Where is MAURA MURRAY

http://media.www.dailycollegian.com/media/sto...

Here's the link, whiston, for the Dan O'Brian article about Billy at Maura's dorm.

Hello all,

Just a friendly reminder regarding Maura´s picture on her Wikipedia web site page.

Apparently, Wikipedia is threatening to remove the photo of Maura some time after next Monday 14th July if the copyright question is not being resolved.

For Maura´s sake, please, let´s make sure that her photo stays on the site.

Many, many thanks to whoever may be able to help with this!

Euro

I wonder whether any art or art books "disappeared" from the gallery and found their way into local auctions - some of which may have been "laundered" by a storage unit company. Maybe Maura found out about this, which led to her disappearance.

Having spent many thousands of dollars at hundreds of local Amherst-area auctions over a period of about 10 years, I feel quite confident that this kind of illegal activity is not unusual. Since I now suspect, but cannot prove, that many of the books and artwork I have bid on had questionable origins, I wonder whether Maura may, because of her job in an art gallery, have known about this kind of regular theft, which I bet still continues. But it all depends on what gallery she worked, which is a mystery. Maybe that's why.

BeagleBart wrote:

I wonder whether any art or art books "disappeared" from the gallery and found their way into local auctions - some of which may have been "laundered" by a storage unit company. Maybe Maura found out about this, which led to her disappearance.
Having spent many thousands of dollars at hundreds of local Amherst-area auctions over a period of about 10 years, I feel quite confident that this kind of illegal activity is not unusual. Since I now suspect, but cannot prove, that many of the books and artwork I have bid on had questionable origins, I wonder whether Maura may, because of her job in an art gallery, have known about this kind of regular theft, which I bet still continues. But it all depends on what gallery she worked, which is a mystery. Maybe that's why.

Hey Beagle --- My guess (for what THAT'S worth) is that a "UMass-related" gallery might (like my college) just have art on exhibition, or on "permanent loan", but not necessarily for sale. Please education me if I'm wrong.

Someone recently said "I wish Billy had posted" on the old forum.

Need to take a moment to remind that Billy is/was in the Army, and spent a tour in Iraq. He was justifiably a little preoccupied during that time.:)

I'll name two of the artists. Richard Yarde, specifically his "Savoy Ballroom." And Alfred Birdsey, a Bermuda painter, specifically two of his oils. There are many other paintings, too, some of which regularly came north from the Farmington, Connecticut area.

Who would have access to college art galleries in addition to the senior staff who work at them?

Does Ozone Park, NY ring a bell with anyone? As connected to someone near Maura, I mean.

FireCat wrote:

Someone recently said "I wish Billy had posted" on the old forum.
Need to take a moment to remind that Billy is/was in the Army, and spent a tour in Iraq. He was justifiably a little preoccupied during that time.:)

Understood but I know several vets who have served in both Afganistan and Iraq. One of the things that current vets all have in common is internet access where ever they are located. Not always daily but usually pretty often.

Bill

Beagle --- "When I was in college" (haha) students, visitors, everyone wandered in and out. We never TOOK anything, but once we LEFT out own artwork there and it caused a bit of a commotion.

I still wish I'd kept records which I think indicated an artist from Burlington, VT had an exhibition there at the time Maura went missing. Maybe I can check that out again now.

quija wrote:

<quoted text>
Hey Beagle --- My guess (for what THAT'S worth) is that a "UMass-related" gallery might (like my college) just have art on exhibition, or on "permanent loan", but not necessarily for sale. Please education me if I'm wrong.

Okay, I'll "education" you. HAHA! You're right: I doubt a college art gallery would have much art for sale in any kind of pricey range - maybe just some artsy greeting cards.

But they do have lots and lots of relatively expensive art books. And they also have a lot of "archived" or stored art that is not quite worth a permanent display, but still worth a few bucks. And lord knows, the gallery or museum (thinking here of Mead at AC) does not want to offend a benefactor by dumping the less display-able art. This kind of art can easily sit in storage for a very long time. After a while, it gradually becomes "de-accessioned."

I saw exactly this happen, except to antique anf vintage scientific items. A small, local college placed a lot of valuable items from their geology department in a local auction. It was, for the most part, one consignor lot (as opposed to one sales lot). The lot came on fairly early in the evening, but there was one little, tiny item segregated from the rest of the college consignments that was "misplaced" on a back table for hammering near the end of the auction.

I know this item was worth at least a couple of thousand dollars. I researched it myself. I was a known, prominent bidder at the auction and I was making my interest in the item abundantly clear to the auctioneer. Despite his knowing me personally and having honored thousands of my bids over the years, he somehow "missed" my bid on this one piece. It was clearly not an accident. The piece sold for only $100 and was purchased by a predetermined buyer. Only those intimatley familiar with the auction scene will appreciate what I'm saying, but this kind of activity happens all the time.

IOW, there's a fairly regular amount of casual theft that occurs from the several well-endowed private secondary schools and colleges in the area. It is certainly not out of the question that Maura may have seen or known about something shady going on in Amherst.

I think Haverhill is definitely worth looking at because, obviously, that's where the Saturn was found. But Haverhill and Amherst theories can co-exist peacefully, I think. There is, so far, merit to both. And who knows, maybe there's a relationship between the two previously overlooked. Been known to happen.

hi quija and all . thanks for the link to the Dan Obrien article. i always have understood that that Maura called a condo complex in Bartlett n.h.when i read the article again it sounds like the Salamones were called at there home in wakefield m.a.where did Maura find there number .could she have called them for another reason.take care philip

quija wrote:

Beagle --- "When I was in college" (haha) students, visitors, everyone wandered in and out. We never TOOK anything, but once we LEFT out own artwork there and it caused a bit of a commotion.
I still wish I'd kept records which I think indicated an artist from Burlington, VT had an exhibition there at the time Maura went missing. Maybe I can check that out again now.

Meaning that you know which gallery it is? If so, please share.

Beague --- before i run out, all i can say is that i checked out the couple larger on-campus UMass art galleries a couple years ago and went from there. i can't even remember the gallery names, but when i get back online i can probably recognize the website, because it had archives of previous exhibits, etc. IF that's the one. Who knows? BTW, off-topic, my whole house smells like a pond in this humidity. hope it's not declared a "vernal pond" with no changes/construction being allowed in its environment without town planning approval.

Hi all,
Just managed to find the telephone number to the Barton, VT, church where "Raykel", the Maura look-a-like was sighted back on Fathers Day in June 2005.
The number is:
(Eight Zero Two)-Five Two Five -Three Eight Eight Eight
(the number must be written like this due to Topix rules...)
Perhaps, we could for once establish a fact here, namely whether the mysterious "Raykel" ever signed the visitors book of the church or not.
There are conflicting accounts here as well...
My point is that "Raykel´s" signature (if there is one) could easily (in theory, at least) be compared with Maura´s handwriting.
What do you think? Worth trying?
Euro

Eurobserver wrote:

Hi all,
Just managed to find the telephone number to the Barton, VT, church where "Raykel", the Maura look-a-like was sighted back on Fathers Day in June 2005.
The number is:
(Eight Zero Two)-Five Two Five -Three Eight Eight Eight
(the number must be written like this due to Topix rules...)
Perhaps, we could for once establish a fact here, namely whether the mysterious "Raykel" ever signed the visitors book of the church or not.
There are conflicting accounts here as well...
My point is that "Raykel´s" signature (if there is one) could easily (in theory, at least) be compared with Maura´s handwriting.
What do you think? Worth trying?
Euro

Never call ahead. Just show up.

quija wrote:

Beague --- before i run out, all i can say is that i checked out the couple larger on-campus UMass art galleries a couple years ago and went from there. i can't even remember the gallery names, but when i get back online i can probably recognize the website, because it had archives of previous exhibits, etc. IF that's the one. Who knows? BTW, off-topic, my whole house smells like a pond in this humidity. hope it's not declared a "vernal pond" with no changes/construction being allowed in its environment without town planning approval.

Thanks for sharing. More later.

hi all.if mrMurray or any family member found out that Maura was missing on feb 10 04.would the first thing to do be to have someone check her room at school .i am assuming he called the school and had them check it on feb10 04 or he called someone close to Maura and had them check the room whilst he drove up to amherst from bridgeport C.T.I am still not 100% clear if NHPD called AmherstPD before they heard from mr Murray.when he went up to woodsville he would have passed very close to Mauras dorm.Did he stop at Kennedy hall or did he trust someone on the phone to tell him Maura was not in her room and to keep driving up to woodsville.take care philip.

Semi-expensive items are stolen quite regularly from local area private schools and colleges by their employees. Quite common practice. Many of them are left in storage units where the unit's rent is "unpaid." Then the unit's contents are sold, ususally at a less than well announced " storage unit auction" and then the stuff is sold at a regular live auction. Some of it goes directly online, some gets moved around the country.

For example, it is not hard to buy $3,000 worth of books for only $50 at a storage unit. It is not hard to buy $5,000 worth of art books at a local live auction.

Since there are many thefts of this kind, what do you think happens to the stolen merchandise? It's not the kind of stuff that can be sold to the local chop-shop. So-called "set up" sales are very common, especially in the storage unit business.

Since some of the stolen merchandise has obviously come from art galleries, probably in the Connecticut Valley/Pioneer Valley area, so it is not out of the question that Maura may have known about it. Nothing definite here, by any means, but still worth speculating about. A lot depends on what gallery Maura worked. But, for some reason, that's a secret.

BeagleBart,

I absolutely agree with your advice there!

Unfortunately, being on the other side of the globe makes it somewhat difficult for me to accomplish the task of getting there myself.

Anyone onboard here living within a reasonable distance of Barton, VT?

Euro