Where is MAURA MURRAY

Thank you Detective Columbo. Do you think, from your time spent in the area and knowledge of the geography, it's possible that Maura could have walked from Old Peters Rd down to the Lodge ln/Valley rd area without being seen for half an hour or so?

A better map for post 11424

http://www.mapquest.com/maps...

I offer the following interesting comment from Lady Gray, with the disclaimers that she attached because I believe she would be justifiably upset, if I didn't. This quote is from her message, which is message #997 at page 50 of this topic.

"The package(s) in Maura's car that were automobile light bulbs........were for small lights such as blinker lights.

There is an alternative use for these little bulbs that drug abusers use them for. They break them in half and use that half to place a drug substance into. They then put fire underneath the half and melt the drug.....for either injection or to smoke.

And, by my stating the above paragraph, I am in NO WAY SUGGESTING MAURA WAS A DRUG USER. My thinking, if this is true, is that if they were used for ingestion of drug substances, they were used by perps who had control of Maura's car.

Or, it could have simply been there because the blinkers needed new bulbs."
__________

Is it possible that Maura was wittingly or unwittingly carrying a load of drugs stashed somewhere in the Saturn to a destination somewhere up north, perhaps in the area around Haverhill, and a small group of people in Amherst or Haverhill who knew about her trip, intercepted her, hijacked the shipment, and staged the accident?

When the cops searched the Saturn on Tuesday, did they perhaps find a little residue on a bulb and advise the Amherst Police Department regarding their discovery and ask them to check the damaged Corolla to see if it contained similar evidence of possible drug use?

Beagle reported that someone who worked at the body shop told him that the local authorities were all over the Corolla the same day the adjuster viewed it.

Maybe Maura intended to make the delivery Monday evening and spend a few days up north before returning to school, but was intercepted and kidnapped en route? Maybe she didn't even know that she was carrying a load?

People in difficult financial circumstances are often recruited by drug dealers who tell them to drive to a particular place and leave the car unlocked for a half hour or so. While the person goes to a nearby cheap restaurant with inside seating, the car is packed with the load and when the driver returns, he or she drives the car to another location in another city where the same scenario is followed to unload the car. The driver returns to the car and drives home without ever having seen the drugs or the people who loaded and unloaded them.

The driver gets $500 for their time and expenses, plus a quantity of their drug of choice for personal use. This has been a common scheme on the west coast for years.

Make sense?

I should have added that I've never carried a package of blinker bulbs in my car and I don't know anyone who does that. They are inexpensive, burnout so infrequently, and always available at auto parts stores that are so ubiquitous to the environment that it doesn't make much sense to stock-up and carry them in your car.

I'd be suspicious if I saw them in a car and, lest we forget, they may not have been Maura's.

If the car was being towed, why didn't Maura leave with them?(Much better plan than staying behind. Just report car stolen, etc.) If she was riding in-tow in the car and steering as a truck pulled with chains, etc, why would they leave her behind so quickly? If she had been left behind, wouldn't she have yelled something to them as they drove off? Witnesses heard one sound, then one thump. That's it. No yelling, no sudden screeching to get away, and when they looked out the window they saw one car, one girl.

Pointer wrote:

If that was for me, BF, yes I read that.

Wasn't intended for you, specifically.:)

After talking to SBD, it's likely she either got into a car, truck or bus; or walked down OP rd. The latter seems 50%. Otherwise she walked NW up 112, headed for the Stage stop, which she may have passed earlier. But that's a long walk and if she was bailing, she would have wanted to get off the main roads. Maybe she turned down OP rd and started walking, not knowing it would take her half an hour or more to find a phone.

Pointer...
I guess it is possible, but the snow was deep and the terrain is hilly. Unless she knew exactly where to go she would be lost in the woods. The possibilty of her getting to Swiftwater Circle or valley Rd. are pretty slim.

In the days following these places where searched and no footprints were found. It had not snowed for the next 3 days after the acc. so prints in the snow would have been visible.

Hope this helps.....Columbo

Mason wrote:

I should have added that I've never carried a package of blinker bulbs in my car and I don't know anyone who does that. They are inexpensive, burnout so infrequently, and always available at auto parts stores that are so ubiquitous to the environment that it doesn't make much sense to stock-up and carry them in your car.
I'd be suspicious if I saw them in a car and, lest we forget, they may not have been Maura's.

I guess you would be suspicious of me then. In the past when I drove older cars I would keep spare bulbs and fuses in my car. It was something my Dad taught me to do. It could be Fred supplied Maura's car with spare bulbs as well as the emergency kit.

Imagine for a moment you're fleeing the scene of something at the WB crash site. Ideally, you get into a car and drive off. Otherwise, at least a decent chance you head down Old Peters rd.- it's close and it's quiet. You then walk almost a mile, perhaps in pain. From there, after hitting Skiway Terrace, and in need of a phone, good chance you eventually end up near the Aframe at Lodge and Valley Rd. Especially at night when you'd be looking for lights from houses so you can rest and make a call. I'm sure the Aframe's been ruled out? but something to consider....

And thanks Det. Columbo, just saw your post. If you're sure the southern end of OP rd was checked for footprints, where the snow would have been deeper, guess that's likely it then. But I'm not sure you can say that with certainty. Regardless, I just think it's important to put ourselves in certain scenarios, and then knowing what we know from the facts, see where things lead. I'm happy to be wrong if it promotes the thinking that solves this case.

sophie bean wrote:

Perhaps it's nothing more than a need for attention, but anyone care to guess how "many" posters here recently are Alden? I mst say, I'm not quite sure how it's done, but it is more than tiresome. If it weren't for the not-so-incidental fact that Maura is still missing, and the same person is still yanking the discussion around after well over a year, it would be ridiculous.
However, Maura IS still missing.
No amount of quasi-credible blather, asking questions that have been asked and discussed with no progress for years, deflecting attention with weird rants, posing as a stalker (who could forget, however hard we try "Benji"?)- is going to change that fact.
I really wish that everyone could ignore the obvious bot posts.
Is anyone keeping a running tab of Alden's personas?

Sophie, perhaps if you are that tired, you should go take a nap.

If you:

Think Smith was involved

Then:

You don't believe Atwood who said he saw Maura.

Then:

Why would you think that Maura was even there?

If Atwood were involved, but Smith the perp.- what motive, if at all would he have for lying? He would have nothing to loose reporting Smith. Even if you think he could have been intimidated by Smith at the time; he's now far away from Smith and could not be intimidated now.(hypothetically)

The idea that Maura even drove the Saturn at all, let alone over 100 miles is almost unbelievable given her previous refusals to drive.

Why would she suddenly,(without any explanation as far as we know) decide to take risks she felt too dangerous to take in the short term earlier?

If the danger of driving the Saturn was fixed by her perception, who gave her that impression and why has that person not divulged this information?

If Smith hit her car - how could she get so far away that he had to look for her? Smith is in the big car - Smith had no injuries indicating he was unconscious.

Witnesses heard an acceleration and then a thud, not a thud then accelerating (presumably smith to go away before being seen.)

SBD didn't see Smith leaving then coming back.

If the accident was further back - they wouldn't take Maura to the dump site.

Smith arrived at the site to quickly to have been the person walking around the car in a flurry of activity as stated by witnesses.

Yet the activity around the car involved a desire to take items from the car - but not the jewelry.

The Saturn and driver were at the site before Smith arrived -> and he stayed for a long while.

We'd have to believe the person in the car was a co-conspirator. One wearing a police uniform, one not.

How would the co-conspirator be able to disappear in a matter of minutes unless they hid near by and ran, or had someone waiting to pick them up - a third co-conspirator?

Why would someone dumping a car hang around to have a smoke or phone call? If waiting to be picked up, why not go hide in the forest, or go down the block?

Why would anyone make any noise when dumping a car or pick a residential area?

Pointer wrote:

If Maura had been drinking, and asked the SBD not to call 911, she may have also been looking to flee the scene of the accident asap. If we take SBD's word for a moment (altho I admit I have some doubts about his comments at times), and several cars went by before LE arrived, then she most likely either got in one of them, or wanted to get off the road to hide, regroup, perhaps then find a working phone.(no signal at crash site, witness may have seen her trying to use phone rather than smoking).
SO, maybe she grabbed her backpack, put a rag in the tailpipe as she figured the car would soon have to be towed by someone, and ducked down Old Peters Rd. From looking at maps of the area, it seems the least traveled and was close by. If so, then she would have gone about 3/4 mile down what looks to be a fairly deserted rd, that ends at basically a trailhead. If she then took the shortest trail to the SW, she would have soon seen Skiway Terrace. Skiway ter. looks pretty uninhabited on the maps (not sure tho), but if so, and assuming maybe by now she really wanted to find a phone, she probably would have gone west toward the intersection of Lodge Ln and Valley Rd. The first sign of any homes on the map seems to be here, with the exception of one bldg on Skiway Ter. On the sat photos I've seen, the first house at Valley Rd. and Lodge Ln. appears to be an/THE Aframe! Anyone know if that's the case? At the very least, I think it's possible Maura went to one of the houses here to make a call and rest. From there, obviously several things could have happened.
Also, If she got into a car at the scene of the accident, as the dogs may have indicated, then perhaps she was driven to one of these houses, picked up by someone on their way home. Looks like folks living in that area would have often been traveling up Bradley Hill Rd, then by the WB curve on their way to Swiftwater cir. and then to Valley rd.
Anything click for anybody? Everyone on Valley rd been interviewed? I'm not accusing anyone there - perhaps Maura used someone's phone and then went off on her own, maybe in another car. Thoughts or has this been ruled out?

Cutting through Skiway Terrace on foot would've been virutally impossible at that time of year unless Maura has a snowmobile. At that time of year, that area is nothing but trails, many of which are never even groomed by the local club. A previous poster noted there has been snow squalls earlier in the day, making it that much more inahbitable. The trails in that area can be brutal, even on ATV or snowmobile. Most of the houses on Valley in that area are not inhabitted other than weekends at that time of the year. Some are residences, but not many.

Weeper wrote:

<quoted text>
ooOOoo,
As far as I know, if there is any videotape from the ATM it was not viewed by Fred Murray or the family (sister, brother or extended family)....
I do not know who, if anyone, positivley identified Maura from a videotape in Amherst.
If there was a videotape from Amherst and Fred was not offered an opportunity to view it, I can only assume the police consider it as evidence. I will not speculate as to thier reason for "sealing" any particular piece of evidence or what value it may hold. We (the PI Team) are not privy to the State's investigation (who they've interviewed, what they've photographed, or any "persons of interest" they may have set thier sights on)as it is an on-going investigation.
As to the accident with the Toyota in Hadley, I have no interest it that incident but would assume an adjuster/investigator from the insurance company photographed the vehicle, I see no reason why LE would photograph the vehicle. In fact, I had no dealings with any investigation in Massachusetts, another Team member was tasked to interview some students at UMass. Amherst. That's why (way-back-when)I encourraged Philip (Whiston) to continue with his exploration at that end. My interests never left the Haverhill/Woodsville area, they still haven't for that matter.
As to the crack in the windshield, I can attest to the fact that it was caused by a solid object striking the inside upper left corner. Caused by the airbag?..in a round-about way perhaps. I "believe" it was caused by a wristwatch worn on the left wrist while the airbag deployed (with the driver's left hand in the 10 o'clock position on the steering wheel (ask any EMT responding to head-on crashes and they will tell you broken wrists are very common with airbag deployments). Also, the "spider-crack" was smaller than shown in the photograph I posted on the MMM site. After two winters left out in the eliments, the cracked in the windshield expanded.
Not much help to you, but it's all I can attest to of your questions, sorry...ooOOoo
Respectfully,
WEEPER

Weeper,

Thank you for your response. And thank you for answering in detail. Most responses on this site & MMM are one word answers. Which just creates more questions. I am however quite surprised you have no interest in Amherst. I think it needs to be established that Maura left Amherst. JMO.

So many more questions, but I don't want to annoy anyone.

Okay people, I haveen trying to post for a while now so guess I'll say nothing useful and see if that posts.

Immediate! Amazing! Guess I can't talk of that night....

Maura obviously wanted to get away from the scene or she would have gone to the nearest house to use their phone. If she didn't head down Old Peter rd.(any other route would have allowed her to be seen) then she probably got into the nearest car/truck/possibly bus.

There's no doubt in my mind that Maura could have struggled an 1/8 mile thru 2 feet of snow if she had to, L4M, but I do appreciate your info and it does make the OP rd scenario less feasible.

If she didn't take off on foot, I wonder if witnesses would have heard truck doors slamming or voices if someone stopped/came back and picked her up. I tend to think so but anyone's guess.

Otherwise it wasn't her at all but that also seems unlikely.

It must be my criticism of this site....

Give it another try, Anne. I want to read what you have to say.