. But it should be understood that there is a difference between "being suicidal" and actually making the decision to commit suicide and then following through with it. The time between the ultimate decision and the ultimate act is only a few seconds.

If Maura took the freezing in the mountains route to suicide, then her "ultimate decision" moment to her suicide moment would have been hours, and would have fallen way outside the normal timeline for suicide.

 

[scoops]

bolded by me. .

I'm not ruling suicide out entirely, but one thing that makes me feel she didn't go up to NH to commit suicide was her telling the nursing school director (don't recall exact title) that there was a family emergency and she needed to be out for a week (don't recall exact words). It suggests she was thinking about the consequences of taking time off from school. Supposedly, absences from nursing school can get you kicked out of the program. IMO, a suicidal person wouldn't care about the future in this way.

I think she needed the extra time, because I don't believe she wanted to end her life that Monday. I believe she wanted to be in the white mountains area Monday night and begin her final hike the next morning. Her email was sent out in mass to her nursing department as well as her employers. I think, her just not showing up Monday for school/work would've/could've been enough time for a friend or a boss or a nursing director to begin calling around and checking on her which would lead to her family.

Coming up with a whole week (for an excused absence) means no one will look for her and she can take her time and not worry about someone coming after her.

I think (especially her father) would come up with the white mountains pretty quickly if he was told his daughter didn't show up for work and he could not contact her himself.

 

[JamesRenner]

The Department of Fish and Game, along with the NH state police, canvassed the White Mountains, specifically Mt. Washington area, quite extensively. It was a big operation, both times. They found a body near the summit of Mount Washington. Wasn't her, of course. But the area was searched so well (not just by them but by the 10 years of hikers, hunters, trappers, that I'm pretty certain her body is not up there.

 

[McSpy]

Well, as a small, young, single female, I certainly feel safer walking alone during the daylight (when I can see clearly, and there are more people around me if I needed help), as opposed to night - where my senses aren't as strong, there are far more hiding/lurking places, and no-would would be around to see, or help. An abductor would use all of that to his advantage.


The problem with what you are saying is that the criminal might not have planned on 'picking up' someone that night. He may have happened to come across Maura (the opportunity) on his way home from work, and attacked.

Or, if the person was prowling, he might have set his eyes on Maura much earlier, such as at a gas station or drink stop, (possibly even doing something to her car), and followed her, waiting to be the car that 'helps'. (basically the Red Truck abduction theory).

bolded by me .

This is how I see it too. If it happened, it was a crime of opportunity. Who knows, he may have taken her to his house. It could have been fine for a while. They talked and maybe had a drink or two, but then he got weird on her. It could have all happened in his car too. Several scenarios were possible, IMO.

 

[scoops]

I am merely pointing out that it would be a bizarre way to commit suicide, based upon how people usually commit suicide. It would be a statistical anomaly in terms of suicide.

It is not a bizarre concept to you, probably because you are not suicidal. Thus it makes "sense" to you to go to some place you love to have your final moments. That is simply not the reality of actual suicides, and very rarely are suicides done in any sort of slow manner (i.e. freezing to death). Of course it could certainly happen that way. But it should be understood that there is a difference between "being suicidal" and actually making the decision to commit suicide and then following through with it. The time between the ultimate decision and the ultimate act is only a few seconds.

If Maura took the freezing in the mountains route to suicide, then her "ultimate decision" moment to her suicide moment would have been hours, and would have fallen way outside the normal timeline for suicide.

I think we could both agree that it appeared Maura was having some sort of crisis in her life in the days before she went missing. Most normal people don't have back-to-back head-on collisions with inanimate objects in the span of 48 hours.

Her breakdown at work (nothing to do with a phone by the way that has been proven) was described by a witness as being very unusual and disturbing, breaks away from the typical college angst that a stressed out student might go through with either school work or boyfriend/girlfriend issues)

I argue, at some point during that four day stretch, Maura simply said F%^& IT!

And taking her book about perishing in the white mountains along with her, I just don't accept the creative attempts at explaining it away that family members and others have done and how it is so quickly been dismissed as she just happened to like that book.

 

[scoops]

The Department of Fish and Game, along with the NH state police, canvassed the White Mountains, specifically Mt. Washington area, quite extensively. It was a big operation, both times. They found a body near the summit of Mount Washington. Wasn't her, of course. But the area was searched so well (not just by them but by the 10 years of hikers, hunters, trappers, that I'm pretty certain her body is not up there.

Was this publically released info? I have never read about it anywhere. The searches (with dogs) were done around Maura's car accident location and Fred has stated publically that he is the only one searching for his daughter and that he has hit up all the trails the two of them have been on and gone to Maura's favorite locations in the mountains.


And to me, if you are searching for your loved one in the mountains, it doesn't seem like you are expecting to find them alive or tied up in some "Bad Guy's" basement in Cleveland (as an example).