Where is MAURA MURRAY

Missing persons
On Tuesday something got me to thinking about a girl I went to high school and college with...

Her name is Maura Murray.

She disappeared after a minor car accident in Haverhill, NH over 4 years ago (Feb 9, 2004 to be exact).

This girl had seemingly everything going for her. Dean's list college student, long term boyfriend who she was planning to get engaged to, great athlete, etc. etc.

Timeline of the whole story is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_Murray
Her family's site about the situation is here: http://www.mauramurraymissing.com

I remember where I was and what I was doing when I saw her face pop up on the tv screen with a giant MISSING banner above.

There are so many unanswered questions about the whole situation that thinking about it just makes my brain run and run in circles.

I really hope that some day there will be answers. I feel the worst for Fred Murray (Her dad) and the rest of the family.

It's all very strange for me to think about someone just disappearing like this. I mean, we obviously see it on the news pretty often, but when it's someone you've known for years, even peripherally (I wasn't close friends with her, we were on the track and XC teams together in high school and cheering for during / congratulating after races was about as much as we ever talked), the game changes, a lot.

When I find myself in this contemplative reflective mood over this, I find myself looking around at my good friends, wondering if anyone of them (or myself) might some day meet a similar fate. Or was it a fate at all? Did she want to disappear? If so, why? Is she still alive and hiding? Is she buried in a shallow grave? etc etc...

Have any of you known someone who just disappeared like this? Were they found? How long did it take?

This is my brain. On overdrive... thanks for reading.

-w

Looking.......I didn't realize it had been two years at UMASS. Whiston, I guess eating alone would be a choice.....I know you're not picking on her.
Maybe life was sad and lonely but she partied with other students too and I'd like to see the scales weighed better.

"So now bring on the talk about how stressed she could've been---I've been through Nursing School---one of the most competitive ones in New England, in fact, and the first couple of weeks of a semester are not stressful. OK--so now someone tell me how she could've been worried about her boyfriend being deployed......and I will say that it was a choice he made, as well as something she chose to deal with by staying in a long distance relationship with him. Am I getting sick of people trying to make her look flawless? Yeah I am.........something was going on in her life that she didn't share with her family--again a CHOICE---there's way too much that went on in her life the weekend before she disappeared for anyone to argue with that."
******

Not much empathy here.

JMO wrote:

"So now bring on the talk about how stressed she could've been---I've been through Nursing School---one of the most competitive ones in New England, in fact, and the first couple of weeks of a semester are not stressful. OK--so now someone tell me how she could've been worried about her boyfriend being deployed......and I will say that it was a choice he made, as well as something she chose to deal with by staying in a long distance relationship with him. Am I getting sick of people trying to make her look flawless? Yeah I am.........something was going on in her life that she didn't share with her family--again a CHOICE---there's way too much that went on in her life the weekend before she disappeared for anyone to argue with that."
******
Not much empathy here.

Plenty of empathy....I just don't buy into the notion of the perfect life and nothing going on within the family or Amherst. Maura's actions indicate otherwise.

Looking.....I'm not sure but everyone's stresses are different, even good stress, the body cannot differentiate between good stress and bad stress.
Let's talk about Maura. She was an athlete up to a point, maybe the knee injury was the reason. If she were here today, maybe she'd still be at it since she loved it and ran for herself every day. She joined West Point which is quite grueling and made the grade. She met the Love of her life but decided to go on into nursing. I imagine that's likely when things were going rough for the couple. But they found a balance to make it work. They were happy, H-A-P-P-Y......
The first weeks back for Maura were anything but easy. She was exhausted from running to and fro, visiting this one and that one, over holiday.
Something really really upsetting got this tough on the outside woman visibly shaken!
I think she either wanted to handle it alone or like Kathleen supposed, get off early from her night shift. Some think she didn't go back to her room. Ok, maybe she didn't. But she was around the next day and out with Dad, friends, driving and then the accident. She wasn't telling Billy everything when she talked about what had happened with Dad's car. She seemed to be upset by a lot more than that. Those were his words.

Secretive or scared chitless? She emailed that she still "didn't want to talk to much of anyone" after she decided to take off on Monday. Who else would know to pick up forms if she was so tight lipped about having an accident?

Again I say, was the ATM image of Maura captured at the ATM in the liquor store?
No, this was not an easy first couple of weeks, less even if back the 31, Jan 2004

JMO wrote:

<quoted text>
Thank you. Well stated. I am in full agreement, and feel Maura is being judged quite harshly in this forum...especially on this page.

I, for one, am not judging Maura. I am stating that her actions for several days, and the day of her disappearance, were not typical of what I understand her usual senseful self would be. A person doesn't get into West Point if they don't usually made decisions based on a good set of principles. Her leaving Amherst in a vehicle that was running poorly (if it really was her) simply indicates that more was going on than she was sharing. For the record, I don't share all of my life either.

WTF wrote:

<quoted text>
Not deadset against it but if it was witness relocation there is no reason the feds would not tell the family. Even scumbags have their families notified. Why wouldn't someone who was doing it for supposed noble reasons be able to have thier family notified? To me it just doesn't seem reasonable.
B

A: Not if she did'nt want her family notified. She was a legal adult. Maybe it would have been to hard on her. Or perhaps she was involved in something that was to much for her to bear her family knowing she was involved in.

B: Not making any accusations. But, again not if it involved a member of her family.

Just sayin..

mcsmom wrote:

white wash...without the yeast the dough won't rise...got it?
Better double check your ingredients.
The call was made TO Maura's phone within a 22 mile radius.
In other words the call TO her phone pinged off of Londonderry tower.
The caller was within a 22 mile radius of the Londonderry tower and made a call TO Maura's phone.

Thanks, than maybe the incoming call was who she was headed to meet in that area..

whiston wrote:

hi all i have to ask again where were Mauras clinicals did Maura have clinicals out toward londonderry.we were told she went to norwood and holyloke on feb 03 and 04 in 2004.quija my tought is that someone she emailed would care enough to call her and see how she was doing with a death in the family.would individual teachers have access to a students cell phone number i dont know.quija and elswhere thank you .i am so glad that we are back in amherst looking at the WHY Maura left take care philip

Ah, the word Teacher. Shooting from the hip.

Quija, Bill, Euro, White Wash, Advocator, Paris, Firecat, Elsewhere, JMO - everybody - I appreciate you input.

Zander wrote:

<quoted text>
Ah, the word Teacher. Shooting from the hip.

from a quick mapquest search, it wouldn't make sense for a UMass Amherst student to go to Norwood for clinicals--that would fall more into UMass Boston's geographical area. If there was a special seminar, that would make sense but not ongoing clinicals. Where did the information on the clinicals come from? Is it known why she changed her major from chemical engineering to nursing?

Young man early 20's murdered last week and found on road off Lime Kiln Rd.in back of a trailer. The body of the poor young man was found in back of a trailer on the first Rd. on the right off of Lime Kiln Rd. off Rt. 112 in Haverhill N.H.,,2 Suspects in custody.
When will the stupid sensless killings stop up in the Haverhill area?

from what i heard in the newspaper is that it was two of his peers and that is just so dam sad

hi Lookin4amoose and all.the info. about norwwod clinicals came from Helena on the MMM site.i assume she got this form a family memeber that had met Maura.take care philip.

I think that OH MY has a good point - when I first heard this story, I noticed that it happened in North Haverhil, then reading about it taking place on Lime Kiln Road, which was at some point of interest in the search for Maura, I had two reactions:
1) coincidence? seems unlikely - totally unrelated? probably not totally unrelated, I expect there are some common factors in both cases
2) there may not be a criminal behind every tree, but there are too many criminals out and thretening the public- including the locals

Whiston, you insist that family has been witholding information that they should be giving to you. I can only assume that means that you do not believe that the Swiftwater site is irrelevant. Is that correct?

I am not posting much lately. I am being extremely careful to say precisely what I mean. No accusations, no "meanness" - simply observations and questions. Let's see how that gets "spun" and "judged."

Typing too fast - whiston, do you believe that the Swiftwater site IS irrelevant?
If you believe it is relevant, how so?
Thanks.

One of the last things discussed on MMM is how Nevada is the only state in the U.S. that regards ALL of their missing persons cases as homicide investigations from the moment the report is filed.

Maura's is a perfect example of the gross injustice I have witnessed.

Hey Sophie,

Nice to see you (wave)!

Looking4AMoose wrote:

<quoted text> from a quick mapquest search, it wouldn't make sense for a UMass Amherst student to go to Norwood for clinicals--that would fall more into UMass Boston's geographical area. If there was a special seminar, that would make sense but not ongoing clinicals. Where did the information on the clinicals come from? Is it known why she changed her major from chemical engineering to nursing?

Now I will do what I have accused others of having done here...personalizing.

In my realm of experience, I know that engineering is a hard road for many....even when a student intitially qualifies, as Maura apparently did in order to be accepted to West Point.

Her transfer to UMASS and change of major to nursing is not to be taken lightly...as these changes can be VERY stressful for a motivated, goal-oriented, and normally high-achieving student. Even two years later.

Loss (having attending a more prestigious educational institution...and then a public institution)

Sadness (about the unknown)

Fear of failure (in choosing another career path)

These features and effects of such life-disruption cannot be minimized. Some of us are less sensitive, "tougher" than others...and can more easily cope.

As adults, we know setbacks are temporary and workable...but to a young adult with lofty goals for high achievement, the new path can be frightening.

Some students identify with their academic achievement more than their social status...and don't mind eating alone...perhaps their mental energy is occupied with problem solving.

Maura hadn't dropped out of school - she successfully made the transfer...and apparently was coping.

I don't know what happened to Maura Murray, but by all "appearances", she had a constellation of support and love that was sustaining her. I see evidence of a wonderful relationship between Maura and her father...it is tragic.

I prefer to believe, without evidence or proof, that she became a victim of random violence/crime.

Another thought - no one is flawless...but some simply endear themselves to us in a way that may seem as if they may be nearly ideal...especially under these circumstances.

Much emphasis here lately on Maura's reaction to stress. Even for someone who knows a person very well, or a mental health professional, it's pretty much impossible to predict someone's reaction to stress, just because there are too many variables. I think that we all agree that she was under stress. I don't think we're likely to determine exactly what all of the stressors might be, or how she would have reacted to them.

That said, it would certainly help to find out what happened to know how she habitually related to stresses that were of a similar intensity. It doesn't sound like she habitually discussed them with lots of people. It seems like she might be the kind of person who would take time to work thikngs out for herself, in which case taking time away by herself makes perfect sense. I don't care in the least that she "didn't tell her professors or family where she was going or why."
You do what you need to do to take care of yourself. Period. There are plenty of people who seem not to like that fact, but that simply colors the search with a particular bias.

Before someone predictably screams about my use of the word "bias" - read the dictionary. I have biases, you have biases, we all have biases - a filter through which we look at any situation.
To see a situation clearly, I need to be aware of my own biases - and I am. I think that it is most likely that Maura was the victim of foul play in or near Swiftwater NH.
I don't see almost any other views as impossible at all.