Where is MAURA MURRAY

WTF-the-original wrote:

<quoted text>
Many think that abduction is a possibility but from where? The accident site? Did she flee the site to be abducted elsewhere? Considering a person in a car CAN move more than a mile a minute was she abducted an hour later possibly putting her 60+ miles from the accident scene? Maybe a day later or week? How far away would that put her? The area that has to be looked at starts getting very large even if she “walks away” at a 3 mile an hour pace and she gets to walk for 2 hours.
Bill

You know, a thought popped into my mind this afternoon...road rage.

It can happen so quickly...even in the presence of other motorists. Whackos can follow/pursue you for the slightest 'offense'...the wrong look, driving too slowly, swerving slightly, or flipping the bird. The latter may get one killed.

To develop this idea, it would take a driver and passenger in another car to subdue Maura after stopping her. One of the two would drive her Saturn, following each other, until dumping/planting it in NH.

Sick as it may sound, the alcohol might have been enjoyed along the way, and not necessarily by Maura.

More generically, an abduction can also begin with the generosity of a stranger...any stranger...who offers help in the breakdown lane.

Anyway, I'm still hung up on rest areas as being dangerous. Several years ago, a young woman was killed when she was viciously attacked by a perv who cornered her in the ladies' room of a rest stop just south of Boston.
An unlikely crime of opportunity.

Another young woman had car trouble on the way to the Cape, called AAA, called her parents, then disappeared. If I recall correctly, she accepted an offer of a ride, and was found murdered.
An unlikely crime of opportunity.

I also draw from the young woman employed at Logan by Northeast Airlines....who was sent out for sandwiches at 4 AM by her union buddies and ended up stuffed in the trunk of a car. Billboards and flyers cried out for years about her disappearance before she was found.
An unlikely murder.

Seems you have your mind made up!
So won't waste my time!

Detective Columbo wrote:

White Wash....
What evidence do you have or know about that indicates that Maura committed a crime. We don't even know for sure if the person in the Saturn WAS MAURA. LE really didn't even have a clue who was driving that night, Cecil Smith said he didn't know there was a girl driving the vehicle the next day...That is BULL, he had this info that night after talking to the witnesses to the acc. Could you explain that one for us.

Melissa Gosule

http://www.boston.com/news/daily/17/teacher.h...

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Unexplained Death: While working for Northwest Airlines in Boston, Su Taraskiewicz suffers a never ending torrent of sexual harassment from co-workers and is later found stuffed in the trunk of her car in 1992. She had been beaten and stabbed.
********

Alexandra Zapp

http://www.courttv.com/trials/taped/leahy/bac...

********

Snowy White....I agree

Pretty much anything, can happen anywhere at any time.....You just never know. Nowhere is safe if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Timing is everything, its what life is all about.

Well according to his official statement
to LE her speech was slurred and needed
to hold on to something to stand according to SBD to LE.
Well the air bags are missing if they
did DNA on a pair of panties why not
the air bags and the soda bottle with
her DNA.
There was a box of wine in car!
And I thought a cup in the cup holder but would need to look at notes.

Lady Gray wrote:

<quoted text>
WW, with all due respect....and I sincerely mean this because you have great information.....where is the proof that the bottle with booze had been in Maura's possession?
There's alcohol in the car. There's a bottle under the car with an alcoholic odor.
Is there a witness that can place alcohol in the hand of Maura? It cannot be a DWI based on these things.
The one witness that spoke with her, that is known, has repeatedly insisted Maura was not intoxicated. This is the only thing that has remained consistent with this witness's story.
Based on these things that are known, there is no proof she was DWI. I'm not denying there is a possibility. But it is not a definitive issue. Unless you know something you're not sharing? Has the bottle been fingerprinted? That would clear up the issue if so.

White Wash....

What crime did MAURA commit?....That is my question....is there a warrant for her arrest if she is found. Just asking.

Snowy White wrote:

<quoted text>
You know, a thought popped into my mind this afternoon...road rage.

That and the fact that Maura had MA plates.

I resided in a tourist area of NH the majority of my life, tourist season being Memorial Day until Labor Day, and the height of tourist season can bring out the best and worst in people.

One of my friends had a bumper sticker on his VW GTI that read, "Welcome to NH, Now Go Home!". I'm sure there are similar attitudes in the North Country.

February is the height of ski season in the North Country. There was statewide fishing derby that weekend prior as well.

Maura was a pretty young tourist travelling alone with MA plates.

elsewherebriefly wrote:

<quoted text>
That and the fact that Maura had MA plates.
I resided in a tourist area of NH the majority of my life, tourist season being Memorial Day until Labor Day, and the height of tourist season can bring out the best and worst in people.
One of my friends had a bumper sticker on his VW GTI that read, "Welcome to NH, Now Go Home!". I'm sure there are similar attitudes in the North Country.
February is the height of ski season in the North Country. There was statewide fishing derby that weekend prior as well.
Maura was a pretty young tourist travelling alone with MA plates.

So your theory is she was killed or raped because she was from Massachusetts?

RUKidding,

I think Maura may have been targeted, a crime of opportunity, because she was a pretty young tourist, a person with out of state plates, travelling alone.

WHITE WASH wrote:

Well the air bags are missing if they
did DNA on a pair of panties why not
the air bags and the soda bottle with
her DNA.

Do you know if any of that testing was done, white wash?

elsewherebriefly wrote:

RUKidding,
I think Maura may have been targeted, a crime of opportunity, because she was a pretty young tourist, a person with out of state plates, travelling alone.

I think if she was targeted it was more likely because she may have been compromised by alcohol and desperate enough to get away from the scene to take a ride with someone who may have done her harm.

So the person(s) who did this was probably not overly concerned whether she had Mass plates though her attractiveness could have certainly played a role.

elsewherebriefly wrote:

RUKidding,
I think Maura may have been targeted, a crime of opportunity, because she was a pretty young tourist, a person with out of state plates, travelling alone.

If that was the case then I think North Woodstock and Lincoln would be void of people because on any given weekend it is full of cars with out of state plates and young out of state women walking the sidewalks and visiting the shops.
Why would Maura have been targeted while just traveling thru when there was way more opportunity for such a crime just over the mountain?

Well, I've finally found all of you. I was active on the old MMforum and due to...let's just say life...I couldn't spend much time on things I wanted to spend time with. Went back to the site and the forum was gone. Panic!! Then I had a glimmer of hope - did we finally have answers?!?! Unfortunately not and lo and behold you're all in "topix". And what a site to behold with all these new names, theories, discussions!! I've missed the veterans of the old forum as well. Shack, Peri, Mcsmom, etc., so good to see you again. Is the bartender still tending bar??
After all this time I've been "gone", Maura always was and is on my mind. I'm so happy all of you are so dedicated to Maura and her family. I will be trying my best to catch up so bear with me if I ask a few "duh" questions.

Are Sharon/Helena still actively involved with this forum? Reason the old forum is no longer?
Has there been, or will there be any searches since a year or so ago?
Has there been ANY new witnesses or statements since?

I'm still stuck on my original thoughts/theory 'something' happened at West Point and carried on to UMass. Something that scared Maura enough to leave W.P. but unfortunately it didn't leave her. And the 'red truck' definately is involved....IMO.

So many questions - not enough answers....

Much more detailed account of the accident:

Shortly after 7 p.m. Faith Westman heard a loud thump outside her white gambrel-style home at 70 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. Her house is located inside a sharp left-hand bend in the road; Westman lives there with her husband, Tim. The couple also owns The Weathered Barn, a well-known local landmark, which is across the street at 69 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. In this barn, Tim Westman, a renowned craftsman, restores antique musical instruments.


Faith Westman peered out her window and saw Maura Murray's black Saturn lodged in a snow bank a short distance from her home. The car was facing west on the eastbound side of the road. From the look of things, it was clear there had been some kind of accident.

At 7:27 p.m. Westman called the Grafton County Sheriff's Department to report the vehicle, which she described as being in a "ditch."

Westman told dispatcher Ronda Marsha she was not sure if there were any injuries. Notably, the log reports that Westman said she could "see a man in the vehicle smoking a cigarette."

Maura never smoked and was vehemently anti-smoking, according to her mother and father.

In a later interview with Maura's father, Fred Murray, the Westmans could not agree on an exact description of the person in the black Saturn. Faith Westman believed she had seen a man with a cigarette, while Tim Westman believed it was a woman at the scene on her cell phone and that the red light from the phone looked like the tip of a cigarette.

An investigator who later interviewed the Westmans confirmed that the couple did not fully agree on a description.

When asked to clarify for this story the Westmans declined comment. "We've been down that path too many times. It's worn thin," Tim Westman said.{sidebar id=8}

Meanwhile, across the street, neighbor Virginia Marrotte was standing in her kitchen with her husband, John, who was peeling an orange.

"From our kitchen window we saw a car down the road with trouble lights flashing and someone walking around the car," Virginia Marrotte wrotein response to a set of questions sent for this series.

John Marrotte told the same story to private investigator John Healy after the incident and added that he believed he saw Maura's car back up parallel to the road, indicated by the car's rear lights.

While the Marrottes were watching from their kitchen window they observed another neighbor arrive on the scene in a school bus.

Arthur "Butch" Atwood is a former Taunton, Mass., resident, who worked as a school bus driver for First Student Inc., the second largest school bus operator in the U.S. according to the company website.

Atwood lived with his wife, Barbara, in a log-cabin style home 210 yards east of the Westmans at 4 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. Atwood was on his way home after dropping off students following a ski field trip. His home is on the town line with neighboring Bath.

Atwood stopped by the scene of the accident and saw a young woman alone in the car whom he later identified as Maura Murray. Her dark hair was hanging down, not in its customary bun, though Atwood said he could clearly see her face. She was "shook-up," but not injured, he reported to police.

www.whitmanhansonexpress.com/index.php...

"I saw no blood...She was cold and she was shivering," Atwood told the Caledonian Record.

Maura struggled to get out of her Saturn because the car door was hitting against a snowbank, Atwood recalled when interviewed for this story from his new home in Florida. There was as much as two and a half feet of snow on the ground in the area.

Atwood stepped out of his bus and asked Maura if she wanted him to call the police. Maura told him not to bother, saying that she had already called AAA, Atwood said.

A N.H. State Police "synopsis" released by Lt. John Scarinza four months later, painted a different view of their encounter: "When the passerby stated that he was going to call local law enforcement to come assist, Maura pleaded with him not to call police."

Atwood said that Maura remained on the driver's side of her car, about 15 to 20 feet away and stayed there during their entire conversation. Maura’s car sustained damage to the hood and front end. The Saturn’s radiator was pushed into the fan. Both airbags were deployed and the windshield was also cracked. The vehicle had last been inspected in Weymouth, Mass. on Oct. 17, 2003.

Atwood said that Maura remained on the driver's side of her car, about 15 to 20 feet away and stayed there during their entire conversation.

A heavy-set man about 60 years old, Atwood may have cast an intimidating figure to Maura. "I might be afraid if I saw Butch. He's 350 pounds and has this mustache," Barbara Atwood told the Patriot Ledger two weeks after the accident.

Atwood offered to let Maura wait at his house until help arrived, but Maura wanted to wait with her car. He advised Maura to turn her car's lights on to avoid getting hit by vehicles coming around the bend. Atwood then left the scene and drove the 100 yards to his home.

Atwood doubted that Maura could have reached AAA due to the sparse cell phone coverage in the area. "I knew better," he said later. Family friend Sharon Rausch also confirmed that AAA did not receive a call from Maura that night.

Based on his recollection and the times reported in police dispatch logs, Atwood's conversation with Maura could only have lasted a few minutes.

After Atwood drove away, Faith Westman noticed the Saturn's interior lights switch on and off and witnessed a flurry of activity at the rear of the car, including a person standing at the trunk, according to private investigator John Smith, who spoke with the Westmans after the accident.

Smith is one of several retired police officers who have been working on a volunteer basis with the New Hampshire League of Investigators.

Meanwhile Butch Atwood backed his school bus into his driveway and went inside to call the police. He had difficulty reaching the 911 operator due to busy phone circuits. Atwood eventually got through to the Hanover Regional Dispatch Center, which in turn alerted the Grafton County Sheriff's department at 7:43 p.m., 16 minutes after Faith Westman's original call.

Atwood spoke to the 911 operator from the front porch of his house. He could see the road, but Maura's car was not in his line of sight. As he spoke, a few cars passed by but Atwood was not able to identify any of them.

"I did not hear or see anything strange happen," Atwood said.

Three minutes later, at 7:46 p.m., Haverhill police Sergeant Cecil Smith arrived on the scene. He had been dispatched at 7:29 p.m. following the call from Faith Westman.

(The previous post was a continuation from the following post, which somehow did not make it permanently onto the forum discussion):

Shortly after 7 p.m. Faith Westman heard a loud thump outside her white gambrel-style home at 70 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. Her house is located inside a sharp left-hand bend in the road; Westman lives there with her husband, Tim. The couple also owns The Weathered Barn, a well-known local landmark, which is across the street at 69 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. In this barn, Tim Westman, a renowned craftsman, restores antique musical instruments.


Faith Westman peered out her window and saw Maura Murray's black Saturn lodged in a snow bank a short distance from her home. The car was facing west on the eastbound side of the road. From the look of things, it was clear there had been some kind of accident.

At 7:27 p.m. Westman called the Grafton County Sheriff's Department to report the vehicle, which she described as being in a "ditch."

Westman told dispatcher Ronda Marsha she was not sure if there were any injuries. Notably, the log reports that Westman said she could "see a man in the vehicle smoking a cigarette."

Maura never smoked and was vehemently anti-smoking, according to her mother and father.

In a later interview with Maura's father, Fred Murray, the Westmans could not agree on an exact description of the person in the black Saturn. Faith Westman believed she had seen a man with a cigarette, while Tim Westman believed it was a woman at the scene on her cell phone and that the red light from the phone looked like the tip of a cigarette.

An investigator who later interviewed the Westmans confirmed that the couple did not fully agree on a description.

When asked to clarify for this story the Westmans declined comment. "We've been down that path too many times. It's worn thin," Tim Westman said.{sidebar id=8}

Meanwhile, across the street, neighbor Virginia Marrotte was standing in her kitchen with her husband, John, who was peeling an orange.

"From our kitchen window we saw a car down the road with trouble lights flashing and someone walking around the car," Virginia Marrotte wrotein response to a set of questions sent for this series.

John Marrotte told the same story to private investigator John Healy after the incident and added that he believed he saw Maura's car back up parallel to the road, indicated by the car's rear lights.

While the Marrottes were watching from their kitchen window they observed another neighbor arrive on the scene in a school bus.

Arthur "Butch" Atwood is a former Taunton, Mass., resident, who worked as a school bus driver for First Student Inc., the second largest school bus operator in the U.S. according to the company website.

Atwood lived with his wife, Barbara, in a log-cabin style home 210 yards east of the Westmans at 4 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. Atwood was on his way home after dropping off students following a ski field trip. His home is on the town line with neighboring Bath.

Atwood stopped by the scene of the accident and saw a young woman alone in the car whom he later identified as Maura Murray. Her dark hair was hanging down, not in its customary bun, though Atwood said he could clearly see her face. She was "shook-up," but not injured, he reported to police.

The order for this article goes #8897,#8896,#8898 (in other words, out of the 3 posts i just posted, read the one in the middle first, then the first one, then this one):

Atwood saw that a police vehicle had arrived so he went to his school bus to finish up some paperwork, he said during an interview.

Atwood later estimated that seven to nine minutes had elapsed from the time he left Maura to the arrival of the police cruiser, the Caledonian Record reported.

Sgt. Smith approached Maura's car and discovered that it was locked. There was no sign of Maura. The driver's side windshield was cracked and both front air bags had been deployed.

In a window of just minutes Maura Murray had vanished.

"Evidence at the scene indicated the vehicle had been eastbound and had gone off the roadway, struck some trees, spun around, and come to rest facing the wrong way in the eastbound lane," according to the accident report filed by Sgt. Smith on February 15, six days after the accident.

Tire impressions were found in the snow, though none were reported on the road.

Sgt. Smith found a box of Franzia wine behind the driver's seat of the vehicle and a red liquid on the driver's side door and ceiling of the car.(Maura's high-school friend Liz Drewniak recalls that Maura was not a heavy drinker, but often liked to buy wine by the box.) The box was damaged, perhaps in the accident, and reddish spots resembling wine were also found on the road, according to investigator John Healy. Sgt. Smith later recovered a coke bottle that contained "a red liquid with a strong alcoholic odor." None of the other bottles of alcohol that Maura had bought in Amherst were found in the car.

While later reports would suggest that a witness observed Maura intoxicated at the time of the accident, the source of that information is unclear. Circumstantial evidence suggests Maura may have been drinking wine prior to the crash, but Butch Atwood confirmed to a reporter for this story that Maura did not appear intoxicated when he spoke with her.

Other items found in Maura's car were a AAA card, insurance forms, gloves, compact discs, makeup, computer generated directions for Burlington and Stowe, Vermont, and a book Maura had been reading by Nicholas Howe, Not Without Peril.

Sgt. Smith also found a rag stuffed into the exterior tail pipe of Maura's Saturn. The rag came from the trunk of Maura's car, according to Fred Murray, who said he had stored the rag along with an emergency roadside kit in the Saturn.

Whether Maura stuffed the rag in the tailpipe herself and what her motivation could have been remains unclear.

Stuffing a rag into a tail pipe would stall the vehicle and it would eventually kill the engine, according to Ferry's Automotive in Hanson. Plugging the tailpipe can also be a way to check for leaks in a vehicle's exhaust system. While carbon monoxide poisoning is a common method of attempting suicide, it would normally require a means of feeding the deadly gas back into the vehicle, such as by hose or in a confined space.

When asked if Maura could have put the rag in the tailpipe, her father said it was possible. If smoke was trailing out of the tailpipe, Maura may have wanted to plug the pipe to avoid attracting attention from police.

After checking the area around the Saturn, Sgt. Smith knocked on the Westmans door and asked the couple what they had seen.

Sgt. Smith then drove the 200 yards east to Butch Atwood's home, and found Atwood sitting in his bus. Sgt. Smith knocked on the bus window. "He asked where the girl was," Atwood recalled and told the officer he hadn't seen anyone since leaving Maura's vehicle.

URL for this article:

http://www.whitmanhansonexpress.com/index.php...

Det. Columbo, I have a couple questions for you regarding the accounts from some of the neighbors from the article that I just posted, which is the most detailed description of the accident that I have read yet.

Virginia Marrotte claims that "From our kitchen window we saw a car down the road with trouble lights flashing and someone walking around the car."

The Marrottes then saw Arthur "Butch" Atwood appear in his school bus. So what did they see AFTER Butch left?(This is obviously the question that every single one of us is spending our time trying to figure out, but I'm wondering if they had paid any attention after they saw Butch leave the scene, or if they were even watching for that long). Also, what about the Westman's? Did they see Butch pull up to Maura in the school bus? Did they continue to watch after Butch left? How long do they claim they watched for?

Also, if Virginia Marrotte saw someone WALKING AROUND the car, and the rag that was in the tail pipe came from the emergency kit, which is in the trunk, then that someone who was walking around the car, whether it was Maura or not, may have opened the trunk. SOMEONE opened the trunk and got the rag out and put it in the tail pipe. One person on the forum had suggested that perhaps they were wiping down the car for fingerprints.

In one of Fred's letters to the governor, he states "I remain convinced also that police have not fully developed a lead given to them
concerning a local man who claimed he knew what had happened to “that girl” and
disclosed the location where she had been held and by whom." Who is he referring to in this letter? Is the location that he is referring to also the same location (the A-frame) where the cadaver dog went "bonkers"?

Det Columbo, I assume you or someone else with first hand knowledge of this investigation may be able to answer some of these questions.

DISTANCES

Rte 302/Rte 112 intersection to the scene of the accident past Weathered Barn: 3.6 miles

Rte 302/Rte 112 intersection to W Guardrail on Rte 112: 1.54 miles. This is the probable scene of the Saturn’s first accident, assuming there was a first accident. Damage to engine hood on left front above the headlight and bumper may have been caused by crossing the center line and oncoming lane of traffic colliding with the rounded edge or end of the guardrail on the other side of the road. Impact may have affected the headlight’s aim as well as causing both airbags to deploy. Due to the impact, the Saturn may have ended up partway in a ditch next to the road, assuming there was a ditch, and the driver or someone who stopped to check on the driver’s condition, used the floor mats to provide traction to get out of the ditch. Perhaps another driver passing by the scene reported the accident resulting in Sgt Smith’s dispatch to the scene around 7 pm. But the Saturn was gone when Sgt Smith arrived at the scene.

Rte 302/Rte 112 intersection to Bunga Road/Rte 112 intersection: 2.30 miles This is the location where witness RO first saw the red truck with MA (or NH temp) plates.

Rte 302/Rte 112 intersection to Goose Lane/Rte 112 intersection: 2.46 miles. This is the location where the Hosp. Emp. saw Sgt Smith pass by heading E/B on Rte 112 toward the scene of the accident on Rte 112 past the Weathered Barn.

Rte 302/Rte 112 intersection to Stage Stop convenience store: 2.54 miles. Location where Witness RO saw the red P/U parked the parking lot as she approached on foot. When the driver saw her approaching, he left the parking lot and headed E/B on Rte 112 in the direction of the accident on Rte 112 past the Weathered Barn. Witness RO also saw Sgt Smith pass by headed E/B on Route 112 in the direction of the accident on Rte 112 past the Weathered Barn.

Beach Bum...I have asked over n over...when was the last Saturn's Inspection sticker...no answer...October 17. 2003...? So the vehicle
had not been inspected 10/2004...hmmm...Kinda starts sounding like when my children were teens...like hello,.? Inspection..? Excise tax?
Hello..? duh...? Even an oil change date could/would determine mileage.
The odometer reading would rid the assumption of accident prior to trip.
I guess that Fred would just assume that Maura would "take care of business"....? OR....he just took care of everything for her. I dunno...
By the age of 21, one would assume that one
would know what is what....when and what are responsibilities...?

Now, another question for you, if you know....I would like to know the last odometer reading....if only at that October 17th date. So many here, want to believe that the Saturn was damaged in MA.....take a look at the
front end damage photos...and see how impossible it would be to drive a car at any mph over ...guestimate of 20 -25...with one head light (maybe)and without hood flipping up to windshield.....puleeze...(A hood flipping back to the windshield is not a pleasant experience...
I know...with my very old Triumph)