NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - # 2

[Amraann]

I want to thank several posters for compiling this information.


Mauradwyer
MrsMushy99
So many others

 

[Grassyknoll2]

Hi guys,

Maura Murray and Brianna Maitland are both featured this week in the SPOTLIGHT thread....and there's info on another girl missing in Portland, ME here on Websleuths and on Brianna's site...Lynn Moran, Portland, ME last seen Oct. 11th. There is also a new section on Maura's case information.

GK

 

[Peabody]

I want to thank several posters for compiling this information.


Mauradwyer
MrsMushy99
So many others

I would like to thank you Amraann and Websleuths for featuring Maura.

Hopefully, your special attention will generate more interest and possibly a lead.




Bring Maura Home!
<modsnip - no longer a working site>

 

[Peabody]

Maura is being featured along with Brianna Maitland in Websleuths Weekly Spotlight for Missing Persons. http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30819


Please check out the information provided there.

The are photos and comments by those who know Maura personally will give you more insight into Maura personally.

Thank You Websleuths!



Bring Maura Home
<modsnip - no longer a working site>

 

[Gabby]

As always, Prayers for Maura, and her loved ones....

My prayers are that she is safe and well, but reguardless I pray that she is comes home to her loved ones soon.


Prayers for Maura

Gabby

 

[docwho3]

Maura Murray missing nursing student summary of case as I read it:
Maura murray was a nursing student and very able track athelete.
Nursing student Maura murray had a $10,000 car wreck a few days before she disappeared in February in N.H.
Sometime the week before she disappeared young Maura Murray decided something important and it involved
going away for at least several days. She set up an excuse for leaving with her boss at work & her profs at school by saying she had to attend to a death in the family. She searched hotel room availability on her computer in her dorm room. (Wish I knew if she searched singles or doubles rooms.) Those motels were booked up due to mardi gras. She also called someone that owned a condo that had been rented in the past. She also called someone in a dorm room but that person remains unknown. Then before leaving she withdrew almost all her money from her bank account at about 3:40 pm. She packed up the stuff from her room but did not take it all. She did take her school books with her and a book that was a gift from her dad and a pic of her brother. She called her boyfriend on the day she went missing and left a voice mail of her whimpering (according to him.) I don't know if this voice mail content can be verified. Some of the intial news reports said the call showed no upset on her part so I wonder if someones story later changed or if reporting was poor. She stopped at a store & bought quite a bit of liquor and possibly some pain reliever. She then drove off to her destiny as far as we know. The next time she is confirmed to be seen was when she had a 2nd wreck at 7pm or 7:30 pm. Maura is seen and approached by a bus driver on his way home who offers her help which she declines saying she has already called AAA. One news report also states there is no cell coverage in the area but I have not confirmed that to be so. The buss driver was only 100 yards or so from home & so he went eastward to his home. He had trouble getting through to police. His neighbor called police but I don't know how neighbor knew to do that - whether busdriver asked him to or neighbor saw Maura. The police came within 10 minutes & yet Maura was gone when they arrived. Later it is reported someone saw Maura walking or jogging east on the road. And later a dog search is reported to have lost her scent on the road east near the busdrivers house.

Her car had most of the stuff she packed still in it although some booze bottles seem to be missing along with her backpack.

Most of these details can be verified reading the linked news reports from her website at
<modsnip - no longer a working site> I will also soon try to post a more detailed look at things which will have linked sources in it.

 

[Marisa714]

Maura Murray missing nursing student summary of case as I read it:
Maura murray was a nursing student and very able track athelete.
Nursing student Maura murray had a $10,000 car wreck a few days before she disappeared in February in N.H.
Sometime the week before she disappeared young Maura Murray decided something important and it involved
going away for at least several days. She set up an excuse for leaving with her boss at work & her profs at school by saying she had to attend to a death in the family. She searched hotel room availability on her computer in her dorm room. (Wish I knew if she searched singles or doubles rooms.) Those motels were booked up due to mardi gras. She also called someone that owned a condo that had been rented in the past. She also called someone in a dorm room but that person remains unknown. Then before leaving she withdrew almost all her money from her bank account at about 3:40 pm. She packed up the stuff from her room but did not take it all. She did take her school books with her and a book that was a gift from her dad and a pic of her brother. She called her boyfriend on the day she went missing and left a voice mail of her whimpering (according to him.) I don't know if this voice mail content can be verified. Some of the intial news reports said the call showed no upset on her part so I wonder if someones story later changed or if reporting was poor. She stopped at a store & bought quite a bit of liquor and possibly some pain reliever. She then drove off to her destiny as far as we know. The next time she is confirmed to be seen was when she had a 2nd wreck at 7pm or 7:30 pm. Maura is seen and approached by a bus driver on his way home who offers her help which she declines saying she has already called AAA. One news report also states there is no cell coverage in the area but I have not confirmed that to be so. The buss driver was only 100 yards or so from home & so he went eastward to his home. He had trouble getting through to police. His neighbor called police but I don't know how neighbor knew to do that - whether busdriver asked him to or neighbor saw Maura. The police came within 10 minutes & yet Maura was gone when they arrived. Later it is reported someone saw Maura walking or jogging east on the road. And later a dog search is reported to have lost her scent on the road east near the busdrivers house.

Her car had most of the stuff she packed still in it although some booze bottles seem to be missing along with her backpack.

Most of these details can be verified reading the linked news reports from her website at
http://www.mauramurray.com/news.html I will also soon try to post a more detailed look at things which will have linked sources in it.

Hey doc,
I think your a great sleuther! I was wondering if you'd mind taking a peek at the missing but not forgotten thread for Maura? I'd like to know what your take is on the last few posts (about the bus driver)...if you want to that is! Thanks

 

[gatetrekker44]

but left out a few key points:
1. The person who supposedly saw Maura walking/running down the road did not report this info until 3-4 months after Maura went missing-stating he didn't realize the significance(was he hiding under a rock all that time?)
2. That other than this report-by his own admission, the bus driver becomes the last admitted person to see or speak with Maura.
3. That LE returned Maura's personal items to her family WITHOUT doing any forensics-and then turned around and asked for them back for testing after mucho bad publicity about their handling of the case was reported.
4. That a certain segment of LE in NH was being investigated for involvment in a murder and cover-up/and a poster here who stated they were retired from NH LE spoke about the sloppy, slipshod investigation into Maura's case.
5. That from the start-LE was almost fanatically obsessed with insisting that Maura had disappeared voluntarily-and it was only thru the tireless efforts of her family and friends and certain folks here at Websleuths that any real investigating was done at all.

Believe what you will-but I personally believe that there is a sinister, almost pathological mindset in the NH LE community that absolutely refuses to admit that Maura is missing not of her own choosing-and that someone currently or formerly involved in LE or who is well acquainted with the LE in the area is involved-and that Maura may not be the only victim! :twocents:


Bring Maura home!

 

[docwho3]

Hey doc,
I think your a great sleuther! I was wondering if you'd mind taking a peek at the missing but not forgotten thread for Maura? I'd like to know what your take is on the last few posts (about the bus driver)...if you want to that is! Thanks

Thanks for the kind words. Here are a few thoughts:
A post in this thread places her start-trip-time at about 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm (and planethuff at sometime after 3:40)and yet reports also place her in a wrecked car at about 7:30 pm. Now the bus driver might have had opportunity to harm Maura but since reports also hint at another neighbor having spoken to her or at least they called the cops so I can't say for sure that he had unobserved opportunity to do anything unless distance & snow might mask his actions from his neighbor or unless neighbor helped him commit a crime. Makes me wonder though if this was the same neighbor that allegedly complained about searchers on his land and barred his land from them. I have not seen anything to indicate that the busdriver's wife was home at the time but there was mention made of a neighbor being home. Also If busdriver's wife was home why didn't he ask her to go with him to speak to Maura since its reported that his wife later said that she understood that Maura might have felt bad about her husband's large size and so refused his offer of help for that reason. To me that sounds as if she was not there when it happened. I don't know if the police suspected something of him or if they were just being thorough but news reports said that the bus driver was questioned several times.

Question:If Maura had just had a wreck but had no cell phone coverage then would she be willing to sit there in the cold & dark with no real hope of rescue? Or would she perhaps walk towards the bus drivers house or the nearest lit up house looking for someone with a phone? Or might she know someone was already on the way on the same road to meet her at her destination? All this sort of hinges on there not being cell coverage because if she had cell coverage why not call for help? Or did she? At what time were her last few cell calls made? Were any cell calls made after 7 pm?

As yet I have no pet theory. I am still gathering data & asking questions & sometimes offering up thoses questions & thoughts in posts for others to help either confirm or deny or just give opinions of those questions & thoughts so that we might hopefuly help Maura's case be resolved in the best way possible.

 

[docwho3]

but left out a few key points:
1. The person who supposedly saw Maura walking/running down the road did not report this info until 3-4 months after Maura went missing-stating he didn't realize the significance(was he hiding under a rock all that time?)

Well I said it was a summary. But if you believe that the bus driver got her as you seem to indicate then whether he picked her up from her car wreck site or whether he picked her up just as she was walking to his house or whether she in fact walked to his front door does not really matter does it? Other than it might prove he lied about the details of his exact encounter with her.

2. That other than this report-by his own admission, the bus driver becomes the last admitted person to see or speak with Maura.

Not sure that is correct in light of the neighbor having called police. How did neighbor know to call cops? Did busdriver call up & ask him to? Or did Neighbor also talk to her? Until we know more about neighbor's exact involvement in the situation that night it is hard to draw solid conclusions.

3. That LE returned Maura's personal items to her family WITHOUT doing any forensics-and then turned around and asked for them back for testing after mucho bad publicity about their handling of the case was reported.

Yes, I did not mention that as my purpose is not to flame the cops but to try to fit together the pieces to help resolve this case.

4. That a certain segment of LE in NH was being investigated for involvment in a murder and cover-up/and a poster here who stated they were retired from NH LE spoke about the sloppy, slipshod investigation into Maura's case.

As I am still gathering data I was not aware of L.E. investigating Maura's case being investigated for murder. That would need to include more than one officer in her case I would think but I am willing to read sources with full details if you post the links.

5. That from the start-LE was almost fanatically obsessed with insisting that Maura had disappeared voluntarily-and it was only thru the tireless efforts of her family and friends and certain folks here at Websleuths that any real investigating was done at all.

Given the facts as already stated I can see where people might think Maura planned to leave voluntarily. I think the question in my mind is whether she meant time-off to be permanent or not. At present I am not yet convnced it was intended to be permanent.

Believe what you will-but I personally believe that there is a sinister, almost pathological mindset in the NH LE community that absolutely refuses to admit that Maura is missing not of her own choosing-and that someone currently or formerly involved in LE or who is well acquainted with the LE in the area is involved-and that Maura may not be the only victim! :twocents:

Bring Maura home!

I have no pet theory yet. I am still gathering data and asking questions. I am quite willing to look at any linked to data you have on the subject. L.E. might well be involved for all I know. But I also have no real indication yet that L.E. is involved either.

Before you get angry (your last post part sounded angry) you should please realize that any good investigation has to look at all the facts & must also ask questions about everyone & everything.

Posting links to relevant info will do more to convince readers than making statements.

Thank you for your patience.

 

[Marisa714]

Thanks for the kind words. Here are a few thoughts:
A post in this thread places her start-trip-time at about 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm (and planethuff at sometime after 3:40)and yet reports also place her in a wrecked car at about 7:30 pm. Now the bus driver might have had opportunity to harm Maura but since reports also hint at another neighbor having spoken to her or at least they called the cops so I can't say for sure that he had unobserved opportunity to do anything unless distance & snow might mask his actions from his neighbor or unless neighbor helped him commit a crime. Makes me wonder though if this was the same neighbor that allegedly complained about searchers on his land and barred his land from them. I have not seen anything to indicate that the busdriver's wife was home at the time but there was mention made of a neighbor being home. Also If busdriver's wife was home why didn't he ask her to go with him to speak to Maura since its reported that his wife later said that she understood that Maura might have felt bad about her husband's large size and so refused his offer of help for that reason. To me that sounds as if she was not there when it happened. I don't know if the police suspected something of him or if they were just being thorough but news reports said that the bus driver was questioned several times.

Question:If Maura had just had a wreck but had no cell phone coverage then would she be willing to sit there in the cold & dark with no real hope of rescue? Or would she perhaps walk towards the bus drivers house or the nearest lit up house looking for someone with a phone? Or might she know someone was already on the way on the same road to meet her at her destination? All this sort of hinges on there not being cell coverage because if she had cell coverage why not call for help? Or did she? At what time were her last few cell calls made? Were any cell calls made after 7 pm?

As yet I have no pet theory. I am still gathering data & asking questions & sometimes offering up thoses questions & thoughts in posts for others to help either confirm or deny or just give opinions of those questions & thoughts so that we might hopefuly help Maura's case be resolved in the best way possible.

Thanks for your insight! Her last call was made at:

I also learned that Maura had checked her voice mail from her cell phone at approximately 4:30 PM on Monday, February 9th and that the very last call made from her cell phone was approximately at 1:00 PM on the 9th (both of these times are from memory.) When the cell phone bill arrived in March, we learned that the last call from Mauras cell phone was to Billys cell phone. Billy told me that Maura tried to reach him by phone and sent him one email on Monday, Feb 9th as quoted in the outline.

<modsnip - no longer a working site>

Also this is of some importance IMO (since you said your still gathering info I wasn't sure if you'd come accross this yet)....I'm gonna post this next bit on another post b/c it's very long!

 

[Marisa714]

This is one post as part of a timeline over at Maura's site...I think this a ton of info and it's all in that one timeline!
<modsnip - no longer a working site>

Call February 11th - Red Cross:
Billy and I both were insistent that the missed call/message to him that morning was from Maura. I had listened to the message. The message was very short. It consisted of a very short time of labored breathing (the sound we all make if we have exerted ourselves in very cold weather), two, possibly three very wet sniffs as if someone were crying or had a very bad cold and ended in the middle of a very soft muffled sob. The police played the message through their land line and said that it only sounded like someone humming. Detective Landry with the NH SP finally told us that he traced the call to the Red Cross. Please note that this information was given to us Wednesday evening *after* we had provided information about all of the people and agencies that Bill, Billy and I had talked to since learning of Mauras disappearance. Per Red Cross: ... routinely she would not call any soldier as it is not necessary to speak to anyone but the parent or spouse making the request and the commanding officer. Also, I have my notes for the information that she requested and feel confident that I never gave her Billys cell phone number. The only number that I gave her was my cell phone number and the phone number of Billys Commanding Officer at Fort Sill. Of course, she already had my home phone number from the message to the answering service. It is also my opinion that the sounds in the message make absolutely no sense *if* the call was from the Red Cross. Why would the Red Cross not leave a message, or if the other explanation that is to follow is the case, why would a Red Cross Employee/Volunteer make labored breathing, crying sounds while making a professional call? Another reason the NH SP said that it was not reasonable to believe the message came from Maura was that she would have a left a message instead of just sounds. To my way of thinking the main reason that Maura may not have left a message is that Billy frequently has a problem with his phone whereby the caller does not realize that their call has made connection with Billys phone. I have called him 2 or 3 times in a row, thinking that my call did not go through. Until we realized this problem just in the last few months since Maura went missing, Billy would always ask why I hung up and called again. If this were the case, then Maura may not have had any other minutes remaining on the calling card or she was in the undesirable position of not being able to place the call again. As to the Red Cross possibility as suggested by NH SP, Billy never received a call or a voice message from them.
2/27/04 - However, Scarinza said that angle has been eliminated because investigators traced the calling card to the American Red Cross officials who had been attempting to contact Bill Rausch.
Caledonian Record 2/27/04

This message is something that really makes me believe that something happened to Maura, it just seems so strange.

 

[Marisa714]

Ok I just saw this too! How could they positive the bus driver and neighbors had NOTHING to with this if they didn't even search their property? This really bothers me!

<modsnip - no longer a working site>

2/27/04 - Scarinza says there is absolutely no evidence foul play has been involved, and that people living in the area of the accident scene have been interviewed several times.

A search of nearby homes by a canine team as well as forensics experts would require a search warrant. And a search warrant would require probable cause. Caledonian Record 2/27/04

Rausch said family members were told by at least one person living near the accident site a man was seen in Maura's car after the accident. Caledonian Record 2/27/04

 

[docwho3]

To marisa714:
Thank you for the help with info.
I have also been reading the info at the web link you gave me. Thx.
It will take me some time to digest it all so don't be surprised If I take a day or two and then suddenly ask more questions.

Without giving out more info than she would like, my wife has had A.M.L. (Accute Myelogenous Leukemia) & is now recovering from a bone marrow transplant. Things have went just fine so far. But I must drive her across half the state & into the next state every other week for a checkup. Tomorrow (Monday) morning we will be going there & so will be gone until late afternoon.
Next time we will probably revert to every other Thursday as thats our normal day.

 

[Marisa714]

To marisa714:
Thank you for the help with info.
I have also been reading the info at the web link you gave me. Thx.
It will take me some time to digest it all so don't be surprised If I take a day or two and then suddenly ask more questions.

Without giving out more info than she would like, my wife has had A.M.L. (Accute Myelogenous Leukemia) & is now recovering from a bone marrow transplant. Things have went just fine so far. But I must drive her across half the state & into the next state every other week for a checkup. Tomorrow (Monday) morning we will be going there & so will be gone until late afternoon.
Next time we will probably revert to every other Thursday as thats our normal day.

I'm very sorry to hear your wife has AML (or had?) And I'm very happy to hear the bone marrow transplant went well! I will be thinking of the both of you! Hope everything continues to go well. I completely understand if it will take you a few days, I'll be here anyways...I think I always am ;-)
I know the info at the link is a lot to digest, it's hard for me to keep it organized in my mind. I'm very happy your posting here for Maura!

Marisa

 

[docwho3]

I'm very sorry to hear your wife has AML (or had?) And I'm very happy to hear the bone marrow transplant went well! I will be thinking of the both of you! Hope everything continues to go well. I completely understand if it will take you a few days, I'll be here anyways...I think I always am ;-)
I know the info at the link is a lot to digest, it's hard for me to keep it organized in my mind. I'm very happy your posting here for Maura!

Marisa

Had

Things are going well now so far & we hope that continues.

I am hoping that while I digest things some of the super sleuths in the Taylor B. Forum will use their wonderful data gathering & analyzing talents & resources to run background checks, search out more info on everyone involved (including busdriver & neighbor) and generally show off their great skills in solving this soonest. And I mean that as a compliment & not sarcasm to them.

They are some really talented people and I won't mind "eating their dust" - lol.

The main thing is to resolve Maura's case the best way possible.

 

[docwho3]

I really need to go rest for tomorrow but one more little question:

When searching the area after of her disappearance was any tape found, maybe wadded up,such as reflective tape? - not the type that would be used to bind anyone.

 

[Marisa714]

I really need to go rest for tomorrow but one more little question:

When searching the area after of her disappearance was any tape found, maybe wadded up,such as reflective tape? - not the type that would be used to bind anyone.

Hmm...I'm not sure. I'll see if I can find anything though!

 

[murraydwyer]

A couple of points

One news report also states there is no cell coverage in the area but I have not confirmed that to be so. The buss driver was only 100 yards or so from home & so he went eastward to his home. He had trouble getting through to police. His neighbor called police but I don't know how neighbor knew to do that - whether busdriver asked him to or neighbor saw Maura. The police came within 10 minutes & yet Maura was gone when they arrived. Later it is reported someone saw Maura walking or jogging east on the road. And later a dog search is reported to have lost her scent on the road east near the busdrivers house. Docwho​

I have confirmed that there is no cell coverage. I had the same phone service with a dual band phone (meaning it would search for another type of signal)...if my memory serves me correctly, it wouldn't even go into search mode...forget what it said, but there was nothing.

The neighbor has told friends and family members that they heard a car accelerate (exactly what I did further east on that road when my car was losing power) and then a thud. Now I've wondered whether Maura might have gotten stuck and tried to get out of the snow on the side of the road??

 

[murraydwyer]

Thank you for Spotlighting Maura and Brianna. There are so many missing person, and every bit of attention to these cases helps.