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

[Ricochet]

I've heard that a few times, that there were no footprints. For how many miles was this? What if she ran a couple miles to get away from the scene and then crossed a driveway or ditch to get into the woods, old cabin etc. ? So there were no footprints from the road up even a driveway for a couple of miles? She had every reason to flee the accident. The Disappeared show mentioned a coke can that smelled like alcohol, a box red wine in the backseat and some pink liquid that had been poured in the snow beside the car. Since she was still on probation, she had very good reason to get away as fast as she could from the car wreck. I think she died from exposure however there might be a slim chance she took a ride with the wrong person who may or may not have stuffed the rag in her muffler. This rag is the one bit of evidence that doesn't fit the first scenario.

I really think the rag is a non issue, and likely something Fred, may have told her to do in case of emergencies or whatever, and not realizing it serves no purpose. I pretty much agree with everything else.

If she had been drinking then it would be logical that she would want to get away rather than face the consequences of a dwi. If that is the case I doubt she would take her time walking away and would more likely run. She wouldn't have had much, she was a distance runner, likely running on the road or to the side of the road where the snow wouldn't have been deep. I don't believe they used a blood hound, even though that's what they say in the disappeared episode. I believe they used a dog that tracks by air scent rather than ground scent. An air scent is easier lost than a ground scent, and blood hounds have been known to follow scents even when driving away in a car. I think she could of made it further down the road then what they thought. Also, assuming she had been drinking the alcohol would of made her more susceptible to hypothermia, and once that sets in logic can become severely impaired.

An argument could be made that she hitched a ride with someone asking them to take her someplace where she could get cell phone reception, and was abducted.

To me those are the only two likely scenarios. In either case the motive would be getaway from the scene, and avoid getting a dwi. She sobers up and explains away the alcohol opened in the crash.

 

[mnm55]

Just a quick question for anyone who thinks Maura "hitched" a ride from the accident scene.

Where would maura tell the person to take her?

Keep in mind, they were in the middle of nowhere, she wasn't that familiar with her location and she was close to three hours away from her dorm. Also, if she just wanted to be dropped off at some place safe, then why hitch a ride to begin with, when you can walk less than two miles to the open gas/convienence store you just passed before you had your wreck.

My assumption would be that she was offered a ride to the convenience store so she could use their pay phone. 2 miles in the pitch dark when it is cold is a long way on foot.

But what makes me 2nd guess that theory is the fact that she left her AAA card on the front seat of her car. That seemed really odd to me...AAA always asks for the info on the card when you place a call to them. Of course, it is debatable whether the AAA card left on the front seat of the car was fact or internet fiction.

However, while I am on the subject...what was left behind in her car and in her dorm room makes me wonder what type of message she was sending (if any). She packs all of the things in her dorm room and places them on her bed. She then places a copy of the email Billy sent to her which confesses some of his indiscretions. The email is placed prominently on top so it would be impossible to overlook. In her car she left behind the new gloves that the Rausch family gave her for the most recent Christmas, along with the AAA card from the Mr. and Mrs, Rausch. The expensive jewelry that Billy had bought her over the years was left in the car as was the stuffed monkey Billy had given her for what I think was their first Christmas together. It just seems so staged, both the dorm room and the car, to me anyway. And I was one that has fought the running away to a better life theory for quite some time--and still don't totally buy into it.

Possibly the plan was to only disappear for a few days--just enough to get everyone worried and then something terrible happened. I don't know. I just keep thinking that personally, I would have taken my laptop before packing my car with jewelry and a stuffed animal for a weekend trip.

I have one last thing I would like an opinion (or several) on. Why do you think she kept calling condo owners in an attempt to rent a condo? If it was only going to be for a few days, why not just swing into a roadside motel for a few days? I always thought that was odd also.

 

[Ricochet]

But what makes me 2nd guess that theory is the fact that she left her AAA card on the front seat of her car. That seemed really odd to me...AAA always asks for the info on the card when you place a call to them. Of course, it is debatable whether the AAA card left on the front seat of the car was fact or internet fiction.

It could be explained away that she took the card out and tried calling AAA not realizing there wasn't any service, was interrupted by the bus driver showing up, and accidentally leaving it behind when she left on foot.

I have one last thing I would like an opinion (or several) on. Why do you think she kept calling condo owners in an attempt to rent a condo? If it was only going to be for a few days, why not just swing into a roadside motel for a few days? I always thought that was odd also.

This is weird considering she didn't have a lot of money. I can't even think of something that would be somewhat logical.

 

[scoops]

My assumption would be that she was offered a ride to the convenience store so she could use their pay phone. 2 miles in the pitch dark when it is cold is a long way on foot.

But what makes me 2nd guess that theory is the fact that she left her AAA card on the front seat of her car. That seemed really odd to me...AAA always asks for the info on the card when you place a call to them. Of course, it is debatable whether the AAA card left on the front seat of the car was fact or internet fiction.

However, while I am on the subject...what was left behind in her car and in her dorm room makes me wonder what type of message she was sending (if any). She packs all of the things in her dorm room and places them on her bed. She then places a copy of the email Billy sent to her which confesses some of his indiscretions. The email is placed prominently on top so it would be impossible to overlook. In her car she left behind the new gloves that the Rausch family gave her for the most recent Christmas, along with the AAA card from the Mr. and Mrs, Rausch. The expensive jewelry that Billy had bought her over the years was left in the car as was the stuffed monkey Billy had given her for what I think was their first Christmas together. It just seems so staged, both the dorm room and the car, to me anyway. And I was one that has fought the running away to a better life theory for quite some time--and still don't totally buy into it.

Possibly the plan was to only disappear for a few days--just enough to get everyone worried and then something terrible happened. I don't know. I just keep thinking that personally, I would have taken my laptop before packing my car with jewelry and a stuffed animal for a weekend trip.

I have one last thing I would like an opinion (or several) on. Why do you think she kept calling condo owners in an attempt to rent a condo? If it was only going to be for a few days, why not just swing into a roadside motel for a few days? I always thought that was odd also.

Good Thoughts.

I have surmized that Maura wasn't wanting help that night. Help was all over the place if she wanted it. Several houses within feet of her car with people home and lights on. Anyone that is in need of help (Don't have cell phone reception and its cold as heck out) would all but have to cave in and seek it IMO, even if they at first just attempted to hide.

As easily as Maura hitching a ride and something sinister taking place, the exact opposite could've happened as well: She could've easily hitched a ride and a good samaratin takes her further east or even takes her to wherever she was truly wanting to go and that's the last of it). Some would say that is impossible, they would've spoke up had they picked maura up that night. But in reality, her case isn't as known publically as it would seem to be. There could be a good samaratin who came upon her that night and wasn't a local who was just driving through. Once they dropped her off to a location she told them to take her, they may have gone on about their lives and not put much thought back into that night.

As far as the condo thing goes. I believe she only attempted to call one condo owner and it was a condo owner her family was familiar with in the white mountains/bartlett area.

She had directions to Burlington Vermont on a notecard in her car (according to her father) and she also had directions in some form (or had been searching for routes to get to the Berkshires as well--likely found on her computer).

And she called the 1800-Go Stowe number as well

So you have
White Mountains (condo owner)
Burlington Vermont --- Place she was just at a few months earlier with her father hiking and climbing mountains
The Berkshires --- another place where she went hiking in the past.

To me there is a theme here. And why anyone would be up for going hiking in the middle of winter by themselves is beyond me.




From Boston Globe correspondent: (Written 12 days after maura went missing)

"Murray's father said he also discovered a note card that mentioned Burlington among many personal belongings she had packed in her car. The two last visited the northern Vermont city on Columbus Day weekend (october before she went missing, just four months earlier), when they hiked nearby Camel's Hump Mountain and Mount Mansfield."

 

[Coffeelover]

The Disapeared episode made it seem as though she was quite familiar with the area. She had been hiking in the area many times apparently.

About the condos, could she have inquired about condos and hotels not being very clued-in about the true costs, and then given up thinking 'forget it, I'll just go to a cheap motel?'

Yeah, I've also wondered if she hitched a ride (with a good samaritan) and actually got to another location and eventually perished. However it was evening and I doubt she would go directly to the intended hiking place. I would imagine that she would have gone directly to a motel.

 

[OldSteve]

Snipped:

I have surmized that Maura wasn't wanting help that night. Help was all over the place if she wanted it. Several houses within feet of her car with people home and lights on. Anyone that is in need of help (Don't have cell phone reception and its cold as heck out) would all but have to cave in and seek it IMO, even if they at first just attempted to hide..........

Don't forget RF's house that under construction and I assume empty ...

 

[mnm55]

Snipped:



Don't forget RF's house that under construction and I assume empty ...

I did not know RF's house was under construction and probably empty at that time. Where in the heck have I been for the last 9 years !!??! :banghead:

 

[McSpy]

My assumption would be that she was offered a ride to the convenience store so she could use their pay phone. 2 miles in the pitch dark when it is cold is a long way on foot.

But what makes me 2nd guess that theory is the fact that she left her AAA card on the front seat of her car. That seemed really odd to me...AAA always asks for the info on the card when you place a call to them. Of course, it is debatable whether the AAA card left on the front seat of the car was fact or internet fiction.

However, while I am on the subject...what was left behind in her car and in her dorm room makes me wonder what type of message she was sending (if any). She packs all of the things in her dorm room and places them on her bed. She then places a copy of the email Billy sent to her which confesses some of his indiscretions. The email is placed prominently on top so it would be impossible to overlook. In her car she left behind the new gloves that the Rausch family gave her for the most recent Christmas, along with the AAA card from the Mr. and Mrs, Rausch. The expensive jewelry that Billy had bought her over the years was left in the car as was the stuffed monkey Billy had given her for what I think was their first Christmas together. It just seems so staged, both the dorm room and the car, to me anyway. And I was one that has fought the running away to a better life theory for quite some time--and still don't totally buy into it.

Possibly the plan was to only disappear for a few days--just enough to get everyone worried and then something terrible happened. I don't know. I just keep thinking that personally, I would have taken my laptop before packing my car with jewelry and a stuffed animal for a weekend trip.

I have one last thing I would like an opinion (or several) on. Why do you think she kept calling condo owners in an attempt to rent a condo? If it was only going to be for a few days, why not just swing into a roadside motel for a few days? I always thought that was odd also.

BBM

Given Maura's age at the time, I always thought that she could have been naieve about things like that. Renting a condo is usually more involved and cannot be done on the fly. If I recall correctly, her dad rented a condo from the same woman for his family at one time. So, possibly, it came to mind when she was making plans to go north. JMO

 

[OldSteve]

Snipped from mnm55 above:

I have one last thing I would like an opinion (or several) on. Why do you think she kept calling condo owners in an attempt to rent a condo? If it was only going to be for a few days, why not just swing into a roadside motel for a few days? I always thought that was odd also.

That's a good point, and had not thought about it much.... now I'm wondering, why that condo versus a motel....
Just speculating - sounds like that she wanted to return to place she had been to with family before, perhaps trying to recapture memories of better days....

 

[scoops]

Snipped:



Don't forget RF's house that under construction and I assume empty ...

RF's house was under construction, but he lived on site in a trailer that was located in the yard next to the house.


I don't know what to make of his account of things, (Seeing someone as he was driving home from work). It sounds fishy, but there is nothing to prove he is lying either.


Since I love Google maps, here is a picture that shows everything from where the SBD lived to where maura wrecked to the contractors house.

When you first open the link and wait for it to fully open you have a view from Bradley Hill Rd. looking right the SBD's former house while to the left of his house down the road a bit is where maura wrecked.

If you use the tool in the top left hand corner and pan in a clock-wise direction with your mouse you can clearly see the finished house that RF built. Or from the middle of the screen you can half-circle left and see the contractors house as well. It is the brown house with all the windows.


Could've maura went to this house or the trailer on the property for help that night first? ...

NOTE: (Click at the top of th box where it says bath, NH on the link and it opens up a bigger screen that you can scroll around better on. Or you can just scroll in the little box as well (At least that's how it appears on my computer).

bath, nh - Google Maps

 

[Coffeelover]

Who is RF?

What if Maura actually made it to her destination and something happened to her there? Perhaps in Bartlett? Not very likely but perhaps it needs to be considered. Grasping at straws really.

 

[Jerri Blank]

However, while I am on the subject...what was left behind in her car and in her dorm room makes me wonder what type of message she was sending (if any). She packs all of the things in her dorm room and places them on her bed. She then places a copy of the email Billy sent to her which confesses some of his indiscretions. The email is placed prominently on top so it would be impossible to overlook. In her car she left behind the new gloves that the Rausch family gave her for the most recent Christmas, along with the AAA card from the Mr. and Mrs, Rausch. The expensive jewelry that Billy had bought her over the years was left in the car as was the stuffed monkey Billy had given her for what I think was their first Christmas together. It just seems so staged, both the dorm room and the car, to me anyway. And I was one that has fought the running away to a better life theory for quite some time--and still don't totally buy into it.

Possibly the plan was to only disappear for a few days--just enough to get everyone worried and then something terrible happened. I don't know. I just keep thinking that personally, I would have taken my laptop before packing my car with jewelry and a stuffed animal for a weekend trip.

bolded by me, snipped by me

i hadn't thought about the items in the car that way before... interesting.

being nit-picky i suppose, but it's worth noting that in early 2004 comparatively few people had laptops on campus.

i may need to go back and read more on this, but how "packed" was her room? i have heard totally from accounts online and i have heard a few bags on the bed from a friend of a friend.

 

[scoops]

bolded by me, snipped by me

i hadn't thought about the items in the car that way before... interesting.

being nit-picky i suppose, but it's worth noting that in early 2004 comparatively few people had laptops on campus.

i may need to go back and read more on this, but how "packed" was her room? i have heard totally from accounts online and i have heard a few bags on the bed from a friend of a friend.

I will trust (more) the words of someone that has no stake in maura's outcome, than what the family has been spoon-feeding the media.

This is an excerpt from an article done just eight days after maura went missing. A fellow nursing student who lived in maura's dorm, was shown her room to determine what she made of it. --- Keep in mind, she is not family and has no reason for spin.

The article is from one of two amherst newspapers (Daily Collegian)



"Chief Jeff Williams of the Haverhill Police Department does not think foul play was involved.
“Our concern is that she’s upset or suicidal, something the family was concerned about,” he told the Globe on Friday.
The accident took place along Route 112, about five miles away from Wells River, Vt., and a mile away from Swift Water Village by the Connecticut River.
Police used dogs, a helicopter and Fish and Game Officers to perform an immediate search around the crash site area and found nothing. The search has since been called off.
Murray is a junior nursing major, a Dean’s List student who works in a local art gallery.
Two UMPD officers, Detectives Chris Thrasher and Brian Davies and two counselors from Mental Health Services visited a junior nursing class, Parent-Child Nursing, on Friday afternoon. Joan Cully, administrative director of the Office for the Advancement of Nursing Education and Eileen Breslin, dean of the school of Nursing were also present at the meeting.
In addition, an email was written by Breslin, and released to the UMass nursing community. According to the email, Morray sent an email to her faculty Monday afternoon at 1:24 p.m. indicating she was heading home for the week due to a death in the family and that she would contact everyone when she returned.

Lindsay Pemberton, a junior nursing major, has the same class schedule as Murray and was present for the meeting on Friday. Pemberton told The Massachusetts Daily Collegian that staff in the nursing department spoke to Murray’s family, and were told that there were no recent family deaths.

“Also, her dorm room was all packed up, like she was planning on moving out,” said Pemberton.

 

[Riot]

These are some pictures of the Sprint Samsung SPH-A620 (Maura's phone) I bought a while back. Sorry they came out a bit blurry, but they should illustrate the red light on the front of the phone when closed. I also included a picture of the phone open to show the color of the keys. Note that now that I have fully charged the phone, that light isn't always red. Sometimes it is off, sometimes it blinks, and sometimes it is the same green color as the keys. I don't have Sprint, so I can't make calls with the phone or observe it in normal use. This means that I don't actually know how likely it would have been that it would have shown red the night Maura went missing, but I think it's a definite possibility.

Edit: I'm open to requests for additional pictures and will try to provide them in a timely manner, but no guarantees. =)

 

[Riot]

I will trust (more) the words of someone that has no stake in maura's outcome, than what the family has been spoon-feeding the media.

Lindsay Pemberton, a junior nursing major, has the same class schedule as Murray and was present for the meeting on Friday. Pemberton told The Massachusetts Daily Collegian that staff in the nursing department spoke to Murray’s family, and were told that there were no recent family deaths.

“Also, her dorm room was all packed up, like she was planning on moving out,” said Pemberton.

I completely agree with your point as to bias, but I have the following questions about this individual's account:

Did she see Maura's room firsthand, or is she reporting what she heard at the described meeting with police, counselors, and faculty?

If she did see the room firsthand, was she familiar with what Maura's dorm room typically looked like following a break?

It may be "obvious" to someone that Maura's room looked packed, but (from my understanding) we have very little to go on as to how she normally kept her room. Any conclusions we draw here that don't result from before AND after accounts are biased. (Our conclusions may not be wrong, or maliciously biased, but they would be biased nonetheless.)

 

[Riot]

. I just keep thinking that personally, I would have taken my laptop before packing my car with jewelry and a stuffed animal for a weekend trip.

I just wanted to comment quickly on this idea. Wi-fi wasn't as ubiquitous back then. I'm not even sure if, from my recollection, free in-room wired connections were common. A laptop in a motel in the middle of the woods (seemingly where she was aiming to go) would have been of marginal utility. My impression is that Maura wasn't much of a gamer.

 

[scoops]

I completely agree with your point as to bias, but I have the following questions about this individual's account:

Did she see Maura's room firsthand, or is she reporting what she heard at the described meeting with police, counselors, and faculty?

If she did see the room firsthand, was she familiar with what Maura's dorm room typically looked like following a break?

It may be "obvious" to someone that Maura's room looked packed, but (from my understanding) we have very little to go on as to how she normally kept her room. Any conclusions we draw here that don't result from before AND after accounts are biased. (Our conclusions may not be wrong, or maliciously biased, but they would be biased nonetheless.)

I agree with a lot of what you say in that in this case there are plenty of scenarios where we only have someone else'es interpretation to go off of and that can be a dangerous thing.

But I don't see it with a dorm room being packed or unpacked. It's an either/or situation. There is no gray area here. Police have also made the comment that her room was packed up completely, (art off the wall, drawers empty, everything packed in boxes and stacked on her bed).

I would not call this a "gray area" thing but more of a "Red Flag" thing similar to the rag found in maura's tailpipe and her father's unsual explanation.

This family hasn't been forthcoming (right or wrong). They have intentionally portrayed maura's and Billy's relationship as blissful when it was not.

And I would make the case that in several instances (dorm room, rag in tailpipe) the family has even gone as far as explaining away things as opposed to actually answering for them.

It is the family's right to handle this any way they see fit, but if this is really about getting down to the truth, the foggy accounts and details being left out isn't working and won't work, IMO.

 

[Riot]

The family does appear to be not entirely forthcoming, though I'm not sure how much of this appearance is the result nearly a decade of over-analyzing what little information we, the public, have been given.

My point about the dorm room is that, as I've posted before, I don't think it's entirely unreasonable for Maura to be unpacked 2 to 3 weeks into the semester, especially with a busy work schedule on top of school related activities. This is why I feel that we can't consider the state of her dorm room at all, without someone being able to come forward and say with certainty that "I saw the room before and after Maura went missing and it looked packed up after." I'd also like some resolution as to the printed document/email found with her dorm room items and where, specifically, it was found.

I'm having difficulty coming to terms with how much of what we "know" is pure hearsay.

 

[scoops]

The family does appear to be not entirely forthcoming, though I'm not sure how much of this appearance is the result nearly a decade of over-analyzing what little information we, the public, have been given.

My point about the dorm room is that, as I've posted before, I don't think it's entirely unreasonable for Maura to be unpacked 2 to 3 weeks into the semester, especially with a busy work schedule on top of school related activities. This is why I feel that we can't consider the state of her dorm room at all, without someone being able to come forward and say with certainty that "I saw the room before and after Maura went missing and it looked packed up after." I'd also like some resolution as to the printed document/email found with her dorm room items and where, specifically, it was found.

I'm having difficulty coming to terms with how much of what we "know" is pure hearsay.

I will say when it comes to the dorm, I just don't buy the conspiracy theory (that police are blatantly lying).

Here you have two different officers from two different states both investigating the case and both clearly stating (not that they think, but that they are certain) that maura had ALL of her things packed up in her dorm.

Now maybe one of the cops has gone rogue and is trying to cover up something and has something against the Murray's ... but two cops from two different states, each telling a blatant lie ... No I don't buy that one for a second.


January 2012
Retired F Troop Lt. Scarinza (was primary investigator into maura's dissapearance).

"All her belongings were in boxes. The sense was that she was leaving school."


Sometime in 2004
Lt. Scarinza F Troop Commander, working case at the time)

"Sometime between Sunday and Monday morning, she packed up all her belongings in her dorm room, to include taking all her pictures off the walls, taking everything out of her bureaus, [and] put them all in boxes [and] left [them] on her bed," Scarinza told WCVB-TV, "[She] left a personal note to her boyfriend on top of the boxes."


2004 Caldonian Record Feb 27
UMass Police Department Detective Brian Davies said Murray had packed up all her belongings in her dorm room and appeared to be moving out and not returning. (Davies was present for the initial dorm room search).

 

[Riot]

I'm not trying to insinuate a conspiracy theory, just that while you, me, or the police, might see a room with everything in boxes and think "packed to leave," that it's entirely plausible to draw another conclusion, "not yet unpacked." I don't think that we have the info to support either theory. As such, I would suggest that the state of Maura's dorm room shouldn't factor to any great extent into theories about what happened that weekend.