Where is MAURA MURRAY

hi all.who were the first people into Mauras room in amherst after she vanished.was it nh sp or umass poice.were any family members present.it was reported Maura left a note in her room but it was denied by the family.take care philip

I believe Billy was present, and that it was in fact the UMass police. Can anyone confirm that Billy was there?

It would not have been NHSP because they have absolutely NO jurisdiction in Massachusetts. Pretty sure that even if Amherst town police had been there, that UMass police would also have been there, since they're the first people on the list when something goes wrong on campus.

Hello all,

Just one last post for the night (here on the other side of the globe):

Today (or rather yesterday) I read an interesting and thought-provoking news piece in a Swedish paper.

A Stockholm lady had crashed her car into a building in a small Swedish town some 80 or 90 miles from Stockholm.
Police was called to the site of the accident, and it soon emerged that the lady driver was suffering from some kind of severe amnesia, leading her to believe that she was still driving around in Stockholm, while in fact having driven 80-90 miles from there without realising it.

The local police also found out that the driver had actually suffered a similar crash in Stockholm one or two days previously.

This story very much reminds me of Maura crashing her father´s new Toyota on the road between Amherst and Hadley and then most likely suffering at least one other crash in Haverhill a few days later (provided of course that she did in fact drive the Saturn to Haverhill).

Good night all...

hi firecat and all.when i spoke with a detective at umass they said the case was a nhsp case originally. i originally called them about the non existing gag order that was reported on the old forum.they told me that nhsp took the case over 'right after she vanished'.that is a really good quetion about Billy Rausch or any other family member being present.what was the timeline for this.Maura vanished on Monday, when was the dorm room checked.di Maura have an answering machine in her room.could any family member look at Mauras cell phone bill for her recieved calls if so who called and who did not take care philip

Alden,

Elsie, thanks for the endearment (LOL). Yes, there are people out there, like myself, whom are concerned about all of the missing persons and unsolved homicides in such a concentrated area throughout the past 20 years.

I grew up travelling those highway corridors and was never once warned that I was a moving target for a serial rapist/killer. If nothing more, the pubicity of Maura's case has placed young women on alert.

It has been stated by (2) experts that I admire, respect, and trust that the person(s) responsible for Maura's dissapearance have done it before will do it again!

It was not until I came across Silky's/Beth's maps (on the NHSP website) did the big picture become reality for me shortly after learning about Brianna and Maura. Thanks to Helena, Lady Gray, and Norma on Maura's forum I've been able to learn a lot about each missing persons and unsolved homicide case individually.

Euro,

Sorry, I only go online in the early a.m. and then I am outdoors the rest of the day.

1Anne has written into the forum with her accounts of what she heard that night on the scanner. There was a previous accident and a woman left in a private vehicle.

Det Columbo and others (whom I respect and trust) believe Maura's car was staged.

I specifically inquired about the crack in the windshield and it was explained to me that it was from the outside. What caused the crack was something metal from above.

I'm spending the rest of the morning trying to pull up the newly released (full version) of the Grafton County Police logs.

7:00 p.m. is important to the timeline, IMHO.

elsewherebriefly wrote:

I specifically inquired about the crack in the windshield and it was explained to me that it was from the outside. What caused the crack was something metal from above.

Else,

Thanks for your work. Several questions about the crack in the glass, if you don't mind my asking.

When did you ask about the crack?

Was the car still in the field at that time?

Was the opinion based on looking only at the photos? Or by looking at the car itself?

Were there any metal fragments embedded in the glass? Which might indicate a certain kind of metal or at least its density.

What was the occupation of the person who offered the opinion? Autobody? LE? PI?

Why metal? Why not a baseball bat or similar object?

How was it explained that the crack was from the outside? Why could the crack not have come from the inside?

I'm sorry if these are too detailed to answer, but it all helps put together a picture.

Thanks.

Eurobserver wrote:

It seems that the Saturn´s airbags are being notoriously faulty, deploying when they should not and not deploying when they should...
I was pulling into the driveway of a gas station this morning and the side airbags on my Saturn LW100 deployed.

I called Saturn and they told me to bring the car in so they could evaluate it. I was told that they would not pay the $1700 to repair the airbags and that there was structural damage on the underside of the car that was the cause for the deployment.

This may have been caused from hitting a speed bump. They said that it was a my fault.
I had not hit a speed bump that morning and the incident may have been months ago. This makes no sense to me.

Interesting connection to speed bumps. Can you cite the web address, please? Any other information about speed bumps and Saturn airbags would be helpful. Thank you.

FireCat wrote:

My research online hasn't been able to find that a 1996 Saturn would have had the technology available for those weight-restricted airbag shutoffs. Will have to do more research. I think it's a fairly recent development.
Euro, in the states most cars aren't made with a switch to enable/disable that I know of. I do know it's been a raging debate.

I actaully happened to talk with the owner of a 1997 Saturn whose father was towing it from the son's work place. The son said the car had, of course, driver and passenger airbags, but that there was no way of turning off the passenger side. I believe, but do not know for sure, that he also said there was no seat sensor on the passenger side. If one airbag popped, both popped.

I just read that the use of tow hooks and hitting speed bumps are a common reason for airbags to deploy. IOW, if the undercarriage takes a good hit, then the airbags will deploy. So the car does not have to hit anything with its front bumper for this to happen. Lavoie's truck was a flat bed using a winch?

BeagleBart,

The Saturn airbag information I found on this site:
www.consumeraffairs.com

Also, now it would then seem that we have two versions regarding the crack in the Saturn´s windscreen.
1.Something caused the outer glass of the windscreen to crack.
2.Something caused the inner glass of the windscreen to crack.

Both versions have been presented as being established facts on this forum and/or on the former MMM forum.

It all adds to the confusion...

BeagleBart wrote:

<quoted text>
Sorry, I tried to keep it private, but Sophie and I are getting married.
I always knew how sweet she was on me, and to tell the truth, I felt the same way about her, too.
"Oh My" arranged it all in his coded postings. I'm so happy. I hope Sophie is happy, too, when she finds out.

This is hilarious! I'm fearful it may be the only good laugh I get today. Seriously, some posts made me wonder if people closer to Maura are trying to influence freer thinkers. Not that many strong posters here could be influenced. Anyway, congrats on your happy marriage!

hi all. Billly Rausch was asked by UMASS police to inspect Mauras room on feb 13 04.was this the first time the room was entered after Maura vanished.take care philip

Eurobserver wrote:

BeagleBart,
Also, now it would then seem that we have two versions regarding the crack in the Saturn´s windscreen.
1.Something caused the outer glass of the windscreen to crack.
2.Something caused the inner glass of the windscreen to crack.
Both versions have been presented as being established facts on this forum and/or on the former MMM forum.
It all adds to the confusion...

Yes, Euro, for years it was said to be a fact that the windshield broke from the INSIDE! I don't get it.

We really need to think where our information, our facts are and have come from.

Killed by a Serial Killer (posted above)? I vaguely remember one statement regarding Maura being killed by a murderer who had killed before came from a profiler, not local, state or fed law.

This is gonna sound like a tirade, but it isn't. We have few facts, and many of those aren't backed up anywhere --- thus, they aren't really facts...

Maura's boyfriend's mom, Sharon, said shortly before the MMM forum closed that Maura was finishing up a group-effort paper on Monday and that's why she didn't leave until late in the day, near dusk. We should've checked that out, although maybe it was obvious by seeing her computer.

I think leaving at dusk in an unreliable car without telling anyone where she was going is enough to warrant checking Amherst out more carefully.

If there is no gag order, why haven't Maura's friends posted more about her activities?

She appeared to be an extremely private person, keeping things to herself. Even not telling her good friend at the gallery about the previous night's crash in her dad's car.

An early article which I can't find indicated some of her old friends from high school were hurt that she hadn't let them know she was transferring to UMass until she was there.

Still wonder about the confusion of police saying that Maura left a note to Billy on top of her packed boxes in the dorm, while the family said it was notes FROM Billy to her, and, sadly, not long after Billy arrived in NH for the search he stated he felt "Maura was no longer with us."

The only information we have, since LE has only spoken in press releases which were totally dismissed on the MMM forum, is what we were told over and over by that forum.

I wish Billy had posted. I still wish her friends would. Many were concerned about her emotional state in the days before she left.

This isn't science fiction, but besides the stresses of school, Maura could've been

rethinking her career goals, her relationship with Billy

she could've been in some kind of trouble

she might have been being stalked (eye-catching girl for sure)

she might've been threatened by someone who was going to "tell on her" about something she did (and we ALL have those things we'd be embarassed about --- even decades later, for ex., photos taken at a party where inhibitions are lowered by alcohol --- could explain the mysterious call from ON-CAMPUS)

she might've told someone at work Thursday night that she had cramps and was going to the ladies room only to make a coffee run and have an accident en route... etc. Mentioning "cramps" just now, of course, made me think of blood in the A-frame house...

So I don't have any agenda except to try to figure out her motivation besides "getting away for a few days to think things over". It did seem like she burned her bridges behind her(someone posted this idea a long time ago) in terms of returning to UMass because of her stories.

hi quija and all .where have our facts come from.not from umass amherst for sure .not from the mystery gallery not from Mauras friends and class mates,Sarah Alfier said Maura was very secretive.most of the information we have came from Mauras family on the old forum .this is a fact so get over it.B. telling us that the body shop manager said that mr Murray told him that the damaged toyota was intended for Maura ia fact.pd saying that they know Maura was intending to be gone for more than a week was the last fact

hi quija the article you are looking for was maybe written by Joe McGee .he was with the patriot ledger at the time .take care philip

whiston wrote:

hi quija and all .where have our facts come from.not from umass amherst for sure .not from the mystery gallery not from Mauras friends and class mates,Sarah Alfier said Maura was very secretive.most of the information we have came from Mauras family on the old forum .this is a fact so get over it.B. telling us that the body shop manager said that mr Murray told him that the damaged toyota was intended for Maura ia fact.pd saying that they know Maura was intending to be gone for more than a week was the last fact

hey whiston, i should get over it, but it took me until this morning to finally "get it" --- to realize where my "facts" had come from! Soon as this all sinks in i'll be able to get over it!

Please tell me if i've got this right: the body shop manager said that fred said the toyota was intended for maura. This is a fact you found out. As someone posted, does that mean he was really gonna give her that reliable new car? Or was he just saying that to set things up for being able to use his insurance for fixing the damage? If he was truly giving her the Toyota, this brings up the question of what they were gonna do, right after Thursday night's meltdown, with the Saturn. Did fred smoke cigarettes? Did Cecil Smith tell the truth in his log about making calls to fred starting monday night and continuing thursday morning and then 2 more calls thursday towards the end of Cecil's shift? Fred said he only found one when he returned around 6PM tuesday? I'm getting uneasy here.

Hello Quija,

Very good and insightful post of yours there!
Also sums up our difficulties here onboard, primarily regarding getting any firm facts at all, and also separating facts from fiction/theories/suggestions, etc.

Just a very few exemples here:

1. Was Maura/Maura´s Saturn involved in the first "mystery" accident in Haverhill/Swiftwater?

2. Was the incident at the Weathered Barn curve a real accident or a staged one?

3. Did the airbag(s) actually deploy at any point before the towing-away of the Saturn from the Weathered Barn curve?

4. Was the windshield of the Saturn cracked from the outside or the inside, and by what?

The questions above could of course be multiplied over and over again just by looking at the Amherst angle of things...
And what about Maura´s three terms at West Point and for that matter her many vacations in the Bartlett, NH, area?
Here we know practically nothing whatsoever!
Imagine how many people Maura would likely have met in these two places only...

And yes, Quija - you´re so right about Maura being such a very eye-catching girl.
It´s only too easy to realise that her stunning beauty could in itself have invited unwanted attention from men at Amherst, at Bartlett, at West Point, wherever...
Unfortunately, your theory of a possible stalker would not be a very fanciful one.
The problem seems to be that there are a good many various theories which all make sense and are plausible in various ways.
Again, so very few facts....

whiston wrote:

hi all. Billly Rausch was asked by UMASS police to inspect Mauras room on feb 13 04.was this the first time the room was entered after Maura vanished.take care philip

The R.A. would probably have had the key, too. Not to mention janitors and other physical plant people.

Whiston, i found this on websleuths re Billy". I'll try to post the link to either websleuths or the article itself.

Dan O'Brian - The Daily Collegian - January 26, 2005

Her son arrived at Maura's dorm room with police just two days after she went missing. He said there was no recent letters to him from Maura that were found.

In another statement he said that he was there with campus police, but not the police department and then it was February 13, 2004, not the 11th.

You see the Police have never, to my knowledge contradicted themselves...

hi qiuja an all,Beagle posted what the body shop manager has told him about Murray giving the toyota to Maura.i would still like to know if feb 13 04 was the first time someone went into Mauras room after she vanished.if i remember some of her friends at school were concerned for her before that friday i am going from memory her but i think some of her friends had made calls to have Maura checked on at her dorm to make sure she was ok.just wondering if Billy Rausch would be the best person to ask to inspect Mauras room.would he know best what was missing.could he have verified the pictures Maura had being actually hung on the walls before she vanished.was there anyone in her dorm that had seen her room prior to her vanishing.where are all these friends with there help .take care philip