Where is MAURA MURRAY

Detective Columbo wrote:

Knowing firsthand the damage to the car...I have based this assumption. The Westman's said they heard a thump and then an accelertion noise.
Maura came around the corner by the Weathered Barn following another vehicle, after turning the corner the vehicle in front slowed down or came to a stop and Maura rearended that vehicle. This would explain the thump " Maura's car hitting the other vehicle " and the acceleration " The other vehicle speeding from the scene ". In my opinion this vehicle only drove a short distance from the scene though so as able to see what Maura did next. They might have been parked just a short distance away on Bradley Hill Rd. or even on Old Peters rd. which is off the main rd. and secluded from vision by a passerby. Once the school bus driver talked to Maura and left the scene, the people watching her chose to go back by, grabbed her and.........drove away.
This is just an assumption on my part, but because of the info I have and know to be fact I have come up with this theory.
Anyone else want to chime in????

Makes perfect sense as an option, best next guess is someone simply ditched the car there and scooted back down back roads where other vehicle is waiting.

What do you make of the red truck, do you think
it is possible that the truck was involved?

The snow banks on the side of the road at the acc. scene were approx. 2 feet high on the night of Maura's disappearance. The damage to the car was not a result ot going over the snowbank, hitting the tree and ending back up in the roadway. ALSO....the tree or trees had no damage or scars on them....Hmmmmmmmmm. If a car hits a pine tree going 15 to 25 mph and jumping a snowbank, the tree is going to sustain some type of injury. No injury to tree and no pine bark or pitch of any kind on the car. Another sign of another scenario taking place on FEB. 9TH 2004.

Thinking out loud:

Can someone post the link to the pictures of the
guard rails taken by Beth, I tried the one link and it wouldn't work

Thanks Beth whomever you are, Silky Boxer noticed these guardrails on her way to view the accident scene several days after it happened, however she did not know if these were freshly struck. She posted these on a map on the old Maura Murray forum. Silky is dearly missed and not forgotten.

Personally I owe law enforcement an apology it seems, and said before I'd be a monkey's uncle if
they took pictures, well I'm a monkey's uncle. It seems the silence of Law Enforcement cast a bad light upon themselves by not clarifying many issues which they stated were evidentiary that we now know did not hold evidentiary material.

Interesting discussion on the accident scene and how the damage could have been done to the Saturn. I hold to the 2 accident possibility, most likely place is nearest to where the stage stop store is area... Sharon stated that when she visited the site of the accident on Thrusday the snow was up to the level of the bottom of the mail box. There was a picture sent to me of old saint peter's road or swiftwater circle road and shows the snow to be at the same level.


As mcsmom points out, the report of F.W. stated the car was in the westbound lane and the report of Marriott stating the car back up and parked in east bound lane facing westbound. Were pictures taken of where the car was on the other side of the street before it backed up?

Mason your wit is brillant, you have the makings of a stand up comedian....

pansie your thoughts resonated some eerie feelings, something in your post struck my vagus nerve, and I became violently ill,no offense meant. The possibility Maura was feeling terror seemed real, that she had something to be afraid of seemed the most plausible option.

It maybe that Maura was having a nervous breakdown, set in motion by a chain of events,
it is possible she might have been experiencing the onset of bipolar disorder as suggested.

It appears the source of the information about Maura being intoxicated originated from the SBD, now the question is, is it believeable, that is the real question, as he denied saying he said Maura was intoxicated...and many of his statements are contradicted by neighbours as well as he contradicts himself.

Birth control pills:
If Maura was the first of the month starter taking her pills, then the 4 not taken pills is
rather curious, given that she would have stopped on Thursday the day she became upset. As stated pregancy might be a possibility to explain her emotional upheaval. If you discovered you were pregnant you would stop taking your pills, also if you were emotionally distraught you might forget, this would speak to her mental state.
Finding out if Maura was a first of the month starter might be determined by date of issue on the prescription label, or through the pharmacy they were issued, or her doctor who prescribed the pills...

Lady Gray wrote:

<quoted text>
Yes, incident could be viewed as a "leaving the scene." Which, in that case, vehicle would be towed and LE would wait for owner (or owner's representative) to show up and claim vehicle.
I'd like answers to the following, if this IS the case:
1. Why was a search warrant obtained?
2. Why did Sgt Smith tell others at the scene to stay away from the vehicle?
3. Why did Sgt Smith deny knowing it was a female driving the car? Initially, this was repeatedly denied to Sharon, the mother of Maura's fiance, Billy.
4. Why would Chief Williams refuse to discuss the time of accident with Sharon?
5. Why was a BOLO issued, that night, only to the fire department? Not to LE. Fire.

lady gray not questioning you but do we know all five above issues to be a fact.

goat wrote:

<quoted text>lady gray not questioning you but do we know all five above issues to be a fact.

1. Yep.
2. Yep.
3. Yep.
4. Yep.
5. Yep. Going by the dispatch report.

Is it true that Mr. Murray was expecting a call from Maura @ 8:00 about the accident forms the night she went missing. If so, did he try to contact her that night when she did not call?

Here are some scenarios that I have considered:

it is very possible that the reasons for Maura leaving Amherst, and the circumstances of her disappearance are separate.

Clearly she was upset, and acting out of character. Simply leaving in the manner that she did, and lying to her professors seems out of character alone.

So, say she is driving - not entirely sure of where she plans to go, planning to find a hotel to take a couple of days to herself to regroup and rest. Thinking about her situation (whatever it is -- stress from school, shame from previous accident in Amherst, mental illness, whatever) while driving, she works herself into a frenzy and is crying, possibly drinking, which is making the situation worse.

For some reason, she stops the car - maybe to get gas (as I saw posted previously the gas was full?) maybe to stop at a convenience store, maybe to get food, or maybe - she is involved in an accident.

Where she stops, there is a "bad guy" - maybe at the same convenience store, the same gas station, or maybe he witnessed the first accident and stopped.

Upon seeing her, it is clear that she is upset and vulnerable - maybe crying, shaky, odor of alcohol. The "bad guy" decides that he can easily take advantage of this girl. Maybe he sees her have trouble getting the car started at the gas station, sees her pull erratically into the parking lot, and sees out of state license plates, concluding that she may not know where she is going, and the beat-up car may not make it much further, especially with a crying girl behind the wheel.

So he tails her from a distance. When she crashes at the weathered barn, he stays down the road, lights off, waiting for his chance. After the bus driver leaves, he stops by and scoops her up - maybe saying that he will give her a ride, and she accepts, thinking that she will get a DUI if she stays. From there, who knows.

What are all of your thoughts on this? I figure that it is unlikely that she just ran into a random bad guy at the weathered barn. Too unlikely that he would happen through just in the nick of time. I think someone bad previously witnessed her faulty car and state of mind, and stayed behind her until the inevitable chance came.

Addendum: If the marks on the car are not from a tree or snow, maybe there was, as we say, a previous accident, which shook her up even more, and got her visibly upset before she met the "bad guy"

Let me know what you think, or if I missed anything obvious

goat wrote:

<quoted text>lady gray not questioning you but do we know all five above issues to be a fact.

Thank you for continually questioning all information in this case, as I know we all want as few facts available to surface and be correct. It is true that a bol was issued as I heard it within the scanner chatter. Female left in private vehicle and he would check at Cottage.

Peri, a few short things:

1. Beth WAS SilkyBoxers. These photos were not necessarily taken in any LE capacity, so I don't know whether or not that makes you a monkey's uncle, though I think you might be referring to White Wash's statements about pics taken that night.....so I don't think you're off the hook on that one.:)

2. I think the birth control issue is a stretch. Yes, she could have still been pregnant while on the pill; yes, the pill sometimes makes you nuts when you forget your doses, but....I mean statistically speaking, what's the likelihood that she started her pills on the first of the month? One in 30? 31? thereabouts? The likeliood that she found out she was pregnant and stopped taking her pills is VERY SMALL, with that as the basis of the theory.

In fact, it's much more likely that, for instance, she was separated from those same pills on the night of Feb 9 and experienced an unexpected period after a few days without them (which possibly dovetails neatly with the menstrual blood in the closet of the A-frame)

Besides all that, it's highly unlikely that anyone other than Maura herself knew where she was in that packet of pills, with the *possible* exception of Billy.

Sara wrote:

Is it true that Mr. Murray was expecting a call from Maura @ 8:00 about the accident forms the night she went missing. If so, did he try to contact her that night when she did not call?

I think it was 9:00, Sara, but yes, she had said she was going to call him to go over the forms. I don't know whether he tried to reach her.

FireCat wrote:

<quoted text>
I think it was 9:00, Sara, but yes, she had said she was going to call him to go over the forms. I don't know whether he tried to reach her.

Someone had specifically addressed the question to me (along with a few others) as to what would I do in a situation where my son doesn't call me when he said he would.

This happened just last night. I have the best son in the world and he is very conscientious. He also is a typical 17-yr old and forgets. When I don't receive his call, I don't track him down. I have to have faith and trust in him. However, having said that, I will say that he and I had a discussion about it later when he came home.

Firefly wrote:

Here are some scenarios that I have considered:
it is very possible that the reasons for Maura leaving Amherst, and the circumstances of her disappearance are separate.
Clearly she was upset, and acting out of character. Simply leaving in the manner that she did, and lying to her professors seems out of character alone.
So, say she is driving - not entirely sure of where she plans to go, planning to find a hotel to take a couple of days to herself to regroup and rest. Thinking about her situation (whatever it is -- stress from school, shame from previous accident in Amherst, mental illness, whatever) while driving, she works herself into a frenzy and is crying, possibly drinking, which is making the situation worse.
For some reason, she stops the car - maybe to get gas (as I saw posted previously the gas was full?) maybe to stop at a convenience store, maybe to get food, or maybe - she is involved in an accident.
Where she stops, there is a "bad guy" - maybe at the same convenience store, the same gas station, or maybe he witnessed the first accident and stopped.
Upon seeing her, it is clear that she is upset and vulnerable - maybe crying, shaky, odor of alcohol. The "bad guy" decides that he can easily take advantage of this girl. Maybe he sees her have trouble getting the car started at the gas station, sees her pull erratically into the parking lot, and sees out of state license plates, concluding that she may not know where she is going, and the beat-up car may not make it much further, especially with a crying girl behind the wheel.
So he tails her from a distance. When she crashes at the weathered barn, he stays down the road, lights off, waiting for his chance. After the bus driver leaves, he stops by and scoops her up - maybe saying that he will give her a ride, and she accepts, thinking that she will get a DUI if she stays. From there, who knows.
What are all of your thoughts on this? I figure that it is unlikely that she just ran into a random bad guy at the weathered barn. Too unlikely that he would happen through just in the nick of time. I think someone bad previously witnessed her faulty car and state of mind, and stayed behind her until the inevitable chance came.
Addendum: If the marks on the car are not from a tree or snow, maybe there was, as we say, a previous accident, which shook her up even more, and got her visibly upset before she met the "bad guy"
Let me know what you think, or if I missed anything obvious

Firefly, definitely possible scenario.

FireCat wrote:

<quoted text>
Full time LE staff is, what, 7? And there were only 4 positions filled at the time? I wonder if they simply issued the BOLO to fire because they had the manpower.

Correct. Only 4 officers at that time. And, yes, I guess I can see them issuing to Fire because they have more people on at that time. However, Fire doesn't patrol. They aren't on the road unless they are on their way to a scene.

The next day at 12:21 pm, a BOLO was issued to Littleton, Grafton County, Lisbon and Haverhill. If they did so the following day, then why not that night when they could have had the most success?

Thank you. It is stated that the forms were in fact in the car when they found it correct?
Could we then assume that prior to leaving school, Maura did not intend to disappear for the long term?

Detective C, Are you suggesting that the car in front of Maura would have been occupied with people that knew her, or were they strangers who abducted her?

Lady Gray wrote:

<quoted text>
Correct. Only 4 officers at that time. And, yes, I guess I can see them issuing to Fire because they have more people on at that time. However, Fire doesn't patrol. They aren't on the road unless they are on their way to a scene.
The next day at 12:21 pm, a BOLO was issued to Littleton, Grafton County, Lisbon and Haverhill. If they did so the following day, then why not that night when they could have had the most success?

Fire had the manpower and they were all in the area for a meeting at the time.

Lady Gray wrote:

<quoted text>
1. Yep.
2. Yep.
3. Yep.
4. Yep.
5. Yep. Going by the dispatch report.

Re: Statement to and from Sharon===Why would anyone with authority say anything to someone who is not a direct relative of Maura at that time? I don't know for sure, but I would think they just can't answer questions from just anyone...

LvsNH wrote:

I don't know if this helps, but here is a web site for weather history:
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WX...

NICE! thanks!

I believe that Maura DID NOT KNOW her abductors. They saw her filling with gas and started their plan then.

Lady Gray wrote:

<quoted text>
This would be great! I know that this is done very frequently these days and many things are caught on tape. Do you think it was utilized as frequently in 2004? If so, I sure would hope that Amherst officials thought of this as this is a great idea!

Philip, you've got a mission......how many cameras were operational in 2004??