Where is MAURA MURRAY

hi all oops i meant blue ribbon tree.

While still on scene, Smith requested that Grafton County Dispatch call the residence listed with the car's registration and to inform local hospitals to be on the lookout for a young woman with a description supplied by one of the witnesses. This broadcast was put out to responding units and the dispatch center called Fred Murray's residence in Massachusetts and left a message. At 7:57 p.m., according to Grafton County Dispatch, Woodsville's Fire Rescue Pumper Truck arrived with the department's officers.

Quija wrote:

Whitewash, thanks for this reminder re the Saturn:
"... the car was impounded it was in a locked secured area that night!
At 11 PM a search warrant was obtain by HPD.
At appox. 9 AM a search was granted.
At appox 11 AM (I believe) HPD performed a
search.
Evidence has been logged.
There is an inventory list.
So not sure how people can say the chain of evidence wasn't kept?..."
It was in the Sheriff's Log that LE requested a search warrant and they began the search at 11AM Tuesday; many of us had the image of the Saturn sitting outside at LaVoie's unattended. Maybe we can give LE credit for securing the Saturn (crime scene --- if it is one), quickly getting a search warrant and presumably getting all needed samples for testing the next morning.(I think this was done by officers other than Smith, since he had worked a late shift Monday night.) That's pretty efficient for a disabled car! I wonder what Cecil Smith saw inside the car? What made him keep other responders keep at a distance? Of course, it might've been the red liquid splashed around and Cecil Smith wasn't taking any chances... it might've been blood. To me, with no personal LE knowledge, what was done this first night seems like the right stuff. I was going to suggest that maybe a bit more driving up and down the road to look for the possibly injured driver would've been called for, but then Smith and Atwood DID drive around looking for her...

Part 1 for the Journal Opinion interview with
HPD.
Though four years have now passed, the location and date of Maura Murray's disappearance are still etched in the memory of North Country residents: Route 112 in Haverhill on Feb. 9, 2004.
It is a mystery what happened to Murray after the 21-year-old woman crashed her car and disappeared. And four years of searches, investigations and speculation have seen leads turn to deadends and a family and small New Hampshire town get caught in the middle of a tragic mystery. After four years of speculation about the Maura Murray case, the law enforcement agencies involved want to speak out about the investigation and assure the public that procedures and policies that are used for any investigation were followed in the Maura Murray case.
Haverhill Police Chief Jeff Williams always strives to get the focus back to what is the most important question in this case, "Where is Maura Murray?"
In an interview, Williams took the opportunity to remind the public of the facts from the original case. For Williams, it is important to note that the Haverhill Police Department as well as all the law enforcement involved, handled the investigation according to regular procedure and protocol from day one. And he says that the investigation has been handled properly since Haver Police Department responded to the initial calls about a car accident in Swiftwater.
Williams said that Haverhill Police Department did all they could the night of the accident. Standard procedures were followed and photographs and documentation were made of everything that they found that night. The only thing he said he wished was different that night was that they could have made contact with the Murray family the night of the accident.

part 2
Lt. John Scarinza of the New Hampshire State Police added that the combined law enforcement agencies have put in thousands of man hours on this case with no cost spared to find Maura Murray and he added that all agencies have worked well together and within standard policies and procedures expected of them.
As part of an interview with Williams, the Haverhill Police Department provided the following timeline of the early stages of the investigation into the car accident:

On Feb. 9 at 7:29p.m., a 911 call was placed by residents on Wild Ammonoosuc Road about a motor vehicle accident. At 7:46 p.m., Grafton County Dispatch received a call that Sgt. Cecil Smith arrived at the scene. Smith found the vehicle locked and without a driver. He had dispatch run the license plate for the black 1996 Saturn 4-door. He was informed that the car was owned by Fred Murray of Weymouth, MA.
During the first stages of the investigation into the accident, photographs were taken of tire tracks in the snow leading into a stand of trees on the side of the road and showed that the vehicle struck the trees with enough impact to deploy both airbags. Williams noted that taking photographic evidence and documentation at the scene of an accident are standard operating procedure.
Smith later began to question neighbors about the accident. After questioning a school bus driver who stopped to enquire if Maura needed assistance, Smith learned that a woman in her 20's had been seen at the vehicle. According to a statement given the police, the witness stated the woman's speech was slurred and she had to hold on to something while she stood.
"She begged me not to call police," according to the witness' statement

While still on scene, Smith requested that Grafton County Dispatch call the residence listed with the car's registration and to inform local hospitals to be on the lookout for a young woman with a description supplied by one of the witnesses. This broadcast was put out to responding units and the dispatch center called Fred Murray's residence in Massachusetts and left a message. At 7:57 p.m., according to Grafton County Dispatch, Woodsville's Fire Rescue Pumper Truck arrived with the department's officers. They were holding a monthly meeting when they received a call about a car accident in Swiftwater.
cont. JO article
They first cleared the car of any leaking fluids. Woodsville Fire Chief Brad Kennedy said that it is standard procedure with any vehicle accident called in to 911 that fire rescue are dispatched autimatically. There is only one person authorized to turn around a fire department responding to a call-the fire chief.
Once it was ascertained that the driver of the vehicle was not at the scend, Haverhill Police Department, New Hampshire State Police, fire and EMS personnel along with several neighbors began a brief search of the area surrounding Route 112 and Bradley Hill Road.

Part 3
A local towing company was called in to remove the vehicle, which according to Williams is part of police policy to impound and store in locked facilities any and all evidence. Upon removal of the vehicle from the accident scene, Smith retrieved a Coca-Cola soda bottle with a strong odor of alcohol which was filed as evidence.
At 9:26 p.m., Smith was dispatched to Pike and left the area. Later that evening, at 11 p.m., Smith made a second attempt to phone the residence of Fred Murray, owner of the vehicle, listed on the Department of Motor Vehicle records. He left a second message that the Haverhill Police Department needed to speak with the car's owner.
About the same time, at 11 p.m., Cpl. Byron Charles and Officer Mac Cashin assisted Smith in the accident investigation as well as working on securing a search warrant for the black 1996 Saturn that was now impounded.
The following day on Feb 10, at 9:30 a.m., a search warrant was issued by Judge Timothy McKenna of Haverhill District Court to search the impounded black 1996 Saturn. Charles and Cashin then completed a search of the vehicle.
At approximately 1:30 p.m., a be-on-the-lookout (BOL) communique was issued throughout Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts for Maura Murray.
At 3:30 p.m., Smith returned to duty and called Weymouth Police Department requesting they check the residence listed on the DMV information. They still had not heard from Fred Murray. Weymouth PD instead directed Smith to contact Laurie Murray's phone number.At 3:40 p.m., Smith spoke to Laurie Murray who informed him that the black Saturn belonged to her ex-husband Fred Murray but is driven by their daughter Maura. Laurie gave Smith the number to Maura's cell phone and to her dorm at the University of Massachusetts. Right after that conversation, Smith again tried Fred Murray's phone number and left another message. He also spoke with Hanson Police Department again at 3:51 p.m.
Smith called Maura Murray's sister, Kathleen Murray at 4:40 p.m. requesting a photo of Maura. Kathleen said she would email one to Haverhill Police Department.
At 6 p.m., Grafton County Dispatch was contacted by Fred Murray. And at 7 p.m., Smith called the University of Massachusetts (UM) campus security and requested that they check Maura Murray's dorm room.
Smith was able to speak to Fred Murray at 8 p.m. on Feb. 10. In the initial, official police statement, Fred Murray stated that his daughter, Maura, was depressed and he was fearful for her safety. He informed Smith that she had an accident in Hadley, MA on Feb.7, 2004, wrecking another vehicle of his and totaling thousands of dollar's worth of damage.
Murray told Smith that he hoped Maura wasn't doing the "old squaw walk" which Murray explained was something the two of them often joked about. The squaw walk referred to when it came time for the old Indians to die, they would walk off into the woods and die. Fred Murray requested that HPD call in the FBI, state police and a search began immediately for his daughter.
I will be right back, theres just one more section)....Anne JO article continued)
At 8.25 p.m., Haverhill Police called fish and game authorities to advise of them of a missing person situation and possible search as it had just become apparent that they may have an endangered/missing person

Part 4
Haverhill Police Department received a call at 8:40 p.m. from UM campus security to report Maura Murray's belongings were all packed in her dorm room. Campus security had evidencce that she was last seen Sunday morning by a fellow student and that she was carrying a backpack, box of wine and a large hockey bag of beer. Fish and game informed the HPD at 9 p.m. that if the driver was not located by the morning of Feb 11, they would begin a search at daylight.
The next day on Feb 11, fish and game officers, state police, local police, along with family and friends of Maura Murray began one of the first of many searches at the Wild Ammonoosuc Road accident site.
Williams said he contacted the FBI early on and he, the FBI, New Hampshire State Police and UM campus security all met in Keene to confer about the investigation.
After four years of searches and heartache, no answers have been found. It is heart-wrenching for family members, friends and the community where the accident occurred that Maura's whereabouts are not known.
Still, the investigation continues and it will remain open until Maura Murray is found. Scarinza said that there is still the possibility that someday this could possibly become a criminal case.
"If that is where the evidence leads us," he said. "There has been such a push by some to have the case become open to the public. This would totally jeopardize any good investigation done by all agencies involved and who, in reality, would that serve justice to? Certainly not Miss Maura Murray." If you have any information about Maura Murray or the night of the accident, please contact NHSP Troop F at xxxxxxx or the Haverhill Police Department at XXXXXXX

Whiston,
Really what a surprise Whiston tracks on the report and photos of tracks taken that night!
Oh My would that be called investigating?
Sorry couldn't help myself!

As you know the tree with the ribbon and missing photo is not where the accident happened.

It is up the road I believe about 500 feet.
There is a set of 3 trees.
The accident occured more in front of TM house
not to the side closes to TW's barn.

I believe she backed up and got it turned towards the barn when the SBD arrived! These are my thoughts!

whiston wrote:

hi White Wash and all.You say you have seen the photos taken of the tire marks that night.As you know there are tracks noted by sgt Smith on the accident report.Do you know if the photos you saw were at the blue ribobn tree,closer towards the weathered barnor actually where the car was found which was closer to Bradley hill road .Are there even trees in front of where the saturn was actually found.Thanks for the earlier info about NHPD and taking pictures take care philip

CS spoke to Westman's that night...and said "where's the girl"?
The red truck had red and white plates such as NH temporary plates.(resembles Mass plates)

White Wash wrote:

Part 1 for the Journal Opinion interview with
HPD.
Though four years have now passed, the location and date of Maura Murray's disappearance are still etched in the memory of North Country residents: Route 112 in Haverhill on Feb. 9, 2004...

White Wash,

Really good that you posted this article. Many people have not seen this. This article was dismissed by a small, but vocal, group at a previous forum. They expressed so much skepticism that I was pretty much pulled in to ignoring the statements here. However, I now believe that each phone call attempt by Cecil Smith to reach the Saturn's owner is true. He called all over the place! He called Laurie's house too. He called UMass/Amherst before the end of his shift on Tuesday. This side of "the story" needs to be heard.

The only thing that I can't get to mesh with this is Cecil Smith's alleged comment to the Westmans, "Where is the girl?" ("the girl with the towel in the tailpipe") Can anyone explain this? Miscommunication? Bad memory of conversation? Or what?

White Wash wrote:

WTF if I took photos of the car standing then
photos kneeing what do you think would happen?

WW I don't know if I understand the question.

The only thing I can think of is called parallax shift but I don't know if that is what you are looking for.

Bill

Bill, Sharon stated in the old forum that the snow banks were head high when she was there on Feb 11th 2004.

Thanks, to all for the info. I've been reading the comments, which are helpful, but most of the links to docs with important info are dead.

I hope to be of service here. I've got some relevant knowledge of the law and forensics. I'm a law professor and former criminal defense attorney (30 years). Homicide, particularly death-penalty defense, and forensics, particularly DNA testing, were my specialty areas. I've also represented serial killers, including the convicted Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway.

Plug me in however seems best to you all.

I'll be back in a couple of hours.

No, I'm not a caveman and don't resemble one either.

hi White Wash and all .could you tell when you looked at the tire track photos where they were taken on that part of the road . i am wondering if there is anything in them that may show a building ,a mailbox or some other reference .thanks, take care philip

mcsmom wrote:

Bill, Sharon stated in the old forum that the snow banks were head high when she was there on Feb 11th 2004.

They may have been. I doubt it’s relevant. There are many ways a vehicle could have contacted any solid object whether it was a tree, several or a snow/ice bank. The results could have easily been the same. A frictionless surface (ice covered road) and the momentum of the vehicle and an immovable object would be all it takes.

I also remember that the NWS weather archive of surface conditions that was on the MM site had the snow depth not very deep. That doesn’t mean that the sides of the road weren’t high though.

Bill

whiston wrote:
"She had alot of problems in her life from her early years."

Uh, no, you can't say that and then when challenged just say "and that's all I'm saying about that." That is slander. It's all very well for the usual suspects to squeal "RAWWWK! There's no evidence of foul play" but to flip it and suggest that there's "evidence" of a supposedly troubled past without the least reason for us to believe it other than "whiston SAYS it's so" is simply unacceptable. It is not the kind of remark that you can casually make with no evidence to support it and NOT expect to be roundly criticized.

Are you really saying that the fictional "problems" from her early life relate in a significant way to both her disappearance AND her family's ficitonal "secrecy"?
If not, what ARE you saying?

One thing is quite clear to me - well, two things, I guess.

First, I am not optimistic - though I always hold out some hope - that Maura is OK and we will find her well. I hope and pray that she IS well but..I just do't know.

Second, IF (note my use of the word IF) my intuition is correct, and the needed answers are in Grafton County, what has transpired here and on the MMM forum convinces me that we will never find the answers we seek.

I will continue to seek the answers we need to find Maura, but the level of opposition is very strong indeed, far stronger than I'd expect of a community that understands her family's suffering at almost 5 years, and which even if they don't agree with the seekers' methods, is sympathetic to the cause.

"OH! You are insulting our fair Grafton County!!!"
Right. When I measure the self-righteousness of SOME in the area against a family's suffering, and a young woman's disappearance, I guess that my sympathy for the fair name of Grafton County is quite limited.

Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.

"I took that photo! Nobody else took that photo!!! You are MEAN to me!!!"

Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.

"There is no evidence of foul play. No reason to think that anything bad happened to her in Grafton County!"

Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.

"It's perfectly normal to have TWO different official records of the scene, BOTH of which were withheld until a court order forced them opne."

Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.

"Yes, her car was found abandoned here, with no explanation, and no search made in a timely fashion by anyone locally. Why are you picking on Grafton County?"

Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.

"People in Swiftwater are sick and tired of people traipsing around their land! Just get over it already!"

Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.

"Well, we haven't done a search and have no evidence of anything, really, but I'm pretty sure that she was drunk and suicidal."

Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.

"Yes, there was a black SUV on scene before anyone else, AND the officer next on scene reported in his official report that she 'left in a private vehicle' and despite the fact that she hasn't been seen since, he's made no attempt to identify that vehicle and we haven't tried to find it, AND we have no idea whose black SUV it was, who was operating it, and have no intentions of finding out."

Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.

Yeah, I guess that I am unsympathetic to Grafton County. I keep doing things like reading news reports that I'm not even seeking about what goes on there. "Nope, there's NO crime here! How insulting to suggest that we have crime in Grafton County!!!"

Gee, maybe it's just me and my well-known "snarkiness."

sophie bean wrote:

One thing is quite clear to me - well, two things, I guess.
First, I am not optimistic - though I always hold out some hope - that Maura is OK and we will find her well. I hope and pray that she IS well but..I just do't know.
Second, IF (note my use of the word IF) my intuition is correct, and the needed answers are in Grafton County, what has transpired here and on the MMM forum convinces me that we will never find the answers we seek.
I will continue to seek the answers we need to find Maura, but the level of opposition is very strong indeed, far stronger than I'd expect of a community that understands her family's suffering at almost 5 years, and which even if they don't agree with the seekers' methods, is sympathetic to the cause.
"OH! You are insulting our fair Grafton County!!!"
Right. When I measure the self-righteousness of SOME in the area against a family's suffering, and a young woman's disappearance, I guess that my sympathy for the fair name of Grafton County is quite limited.
Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.
"I took that photo! Nobody else took that photo!!! You are MEAN to me!!!"
Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.
"There is no evidence of foul play. No reason to think that anything bad happened to her in Grafton County!"
Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.
"It's perfectly normal to have TWO different official records of the scene, BOTH of which were withheld until a court order forced them opne."
Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.
"Yes, her car was found abandoned here, with no explanation, and no search made in a timely fashion by anyone locally. Why are you picking on Grafton County?"
Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.
"People in Swiftwater are sick and tired of people traipsing around their land! Just get over it already!"
Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.
"Well, we haven't done a search and have no evidence of anything, really, but I'm pretty sure that she was drunk and suicidal."
Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.
"Yes, there was a black SUV on scene before anyone else, AND the officer next on scene reported in his official report that she 'left in a private vehicle' and despite the fact that she hasn't been seen since, he's made no attempt to identify that vehicle and we haven't tried to find it, AND we have no idea whose black SUV it was, who was operating it, and have no intentions of finding out."
Maura Murray is missing - it will be five years, God forbid, in a few months.
Yeah, I guess that I am unsympathetic to Grafton County. I keep doing things like reading news reports that I'm not even seeking about what goes on there. "Nope, there's NO crime here! How insulting to suggest that we have crime in Grafton County!!!"
Gee, maybe it's just me and my well-known "snarkiness."

Fred Murray filed a suit in a court of law to be able to see the documents/photo's involving his daughter's disappearance. He was denied due to it being an ongoing criminal investigation. When I read things like I do below, I think to myself "unbelievable!"

"Whiston LE has photographs of tire tracks into the trees so going to have to disagree on the
information that the Saturn did not hit those
trees since I saw the photograph."

What made this person so special that they were able to view the photograph? They live in Grafton County? Why are they privy to something that the family is denied?

When I worked for a small police department, the chief told me to re-do, do over, additions/corrections/dates to a
report...I refused...and gave my notice.

I would hope that I don't need to explain why.
Perhaps it's the difference between right and wrong...?
Something to do with a conscience.....

Sophie/Lady Gray...Ditto