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

[scoops]

This video is so sad. It really made me think about how Maura must have felt after the accident-scared with no idea what to do next. It was dark, and she didn't take anything with her when she left the accident site. Just locked the car and left. But where did she go and how did she get there? My theories seem to change daily concerning Maura's case. Wish some new info would come out. I don't see any more avenues to sleuth!

She did take her backpack and a few bottes of alcohol with her.

 

[MysteryMaven]

She did take her backpack and a few bottes of alcohol with her.

The problem with this case is that there is a lot of conflicting information out there, and its hard to tell what details are verified by LE as correct. Is there a link to the verified information that her backpack and some bottles were missing? I have heard different accounts on this.

 

[MysteryMaven]

Anyone can force the details to fit in any scenario it seems, whether they are verified as true or not. This board needs some verified facts. Is there access to a police report that shows what was left in the car?

 

[McSpy]

I talked with him a few years ago. I showed a photo of the Saturn to several well experienced autobody guys in western MA and asked them what they thought happened to the front of the car. I asked them in a very neutral, non-leading way. "How do you think this happened?" They all said roughly the same thing. But one of them immediately recognized the Saturn and told me he had seen it in Amherst before it was found in NH. He recognized it and said it had the "ripples" in the hood. He then went on to describe the Corolla, which he had seen close-up on Monday, and he had talked with the police who were inspecting the Corolla very carefully.

Presumably, if the cops looking at the Corolla knew its owner, which they did, then they also knew from RMV records about his ownership of the Saturn, which at that point was still a few hours from being discovered abandoned on 112 in Haverhill NH. Considering the fact that the police were looking for a vehicle that might be involved in a potential case of motor vehicle homicide, it seems logical to assume they would want to know where the Saturn was, too.

Since the autobody guy had already talked with police about what he knew, I saw no harm in posting that information - years old by then - online. A few hours later, after dark, someone lightly vandalized my backyard. They stripped the cables from my lawnmower and threw around some cross-sections of a recently felled maple tree. This neighborhood is an exceptionally safe one. In over 20 years there was not the slightest vandalism that I ever even heard of. No breaks, no suspicious persons around, nothing. It seemed that mentioning the Corolla inspection online and the vandalism were most likely connected, like it was a message. Maybe they got scared off when they must have tripped a motion detector light in the backyard.

It's a weird and hard thing to explain.

I'm assuming the Corolla was Fred's car. Maybe the auto body guy didn't say anything to the police about the Saturn and you thought he did say something? I'm not sure the police would see both records of the cars, unless they consciously looked to see if Fred owned more than one car. Wouldn't they just call up the plate number for the car they were interested in? The Saturn wouldn't show up in that case. Fred wasn't driving the car in the Amherst accident, so I don't think there was any need for the police to scrutinize him. I could be wrong though.

 

[scoops]

Anyone can force the details to fit in any scenario it seems, whether they are verified as true or not. This board needs some verified facts. Is there access to a police report that shows what was left in the car?

The problem with this is that there is not one link to show that maura left with her backpack and a couple of bottles of alcohol.

But pouring over the police report, missing person posters, statements made by family members ... you can put 2 and 2 together to come up with 4.


Police did find a liquor store receipt in maura's car from the monday she went missing and (not all the alcohol was accounted for). the smashed wine box she purchased was left behind in the car, the other alcohol was not.

On an early missing poster for her, the items that were missing from her car that were known to be in her possession were her cell phone and a black back-pack.


everything else was found in her car or back in her dorm room.

 

[Swamp Fox Trot]

Some people won't accept cold hard logic interfering with their desired outcome . . . as for me I think Scoops is right about everything.

 

[AWOLNATION]

Going on over 8 years and still no resolve. Its pretty amazing that with the main tent poles of the disappearance they generated so many theories, some logical, some plausible, some not so much, and then the downright bizzare. Pieces of information chewed over, spit out, and redone over again. Its like a bad game of "telephone" with the info that is out there, I wonder how much of it has been taken way out of context or have had too much emphasis put on it and reality its just moot and is distracting. My hat goes off to all of y'all for thinking the way you do. I hope and pray someday the next bit of info we have to go on is the reality of what happened.

 

[OldSteve]

After looking at this video again, and seeing the ending photo of Maura and Fred, I just cannot believe she would would commit suicide without leaving a note, a letter, something for her father.
Now, it's possible she may have had ending-it-all on her mind, we'll never know, but I believe regardless of whatever was playing on her mind, she never got to act upon it - as her journey was cut short by the crash, and events that followed.

Maura Murray's Last Known Drive - YouTube

 

[scoops]

After looking at this video again, and seeing the ending photo of Maura and Fred, I just cannot believe she would would commit suicide without leaving a note, a letter, something for her father.
Now, it's possible she may have had ending-it-all on her mind, we'll never know, but I believe regardless of whatever was playing on her mind, she never got to act upon it - as her journey was cut short by the crash, and events that followed.

Maura Murray's Last Known Drive - YouTube

I am in the circle of folks that believes she caught a ride (away from her accident). But where i differ, is that I think she caught an innocent ride from a passerby who just wanted to help and I believe they took her the rest of her way to her destination or at least much closer to her destination.

I think instead of spending the night in a hotel and writing a note after heavy drinking, that maura just went ahead straight to the trails.

That is based on no proven evidence, just my theory.

I also believed she locked up her car knowing it would be towed and knowing that her belongings and the accident forms she had for her father would eventually get to him.

 

[Alden Howes Olson]

I am in the circle of folks that believes she caught a ride (away from her accident). But where i differ, is that I think she caught an innocent ride from a passerby who just wanted to help and I believe they took her the rest of her way to her destination or at least much closer to her destination.

I think instead of spending the night in a hotel and writing a note after heavy drinking, that maura just went ahead straight to the trails.

That is based on no proven evidence, just my theory.

I also believed she locked up her car knowing it would be towed and knowing that her belongings and the accident forms she had for her father would eventually get to him.

I would mostly agree with this. She was, like it or not, a party girl. She had the kind and amount of booze with her that would be taken to a party. It's of course just my humble opinion here, but I would guess she was headed to a party when she spun out at the WB curve, which is no big deal. Just leave the car on the side of the road for now and come back later. There's no reason to think she didn't make it to the party. No one was looking for her until Wednesday, by which time it was apparently too late to find her. Would be interesting to know if she or someone else came back to the WB curve expecting to find the Saturn still there. Would also be interesting to know if she knew someone at the party who had worked on a tennis court at the Goshen house.

 

[The Farm]

If Maura was on her way to a party then why hasn't anyone come forward?>???
People slip after awhile most times.

 

[Alden Howes Olson]

If Maura was on her way to a party then why hasn't anyone come forward?>???
People slip after awhile most times.

Good point. Something to think about.

 

[raine1212]

Please keep discussion on Maura..

 

[Alden Howes Olson]

Please keep discusion on Maura..

Good idea. I didn't start this "line of questions" thing, but it had to be answered. I'm all for getting back to something beside the "true" meaning of the videos.

 

[AWOLNATION]

My thoughts on theories have ebbed and flowed, at this point, to me, it feels like she may have gotten farther down the road than initially thought and succumbed to the elements either on purpose or by misfortune. I've read about the searches that were done and they seemed pretty local in comparison to how further out they could have expanded. Say for instance, they were to conduct a search between 10-12 miles east of the accident and West of it, then work back. With the publicity this case has taken on, almost 9 years later I personally don't feel there would be a shortage of volunteers. I'd travel from Mass to be part of a larger search, and I know numerous people from states further away who have had the opinion that they would help and that distance is not a problem when you have a chance at truth. So many people ready and willing, it would be nice for the family to announce a new search effort before snowfall or something. Unless, there's news being withheld that would make the search effort moot and a waste of time and maybe why there hasn't been anything on the search front since really the beginning. Whatever happens, no matter your opinion, I think we're all here to help and to somehow bring some closure.

–this is AWOLNATION

 

[McSpy]

I would mostly agree with this. She was, like it or not, a party girl. She had the kind and amount of booze with her that would be taken to a party. It's of course just my humble opinion here, but I would guess she was headed to a party when she spun out at the WB curve, which is no big deal. Just leave the car on the side of the road for now and come back later. There's no reason to think she didn't make it to the party. No one was looking for her until Wednesday, by which time it was apparently too late to find her. Would be interesting to know if she or someone else came back to the WB curve expecting to find the Saturn still there. Would also be interesting to know if she knew someone at the party who had worked on a tennis court at the Goshen house.

Why it be interesting to know if she knew someone who worked on a tennis court at the Goshen House?

 

[McSpy]

My thoughts on theories have ebbed and flowed, at this point, to me, it feels like she may have gotten farther down the road than initially thought and succumbed to the elements either on purpose or by misfortune. I've read about the searches that were done and they seemed pretty local in comparison to how further out they could have expanded. Say for instance, they were to conduct a search between 10-12 miles east of the accident and West of it, then work back. With the publicity this case has taken on, almost 9 years later I personally don't feel there would be a shortage of volunteers. I'd travel from Mass to be part of a larger search, and I know numerous people from states further away who have had the opinion that they would help and that distance is not a problem when you have a chance at truth. So many people ready and willing, it would be nice for the family to announce a new search effort before snowfall or something. Unless, there's news being withheld that would make the search effort moot and a waste of time and maybe why there hasn't been anything on the search front since really the beginning. Whatever happens, no matter your opinion, I think we're all here to help and to somehow bring some closure.

–this is AWOLNATION

I agree. A search further away from the accident site makes sense. It can't hurt. At least, the area can be ruled out if nothing is found. I would come up too-- and bring my dog. He's great at finding things.

One time I went on Google map's street view of 112 and 16. I traveled all the way up those routes. As we all know, there are a lot of trees and it is pretty rugged for miles. She could be there. Even finding her backpack may help move the case along. JMO

 

[OldSteve]

I agree. A search further away from the accident site makes sense. It can't hurt. At least, the area can be ruled out if nothing is found. I would come up too-- and bring my dog. He's great at finding things.

One time I went on Google map's street view of 112 and 16. I traveled all the way up those routes. As we all know, there are a lot of trees and it is pretty rugged for miles. She could be there. Even finding her backpack may help move the case along. JMO

Yes, searching is always good! I'm always taken aback when I see ID crime/missing persons shows in which after major searches have taken place, a few people come along and find the body in an area that's been searched or an area just outside what was searched such as was the case in the Molly Bish case.

 

[AWOLNATION]

Yes, searching is always good! I'm always taken aback when I see ID crime/missing persons shows in which after major searches have taken place, a few people come along and find the body in an area that's been searched or an area just outside what was searched such as was the case in the Molly Bish case.

Exactly. The other piece that can't be overlooked, as far as distance is concerned, is that who knows if she was abducted or accepted a ride and managed to escape from the vehicle further down the road. Could have escaped off into an area not searched.

–this is AWOLNATION

 

[McSpy]

Yes, searching is always good! I'm always taken aback when I see ID crime/missing persons shows in which after major searches have taken place, a few people come along and find the body in an area that's been searched or an area just outside what was searched such as was the case in the Molly Bish case.

This is where you need dogs. If Maura is out there, she may be off the beaten path---- not where hunters or hikers frequent. She could be close to the road, but not in a spot where people could see anything, especially after eight years.