Maura Murray Msg 2/9/2004 Haverhill, NH

[wheezer]

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m196/wheezer5695/Coverjpeg-428x596.jpg

Sense of loss always there’; Weymouth father of missing woman will again comb New Hampshire woods where his daughter disappeared four years ago

Four years after her disappearance after an accident, Maura Murray’s family still has hope. Fred Murray of Weymouth, Maura’s father, hangs new copies of her picture on the tree her car struck in Haverhill, N.H. (File photo)

HANSON - Fred Murray will be up in New Hampshire this Saturday, making a trip that any parent would dread.

Murray, of Weymouth, is looking for his daughter, Maura, who was 21 on Feb. 9, 2004, the night her car skidded off Route 112 in Haverhill, N.H. It was the last reported sighting of the young woman.

‘‘I want to think she is still alive. I have to think that,’’ Murray said of his daughter. ‘‘Until I know otherwise, I have to think that.’’

Maura Murray, a Hanson native and University of Massachusetts student, apparently struck a snowbank and some trees with her car that night four years ago.

Police have long treated her disappearance as a missing person case, while family members have been steadfast in their belief that Maura was the victim of foul play.

Fred Murray and Maura’s mother, Laurie Murray of Hanson, both said that there are no new leads in the case.

‘‘Four years, and not a trace of her. No clue,’’ Laurie Murray said.

Maura Murray left her dormitory at the UMass-Amherst campus on Feb. 9 and drove to New Hampshire for reasons that are still unclear.

By the time police arrived at the accident scene, there was no trace of her. One witness said that he had seen her, but only for a moment.

Fred Murray is still trying to get the New Hampshire State Police to release their records in the case.

‘‘One, in particular, is the report of the State Police officer who was at the crash scene that evening,’’ Murray said. ‘‘He was riding around that area, and there is no accounting for what he saw, what he didn’t see, or where he went.’’

Murray said it is important for him to see that report ‘‘because we are trying to recreate the timeline,’’ of what may have happened to Maura that night.

Murray added that he would still like the FBI to get involved in the case, ‘‘because I want someone to get a fresh look at it.’’ But that agency won’t join the investigation, he said, unless the New Hampshire authorities ask them to.

‘‘The FBI offered to come in, but they were rebuffed,’’ Murray said.

Attempts to reach New Hampshire State Police Lt. John Scarinza, the investigator in charge of the case, were unsuccessful.

Laurie Murray said that her daughter’s disappearance ‘‘is still painful. It is mental torture, every day.’’

She is convinced Maura was abducted. ‘‘That is my personal feeling. And I do believe she is alive - and I do believe that she will come home.’’

Fred Murray said the pain of wondering about a missing child is constant.

‘‘The sense of loss is always there, always with you,’’ he said. ‘‘When you wake up in the morning, within 10 seconds you are aware of it.’’

So he will drive around Haverhill, N.H., today and once again head into the woods to look for any signs of Maura.

‘‘When I come out of the woods and I have not found anything, there is a sense of relief,’’ Murray said. ‘‘It keeps alive that slim flicker. I don’t want to find her dead.’’

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2008/02/09/news/news11.txt

[wheezer]

This is a website for Maura.
There are a lot of links. Please if you have time try to read everything. They talk about other missing college age students. Lots of pictures. My heart goes out to all of these families.
http://www.mauramurraymissing.com/

[Roamer]

How very sad. So long and no trace. I think he's wasting his time in the woods after four years, though. I wonder why LE isn't doing more here, such as turning over reports and letting the FBI come in.

[breezybidj]

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg241/LavandaDolce/Maura_Murray_MISSING_02092004_NH.jpg

[sarahhod]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_Murray

There is a really good timeline on the above link.

[packy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_Murray

There is a really good timeline on the above link.

Thanks, Sarahhod. It will soon be 5 years.

[sarahhod]

Yes, such a shame.

Lots of blogs and opnions on this case, but no factual updates unfortunately.

For Maura and her family.:1222423::1222423:

[sarahhod]

Group offering $75,000 for information on missing student

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO59219/

Monday, August 6, 2007

HAVERHILL, N.H. -- A missing persons' group is joining in the search for a Massachusetts college student who went missing in New Hampshire more than three years ago.

Arkansas-based Let's Bring Them Home is offering a $75,000 reward for information that could solve the mystery of what happened to Maura Murray.

The UMass Amherst nursing student disappeared on February 9, 2004.

Her car went off the road on Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire but she was nowhere to be found when police arrived.

Private investigators working on the case say they have several theories about what happened and haven't ruled out that Murray may have been abducted or killed.

Let's Bring Them Home also has a toll free tip line to gather information about Murray's disappearance.

[Grande]

updated 27 minutes ago
Student wrecks car on snowy road, disappears
By Rupa Mikkilineni

http://i33.tinypic.com/acpgsx.jpg http://i35.tinypic.com/2wef2pe.jpg http://i36.tinypic.com/24g87l5.jpg

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Every weekend for more than four years, Fred Murray has walked the road where his daughter, Maura, vanished. Family, friends and volunteers help him look in the woods and mountains near Haverhill, New Hampshire, for clues to what happened to her.

Maura Murray, a 21-year-old nursing student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, disappeared on a cold and snowy night in February 2004. She was last known to be driving from Massachusetts through New Hampshire. It is still unclear where she was heading in her black 1996 Saturn.

The car was found abandoned, its front end crashed against a tree. It apparently had skidded off a road at a sharp curve.

Shortly after the accident, a passing bus driver stopped and asked Murray if she needed help. She said no.

Ten minutes later, police arrived. Inside the crumpled Saturn, they found some of Murray's belongings -- school books, running gear, snack foods and alcohol -- police won't say what kind. But Murray was gone, along with her car keys and a backpack she always carried.

There was nothing to hint she'd be motivated to run away, according to her fiancé, William Rausch, and her father, Fred Murray. Watch why this cold case is a true mystery »

Maura Murray had just gotten engaged to Rausch, her college sweetheart and an Army lieutenant stationed in Oklahoma. They planned to marry after she graduated from nursing school in June 2005. She'd found a summer nursing job in Oklahoma. She had everything to look forward to.

"She was in good spirits and had no worries or reason to run away from her life," Fred Murray said.

Investigators initially operated under the theory that the dean's list student was troubled and had decided to escape from the demands of her life for a while. As a result, they did not immediately begin to look for her.

The search did not begin until 39 hours after her crashed car was found. When it finally got under way, helicopters, search dogs and ground teams covered the area near where Murray's car was found.

The dogs picked up her scent for about 100 yards, leading investigators along the road to an area between two homes. There, the dogs lost the trail.

Murray's credit cards and cell phone have not registered any activity since the night she disappeared, February 9, 2004.

Tom Shamshak, a private investigator hired by the Murray family to continue the search, said police and volunteers looked for her for two days.

"No footprints were even found in the snow," he said. "Luckily there hadn't been any fresh snowfall in those two days."

Shamshak has concluded that only two scenarios could explain what happened to Murray. Either she was picked up by someone driving on the road, or she walked to a nearby house to ask for help.

Police say they did not treat Murray's case as an abduction because they saw no signs of a struggle at the scene.

Before she left campus, police learned, Murray had e-mailed her professors and informed them she'd be absent for a few days because of a death in the family. Murray's family and friends said no one in the family had died.

Police also noted that Murray had enough food and other items in her car to suggest she might be taking a short getaway vacation.

Murray is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, 120 pounds, with brown hair and blue-green eyes. She was last seen wearing a dark coat and jeans and carrying a black backpack and Samsung cell phone.

A $40,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to her whereabouts or the arrest of the person responsible for her disappearance. The tip line is 603-271-2663, New Hampshire State Police.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/25/grace.coldcase.murray/index.html

[nanabillie]

I don't understand how there were NO footprints anywhere. The dogs followed her scent to the houses, so, how could there be no scent. Unless someone that lived in one of the houses picked her up in a car and took her there. Shouldn't there still be prints in the snow headed to the road? Maybe they were disturbed by emergency workers. It is hard to imagine that SOMEONE she was friends with knew where she was going and why she emailed everyone with the story of a death in the family.
Seems nothing fits, to me. I sure wish they could find her. Alive.

[Grande]

<Snipped>

"A rag from Maura's emergency roadside kit was discovered stuffed into the Saturn's muffler pipe."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_Murray

[nanabillie]

<Snipped>

"A rag from Maura's emergency roadside kit was discovered stuffed into the Saturn's muffler pipe."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_Murray

I had not read that before.

[annalyzer]

http://www.myspace.com/mauramurraymissing2

[Nut44x4]

Posted: Saturday, 07 February 2009 6:15PM

After 5 years, few leads on missing Mass. student

Five years after a 21-year-old University of Massachusetts student disappeared, police still don't know what happened to her.

Maura Murray disappeared in February 2004 after a minor car crash in Haverhill, N.H. Police arrived at the scene minutes later, but she was gone.

The Hanson, Mass., woman had told professors and friends at the Amherst campus that she would miss a week of class because of a death in the family. But her family said that wasn't true.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin said authorities are still working hard to figure out what happened. He added police believe Maura Murray could have run away and is living elsewhere.

Her father, Fred Murray, says he's "100 percent" certain his daughter was a victim of foul play.

Investigators say the only way to know for sure may be if someone comes forward.

http://wbz.com/pages/3807992.php?contentType=4&contentId=3484957

[sarahhod]

Five years later, case frustrates family

Associated Press / February 8, 2009

CONCORD, N.H. - It's been five years since 21-year-old nursing student Maura Murray vanished from the scene of a car crash in Haverhill, N.H., and investigators say they still don't know what happened to the Massachusetts woman that night.

Murray packed up her school books and drove to northern New Hampshire on Feb. 9, 2004, eventually heading east on Route 112, a rural road that cuts through the White Mountain National Forest. She had told her friends and professors at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst that she would miss a week of class because of a death in the family, but relatives have said that wasn't true.

About 7 p.m., police received reports of a crash along the desolate road. When they arrived three to four minutes later, they found the Hanson woman's car with minor damage, but Murray was nowhere to be found.

"I'm totally befuddled," said John Healy, president of the New Hampshire League of Investigators, a group of private investigators volunteering on the case for four years.

"The thing that is really, really tough for us, and it's got to be tough for the State Police, is the time frame. Literally, this was in a blink of an eye," said Healy. "Did a car stop? Did she walk away? We just don't know that."

The mystery has been especially hard on Murray's family. Her father, Fred, has been pushing the New Hampshire State Police and the attorney general's office for answers, but because the case is still under investigation, they have revealed little about what they've found.

"She was just 200 yards down the road when [police] got there, two minutes worth," he said. "All they had to do is go grab her and they didn't. If they did, she'd be here with me now."

Fred Murray has been critical of state investigators because he believes they didn't look for his daughter quickly enough and were slow to follow up on leads. They aren't telling him what they're doing, he said, or if any progress has been made.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin says the case is still open and active.

Healy, a former State Police lieutenant, said investigators have not shelved the case.

"Trust me, these people are working their tails off," he said.

But Murray is frustrated after years of battling with investigators. He believes if he knew what they knew, he could put together a timeline of the night and, he hopes, a clearer picture of what happened.

"I want to put it together again from the beginning, but I don't want one arm tied behind my back," said Murray. "I want the public to know that the police have been asked, 'What did your guys do?' and they won't say."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2009/02/08/five_years_later_case_frustrates_family/

[sarahhod]

Published: May 01, 2009 02:06 am

NH may get cold case unit

By James A. Kimble
jkimble@eagletribune.com

CONCORD — Supporters of establishing a cold case unit to investigate unsolved homicides and missing person cases hope they took one step closer yesterday to getting a proposal past the Senate.
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from the bill's prime sponsor and several others who say such a unit could bring justice to families who have grieved for years about the unsolved murder of a loved one.
New Hampshire has 92 unsolved homicides and several missing person cases that would likely become murder cases if more evidence were developed in those cases, according to Assistant Safety Commissioner Earl Sweeney.
"We do feel that 10 to 15 percent of these cases could be successfully worked on," Sweeney said. "There's a family behind every one of those cases."
Sweeney, who supports the bill, said unsolved murder cases are now only worked on as time allows.
"You have investigators working on a case and when a new one comes in, you have to go and work on that case," Sweeney said. "In the best of all worlds, I would like to see this (unit) fully funded."
Families said they have seen how the lack of manpower has affected investigations firsthand.
Ann Marie Gloddy-Ring, a Franklin native, told lawmakers she and her sisters are still mourning the 1971 rape and murder of her 13-year-old sister Kathy.
"We've had to live with this and no one has been brought to justice," she said.
The investigation has been restarted and stalled over the years, in part because there isn't a dedicated focus on it, she said.
Private investigators testified that more recent cases have suffered the same fate due to a lack of resources.
John Healy, a former state trooper, said he and several other private investigators have been working to solve the 2004 disappearance of Maura Murray, a case now believed to be a homicide.
After two searches of a wooded area in Haverhill, N.H., where Murray's car went off the road, searchers found two pieces of possible evidence, he said. That evidence, which Healy wouldn't describe, is now in the hands of the state attorney general's office.
"This case needs attention, it needs special attention so the evidence doesn't go cold," Healy said.
He said about 10 private investigators have been working on the Murray case pro bono.
The bill establishing a cold case unit is being proposed by Rep. Peyton Hinkle, R-Merrimack. He was inspired four years ago to begin working on a proposal after reading about the 1971 murders of two girls in nearby Candia.
Hinkle first proposed tapping two state police detectives and a part-time prosecutor with the attorney general's office for a two-year pilot program.
The bill has passed in the House. Sweeney offered an amendment yesterday after conferring with the attorney general's office about expanding the unit as safety officials see fit. There would be no sunset date on the unit, but they would still make an annual report to lawmakers under Sweeney's amendment.
He also wants the attorney general to have the power to seek funding that could be tapped from economic stimulus money or a variety of other grants.
Sweeney said his office investigated whether the unit could tap federal COPS grants, but learned only local communities could use them to increase police department ranks. Sen. Robert Letourneau, R-Derry, wondered if there was a way local police departments could apply for the grants as a way to funnel personnel into the unit.
Hinkle said he hopes the Judiciary Committee will recommend passage to the full Senate. He said it may come to the Senate floor by next week.

http://www.eagletribune.com/punewsnh/local_story_121020508.html?keyword=topstory

[FoolsGold]

About 7 p.m., police received reports of a crash along the desolate road. When they arrived three to four minutes later, they found the Hanson woman's car with minor damage, but Murray was nowhere to be found.Young girls in such a situation do not start hotfooting it on a long hike into the next town. They stay by their vehicle or seek assistance at a nearby lighted house. This does not change because of white lies uttered on campus, recent auto accidents, recent problems with alcohol or presence of alcohol in the car. Tow truck operators and local cops/cop-wannabees, local residents... that should be the focus.

[Audie]

Vanished: Two Coeds, Two Horrifying Mysteries, One Finally Solved
Brooke Wilberger's Remains Found, Perpetrator Behind Bars; But What About Maura Murray?

By DONNA HUNTER
Sept. 21, 2009

http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/vanished-brooke-wilbergers-remains-found-coed-case/Story?id=8634304&page=1

[nanabillie]

I so wish they could find out about Maura. Just so her family could have some peace of mind. I just don't know how a parent lives day to day just not knowing what happened to their precious child.

[nanabillie]

I wonder if they have any clue why she said she had a death in the family and would miss classes for a week. I wonder if her family has any idea.

[FoolsGold]

I wonder if they have any clue why she said she had a death in the family and would miss classes for a week. I'd not be particularly concerned about little white lies that may be perfectly innocent ploys to gain a measure of privacy for a while. I think whatever happened to her happened near in both time and place to the accident.

Whatever privacy she wanted at her ultimate destination and whatever need for a short break there was, one thing remains: she was in the middle of nowhere and had no reason to venture beyone the nearest well-lit house.

[Amusedtdth]

After reading all this I'm beginning to wonder if she actually left college at all. Previous articles said Maura emailed her professors and friends that she'd be gone, heck, anyone can do that from her computer......no one left by the car, accident could have been staged. I wonder if this theory had ever been explored.

[Nut44x4]

I do find it odd that hunters have not found her remains in all this time.

[Amusedtdth]

And her father searchs those wood quite diligently as well....I really think something happend at college and the rest is a cover up
jmho

[nanabillie]

Are you from that area Fool?

[nanabillie]

http://www.enterprisenews.com/lifestyle/x870205156/Social-networking-sites-become-valuable-tool-in-cold-cases

Social networking sites become ‘valuable tool’ in cold cases

By Maureen Boyle
GateHouse News Service
Posted Nov 09, 2009 @ 01:19 PM

BROCKTON, Mass. —
Families and investigators searching for clues in missing persons cases are turning to online social networking sites, hoping to tap potential witnesses throughout the country and world.
“It has become the first line of defense for some families,” said Helena Murray, aunt of Maura Murray, a college student who went missing in Woodsville, N.H., five years ago.
“It is one way to get the person’s name and picture out there to as many people as you can,” she said.
Investigators have three social networking pages for the missing Jennifer Fay — two on Facebook and one on MySpace. There, announcements about the case are made, events to help pay for searches are posted, and people can post thoughts on the “wall.” Tipsters can also e-mail information to the account. Fay went missing in 1989 in Brockton.
“It is far less threatening than having someone come to your home,” said Michelle Littlefield, part of the private investigative team working on the disappearance of Fay.
There is a page on MySpace for Murray; one for Andy Puglisi of Lawrence, who was 10 when he disappeared in 1976, another for Billy Smolinski, who went missing in Waterbury, Conn., in 2004 at age 31.
There are pages pleading for help to find the killers of Molly Bish, the 16-year-old Warren lifeguard whose remains were found three years after her 2000 abduction; Kathy Lynn Gloddy, the 13-year-old found dead in Franklin, N.H. in 1971, and Patty Gonyea, 17, of Worcester, who was killed in 1984.
And as more older adults sign on to sites such as Facebook and MySpace, the sites are fast becoming promising tools in older cases, such as the Fay disappearance.
Forty-six percent of online Americans age 18 or older use a social networking site, such as MySpace or Facebook as of this year.
That’s up from 8 percent in 2005, according to a study by The Pew Internet and Research Project.
That older demographic may make it easier to find new potential witnesses.
Littlefield poured through yearbooks, Internet pages and other social networking groups to “invite” Fay’s former classmates and neighbors to become “friends” or “fans” on the missing teen’s pages.
“We have been trying over the years to reach out to people through traditional methods: through phone calls, visits to their residences,” Littlefield said. “This was the easiest and quickest way to reach out to people.”
For example, “Jennifer Lynn Fay” has 830 friends and “Jennifer Fay is Missing” has 266 fans on Facebook — but just a handful on MySpace where a younger audience turns. Maura Murray has 1,689 friends on MySpace.
“It is a valuable tool,” Maura’s aunt said. “Her name is all over the world. Other people will pick you up through the networking and spread the information. We have gotten e-mails from England and Ireland.”
Raynham Police Chief Louis J. Pacheco, one of the founders of the national High Tech Crime Consortium, said social networking sites are used by police for a variety cases. “Anything that the site does can be used for general police work,” he said. “It has become a completely routine part of an investigation.”
In the Fay case, information gathered through the social networking sites provided some “promising leads,” Littlefield said.
“It has already provided some new leads, new information,” she said. Whether it pans out to finding Fay remains uncertain, she cautioned.
Fay’s mother, Dotti MacLean, said she was surprised by the response through the social networking sites.
“There were only a few friends that I knew of that she had in Brockton,” she said. “Now, there are hundreds on Facebook, some I hope did know her back then and may know something that can help us find her.”
Fay’s family is now spreading the word of an upcoming vigil and walk in Brockton.
The vigil for the 20th anniversary of her disappearance will start at 5 p.m. on Saturday at St. Edith Stein Church, 71 East Main St., Brockton, and those in attendance will retrace Fay’s last known steps in the city.
Fay went missing on Nov. 14, 1989, in Brockton, where her family then lived. She was last seen on Broad Street after leaving her family’s home. Her mother later moved to Rockland and now lives in Raynham.
“I still hope, every year, that somebody will come forward and tell us where Jennifer is,” MacLean said. “I hope every year one of those kids, whoever knows what happened to her, will please put this to rest, let her come home, just let me find her. Then I can move on.”
Enterprise writer Maureen Boyle can be reached at mboyle@enterprisenews.com (mboyle@enterprisenews.com).







Copyright © 2009 GateHouse Media, Inc. (http://www.gatehousemedia.com/) Some Rights Reserved.
Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/) license, except where noted (http://www.enterprisenews.com/license_exceptions).

[nanabillie]

Musey, I think you may be on to something. I had never thought of that. It just really worried me that no one had any idea why Maura would make up a story like that.
I just wonder if she was picked up by someone. Someone who decided not to let her go.

[Amusedtdth]

Sounded like a plausible sceniero to me Billie I just wonder if anyone else, like LE thought on that level because it was never mentioned but it could certainly happen.

[Audie]

Bump

[AmyE]

After reading all this I'm beginning to wonder if she actually left college at all. Previous articles said Maura emailed her professors and friends that she'd be gone, heck, anyone can do that from her computer......no one left by the car, accident could have been staged. I wonder if this theory had ever been explored.


I have to agree. I think the car being wrecked and the email sent from the computer was all staged. I don't think Maura done any of this. The only thing that gets me is the bus driver saying he stopped by the crash scene and asked Maura for a ride. Maybe it was not Maura. All is JMO!

[Nut44x4]

Network highlights mysterious case of Maura Murray
By Kristin Palpini
Staff Writer
Published on February 05, 2010

University of Massachusetts student Maura Murray's disappearance along Route 112 six years ago will be the subject of an Investigation Discovery television program set to air Monday night.

Murray, then a 21-year-old UMass honors student and athlete studying for her nursing degree, went missing Feb. 9, 2004, after her car swerved off a windy road in Haverhill, N.H., 140 miles from her Amherst dorm.

She was never found, and an investigation by the New Hampshire State Police remains open. Her family has hired private investigators to find Murray and, in an attempt to aid the private search, fought with state officials to release more information surrounding the police investigation.

Murray's story will be featured in an episode of "Disappeared," a program that features missing person cases, on the Investigation Discovery channel Feb. 8 at 10 p.m. The show focuses on Murray's last known whereabouts and actions just prior to her vanishing. Filming was done on the UMass campus and the surrounding area for the episode.

Series executive producer Elizabeth Fischer, of NBC's Peacock Productions, said "Disappeared" was drawn to Murray's story by the compelling mystery it presents and the conviction of her family, which is still searching for her.

"How could a young woman be at the site of a car crash one moment and simply vanish the next?" Fischer said. "We were also moved by the devotion her family and friends showed right after she disappeared and still to this day. Her father, in particular, has been through so much. The way he expresses his despair is so relatable for any parent watching."

Murray, a Hanson native, disappeared after crashing into a snowbank at around 7 p.m. near the Vermont border. A witness offered help, but Murray refused it and told the witness not to call 911, according to investigators cited in Gazette articles. The witness called anyway, but by the time police arrived, Murray was gone along with her cell phone and credit cards. Many other personal items were still in the locked vehicle, according to "Disappeared" producers.

Earlier that day, she had emailed professors saying she wouldn't be in class all week because of a family problem, Gazette articles said. She withdrew $280 from an ATM and headed north to the White Mountains where her family had regularly vacationed.

In the days following Murray's disappearanc,e a police dog tracked her scent for 100 yards before losing it. A police helicopter search also turned up no evidence. Her boyfriend received strange telephone messages he thought were from Murray.

According to "Disappeared" producers there were several potential sightings of Murray shortly after her vanishing. Moments after and nearby the crash site, a local resident said he saw a young person run onto a dirt road and another person claimed to have seen Murray at a store in Hillsboro, N.H., with an older man. She was silently mouthing the words, "Help me," the person said.

Murray is listed as an endangered missing adult by the National Center for Missing Adults.

http://www.amherstbulletin.com/story/id/164937/