Where is MAURA MURRAY

Mason wrote:

When Fred Murray rented a car and drove to Connecticut sometime Sunday afternoon, wasn't Concord his destination? I'm guessing that the ping represents him attempting to reach her to discuss the insurance forms. If so, he wasn't in Concord when he called, which doesn't necessarily mean anything. Just curious.

I always thought he was returning to Bridgeport, CT where he was staying and working.

Dawn wrote:

I posted two earlier and they didn't show up. My question is for those who were on the original MM forum. Did friends from Umass or her hometown ever post? I just think it is odd that her friends remain quiet. If it was my friend who went missing I would still post here -even though some are mean. I would still pull out the stops to find answers.. Please advise.

You've asked a question that at one time or another has perplexed everyone, I think. Her closest friends at UMass, apparently, were the girls she partied with on Saturday night-Sunday morning. I remember reading somewhere that they described her as a very private person about whom they knew very little. I think the girl who knew her best was on the UMass track team and that's how she met Maura.

I automatically assume that their silence means that they are likely protecting themselves, as might be the case if they were into drugs, and protecting their friend who, for example, might have disclosed private information about her family dynamics and relationship with her fiancee that could be hurtful to her family and Bill who already have suffered more pain than anyone should have to bear.

Again, reading between the lines, I think they would be more forthcoming if they thought they had any relevant connection to her disappearance. Also, if the cops have interviewed them, and I believe they did because it's SOP to do so, they may have asked them to keep quiet.

I do recall that one of her friends said she loved to read The Onion, had a great sense of humor, and tended to flirt a bit when tipsy. I don't see anything unusual there, but the remark about flirtatious behavior does tempt the mind to play the association game and conjure up all sorts of unpleasant scenarios that might have led to her disappearance. Problem is we have no evidence to support any of them. Yet, how can our suspicions be put to rest when the Murray family has erected such an impenetrable wall of silence that seems to scream, "We have something to hide!"

Methinks, they doth protest too much. People are people and no one is perfect. Everyone is a balance of good and bad and nobody with any maturity and life experience expects anyone to be perfect.

I do not understand why everyone is being told to worship Maura, the goddess of perfection. In fact, I believe the family strategy has hampered the investigation into her disappearance. It certainly hasn't helped.

Am I ever going to get in trouble for this!

Well, if they don't like it, that's just too nbad.

Dawn wrote:

I posted two earlier and they didn't show up. My question is for those who were on the original MM forum. Did friends from Umass or her hometown ever post? I just think it is odd that her friends remain quiet. If it was my friend who went missing I would still post here -even though some are mean. I would still pull out the stops to find answers.. Please advise.

I wish that they had because they might hold the answers as to why she was so upset and why she headed to NH.
Sadly I don't think they posted, at least not on this forum that I am aware of.
I'm sure if I am wrong I will be corrected.

Mason
I liked your reply! Now I have a little more background. I do think it is very odd that the family has been quiet too except for Fred wanting information and his brave searchs for his daughter. I would think you would see more of a family plea from the begining from siblings too. Also - why keep her job a secret? That is troublesome.

Quija wrote:

<quoted text>
I always thought he was returning to Bridgeport, CT where he was staying and working.

Thanks, Quija. That excludes Fred Murray as the source of the ping because I don't have any reason to believe that he would have been anywhere near the Londonderry zone of coverage.

I can't think of any of the people whose names I have come across in this case who might have been within that zone. People do dial wrong numbers. That may explain the call, but my instincts are shouting NO!

something else i thought was odd - is how the mother reacted. did not go to the search ? even with a broken ankle i would want to be in the area and when interviewed she speaks as if she is dead. maybe everyone knows but Fred? He wouldnt keep searching if he didn't know the answer.. food for thought.

From Verizon's website: Pinging a cell phone is finding out what cell tower their phone is in. This can be used to locate a person that you know has the cell phone. This is used by law enforcement on a regular basis.Usually the information is provided by the cellular provider and you have to have an account with them. In 911 systems the location is broadcast with the call.
If a person guy is carrying a cell phone the phone is constantly sending signals to the closest cell tower, even if the phone isn't in use. The location of the cell tower will tell you that the person is within a certain range. When the person moves they can be tracked by which cell towers the signal is bouncing to.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Red Cross calling card that called her boyfriend's phone? Is there any way this card could have been carried in her wallet for emergencies? I always carried a calling card on road trips in college even though I had a cell.

I am assuming that the model of her Saturn is an SL2. I looked for replacement bulbs for that car, and indeed I did not find one that is red (or amber). However, in 1996 SL2s there appears to be (as you mentioned) a piece of amber plastic in that vicinity that may have broken off in the accident and that is what you are seeing...or I could be completely wrong. I think Det. Colombo said he saw the car personally, so maybe he can answer the question.

Mason wrote:

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Part 1
All the bulbs for turn signals that I've seen are clear. The plastic cover through which the light from the bulb passes is usually tinted red yellow. The blinking turn signal looks like a blinking yellow light to anyone looking at it. Therefore, I do not agree with your conclusion.

hi Dawn and Mason,ditto, ditto and ditto.There are only 5 options about why people from Mauras prior life do not post.They were asked not to.They know about Mauras prior life.They dont' care.They knew Maura was leaving Amherst whether by her own choice or not and option 5 which i hope is the one, they have no idea that there is a place to post.The forum that was closed in june was very much controlled compared to what we have here.take care philip

L White wrote:

While this is my first post to the forum, I have read most of the comments and insights listed, in addition to countless bits of available public evidence (both circumstantial and factual). This seems to be the most active forum and hope somebody is able and willing to address one thing that I cannot resolve: The police report indicates that the air bags deployed, but since it can be quite difficult for a passenger to maneuver inside the car under such conditions, I am struck by the fact that (a) the bus driver never mentioned the air bags (so far as I can discern), and (b) seemed to have a rather straight-forward conversation with Maura (the record indicates a fairly calm exchange, whereas only fairly serious collisions deploy air bags and if this were the case, the exchange might have been a bit more elevated, perhaps frantic to see if the driver was hurt or in shock). Please advise if there is any evidence to support either side of this issue. Otherwise, I continue to conclude that the air bags were deployed only after Maura left the scene either willingly with an accomplice, or under duress with abductor. Of course either scenario would produce wildly different outcomes, but it seems this is could provide evidence as to whether this was pre-meditated by Maura or an abductor, rather than an accident.

L.White greetings, and thanks for your imput. It is indeed strange the reaction of the SBD and the statements he has made to the press that are as ever changing as the wind, for example, the police state that the SBD stated that Maura was intoxicated, however he denies saying this...he did state that she was cold and shivering. WE have debated his words as if we were decifering the bible for the first time from Aramaic...
paraphrased:
The SBD did state that he came around the corner he could barely see the black Saturn parked on the highway. He states that he parked along side, and in another interview he states he parked nose to nose, he states he did not get off the bus, then he states he got off the bus, and that he was approximately 15 feet from the occupant of the car.
The most alarming of things that he states, he said he shone the flashlight into the window, and he could barely see her from the lips up as the airbags were deployed. He could not have seen the air bags deployed, with Maura's face covered to the lips or he would have had to have seen the accident. She could have had her head resting on the steering wheel, but no matter he should have assumed the occupant was likely in shock.
He allegedly goes to his house and tries to call police but the circuits are busy...do not know if this is true, could be?
continued

Part 11

the SBD called Hanover 911, which in tern relayed the message to Haverhill. Haverhill in turned called him back at 1943 however he was NOT IN, his wife stated that the girl was gone and that they did not know where she was, and that her husband had seen the accident....curious....and at odds with the SBD testimony. Why did he not come to the PHONE? Why did she not take the phone to him as he was allegedly in the bus doing paper work..
The SBD states he called from the porch and that when he finally got through to the police when he came outside the police had arrived which is 1946.
Allegedly he went to his bus to do paper work (he had just returned from a Ski Trip to the White Mountains area. The neighbour Marrott, states that the SBD, backed his bus all the way to his garage, and he had never done that before and that he stayed there a long time...although SBD version of events is that he went directly into the house and told his wife about the accident and tried to phone?!
Given that the airbags were deployed and the force which they deploy, one would expect that possibly the person was injured, especially since the occupant of the car was sitting doing nothing for 5 plus minutes before he arrived without the car on, and he states she was shivering.
Therefore to park the bus all the way up the driveway, one would think that given the circumstances of the occupant refusing help and asking him not to call police, and the airbags deployed and the damage to the car, one would assume that he would want to keep a close watch on her.......
OK so he sits on his bus allegedly, after he sees the police had arrived, yet he does not go down to the accident site but waits for Sgt. Smith to come to him, then he goes on a search for Maura, heading down to the French Pond Road area and the Stage Stop Store...
The SBD then assists Trooper Monahan to search the area for foot tracks, but we hear little of these, nor are the foot tracks notated on Sgt, Smith's accident report....
A kettle of fish for sure...someone correct me if I left out anything or miscommunicated the SBD actions, events...

sorry for posting twice please ignore

Hi whiston and Mason -Also - is citigirl still around - do we know if she is her cousin? i read that in earlier posts. Does det columbo work for the family? I guess we really dont know. However, I am interested in Mason and whiston's opion on this.

Part 1 of 2

I can assure everyone that any homicide detective worth his/her salt would never regard the family of a possible homicide victim as off limits to investigation. Based on my previous experience handling homicide cases, I would be surprised to discover that someone didn't make the same connection that we have made between Mr. Vasi's accident and the 1 am telephone call that upset Maura. I also would be surprised to learn that someone didn't wonder if Maura disclosed the contents of that call to her father early Sunday morning when she had the tow truck driver drop her off at the motel where he was staying after she wrecked his car.
I don't know many fathers who wouldn't be at the very least somewhat testy if their daughter showed up before dawn and confessed she had wrecked his new car. The first concern, of course, would be are you OK? After that question was answered affirmatively, she may have broken down and launched into a narrative about her situation that included a description of the phone call. If she tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, I can see that approach causing a reaction along these lines.
Maura, you wrecked my new car. You ran it into a guardrail because you weren't paying attention to what you were doing. How is that possible? etc. Until finally she gives it up and out comes the story.
Daddy now switches gears and puts on his defender/protector hat. I'm going to take care of this situation, he decides. He develops a plan and she begins to carry out her role the next day.
As sister Kathleen later said, "something went terribly wrong." When I read about that a cold chill traveled down my spine.
I would be surprised if the cops didn't suspect that Fred Murray knew more than he was willing to admit. We know that they resented his relentless criticism of the way they handled the case, aggravated no doubt by their inability to defend their actions without compromising the investigation.
BTW, I am not aware of any evidence at this point that Sgt Smith failed to do anything that he should have done or did something that he should not have done. He certainly was more thorough compared to the efforts of other investigators that I've encountered.
I don't have any reason to suspect Fred Murray in Maura's disappearance, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he knows a lot more about the events of Monday, February 9th than he has been willing to admit. Why? Because I think he would have pressed Maura for an answer to what was bothering her when she woke him up before dawn on Sunday to deliver the news that she wrecked his car, and because he's the sort of person who has been known to say in the past that "if you need something done, you take care of it yourself." Implied in that statement is the notion that he would not have sought help from the cops, and I think that would have been particularly true if he believed that Maura was in any jeopardy of being charged with a crime.
As I've stated more than once, I cannot discern any justification for declaring that the investigation should be limited to what happened in NH because, for one thing, how could he possibly know that. Maura Murray did not flip a coin on Monday morning and say, "Heads I go to NH and tails I go to class (or my clinical placement). OK, it's heads. Guess I better go buy some booze and leave town without waiting to pickup my paychecks and wait for the weekend when dad is going to replace the Saturn I hate to drive."

Part 2 of 2

On the other hand, if with the best of intentions, he arrogantly decided to solve Maura's problem himself without seeking assistance from the cops, he may have placed Maura in the situation where "something went terribly wrong." If this is what happened, did he decide to try and make the cops the issue to deflect attention from himself? Did he decree that the events in Amherst were irrelevant and off limits to protect himself in the name of protecting her reputation and privacy? To what extent, if at all, is his obsessive drive to solve Maura's disappearance fueled by guilt and the desire to conceal his role in what happened?
I do not have the answers to these questions and I am not asserting that he is involved or has something to hide. Any good homicide detective would ask these questions along with many others because that's what they get paid to do. We should think the same way and not be afraid or intimidated into agreeing to let someone else define the scope of the investigation
Sometimes smart people do stupid things. To someone with my experience, a sweeping declaration that the facts and circumstances that led Maura to drive north are irrelevant to solving her disappearance is the equivalent of an admission that he knows those facts and circumstances but for reasons unknown he doesn't want anyone else to know.

I have wondered that myself but did not want to go there. I have thought of the rest of the family just because the mother was so strange to stay behind. What mother would stay behind when their daughter went missing in the night on a dark road covered in snow.??? I have never heard of her mother going on a search either. Prob because she knows she didn't need to go.

I will prob get slammed for saying that. but come on what mother would not go?????

Dawn wrote:

I have wondered that myself but did not want to go there. I have thought of the rest of the family just because the mother was so strange to stay behind. What mother would stay behind when their daughter went missing in the night on a dark road covered in snow.??? I have never heard of her mother going on a search either. Prob because she knows she didn't need to go.
I will prob get slammed for saying that. but come on what mother would not go?????

she is also suffering from cancer I believe. not sure because not a lot is said about her either.

interesting.. we do a FAQ.. just curious when was the first call placed to mr murray? Is it the 330 call ? or did they try and just not get thru.

Someone has been misinformed....

The CW still lives in his house where he did when Maura went missing. I do believe it is for sale though.

Also his trailer was searched after it was sold by him. LE got a warrant to search it where it was located in Lyme, NH.