NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - # 7

[Jane Birch]

Good points all, and I also do not believe it's a "settled problem" as assumed here.

Logic: Why would she have a Red Cross card to begin with? Where would one have come from to use? Points to static again. :fence:

Sharon had given Maura several calling cards prior to Maura's having a cell phone. The cell phone account Maura and Billy shared was fairly recent. The question *I* have is why would a Red Cross worker use a calling card. The Red Cross surely has outgoing phone lines with long-distance service that its workers are entitled to use in the course of their jobs, given that the Red Cross is a worldwide organization.

As far as I'm concerned, it was EITHER a calling card OR a Red Cross worker. To say it was both is just weird.

 

[Jane Birch]

I always though Maura voluntarily left West Point. Renner makes it sound like she didn't have much choice in the matter. Is there more to the story?

Not as far as I know, either. Everything I've ever been told was that Maura decided West Point and chemical engineering wasn't her bag, and that she really wanted to be helping people in a more direct manner, so she transferred to UMass and its nursing program.

There have been some ridiculous rumors circulating the past few years, but never from any source I considered reliable, and they're not even worth revisiting, IMO.

 

[scoops]

re-visiting the Petrit Vasi hit-and-run angle:

When I went on my trip up to UMASS and then on into the White Mountains, I elected against spending any time taking photos of the location where Petrit Vasi, was found lying in the road unconscious at around 12:20 a.m. that same night that Maura broke down at work around 1 a.m.

But I must admit, I have always had trouble dismissing a link

Many will say that there was no way Maura could've hit him that night because she was at work when Vasi was found.

However, the problem with that is that Vasi himself has no clue when he was hit or how long he was laying in the road for, so one can't assume that Maura was indeed at work at the actual time Vasi was struck.

Vasi's injuries were so severe that he was hospitalized for over a month after being taken in. (I always found it odd that police came up with two possible theories concerning Vasi, actually three, that he was struck by a car, or that he had fallen from a car, or that he had been severely beaten by several people (Vasi told authorties when he finally came too that his wallet had been emptied)

Point is, it seems like that should've been a pretty easy mystery to solve because if Vasi was struck by a car, the car would've left evidence behind on Vasi and around where Vasi was hit (Paint, plastic etc.)

So the fact that police have no idea what happened to him, tells me that police didn't take the situation very seriously, probably thought they were being called out to a drunk that had just passed out in a college town and after scooping him up off the road, they went about their business.

While I didn't take any photos of the Vasi location, I did accidently find myself driving right up on it as I was trying to find the Amherst Brew Company.

For starters, the spot where Vasi was found (Intersection of Triangle and Mattoon) is only two minutes from where Maura was working at most.

But as I was coming eastbound on triangle and actually had to make a sharp turn onto Mattoon I soon realized that there was no way that Vasi could've been laying in the road very long.

the intersection of Triangle and Mattoon is very BUSY and well traveled both by cars and people on foot. The turn from Triangle onto Mattoon is very sharp and on a hilly curve and when I made the left turn I had to quickly adjust (not knowing the area) from hitting a couple that was walking across the crosswalk.

I could see where people are hit in that area, but after having personally driven on it, I no longer think there is any relation to Maura or her breakdown at work that night. Vasi was likely found within minutes after he was struck or ended up there and Maura would've been at work.

 

[scoops]

IMG_9768 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Here is a photo of the hotel fred Murray stayed at the Saturday night he was visiting Maura. The hotel (at the time was a Quality Inn) is on Russell Street in Hadley, Mass. Driving from Maura's dorm to this hotel takes roughly six to seven minutes tops.


Maura arrived to this hotel around 4 a.m. on Sunday Morning Feb 8 after having received a ride (from the tow truck driver) from the scene of her first accident.

Why Maura left her own dorm to return her father's car at 3 a.m.. in the morning remains a pretty big mystery in my book. I truly think Maura wanted to get something off her chest that night.

Maura's dad would've been asleep at the time and not expecting her and I highly doubt Maura had a key to her father's hotel which means she would have to wake him up (after having been drinking) to return his car.

I don't know anyone with that kind of cahones who would wake up their father at 4 in the morning to return him his car after they had been partying.

 

[scoops]

IMG_9798 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


This is Maura Murray's FIRST accident site.

I am not quite sure how Maura missed this stop sign and plowed into the guardrail, unless it was ice related.

One big misunderstanding I had about her first accident was that she left her dorm and took the "back roads" to get to her father's hotel and upon some windy turn or something, she lost control of the car and smashed into a guardrail.

This is far from the truth as this route Maura took that night would be the most logical route to get to her dad's hotel by anyone and it is a pretty straight-forward route with no big curves in the road and it's not out in the country by any stretch.

 

[Jane Birch]

IMG_9798 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


This is Maura Murray's FIRST accident site.

I am not quite sure how Maura missed this stop sign and plowed into the guardrail, unless it was ice related.

One big misunderstanding I had about her first accident was that she left her dorm and took the "back roads" to get to her father's hotel and upon some windy turn or something, she lost control of the car and smashed into a guardrail.

This is far from the truth as this route Maura took that night would be the most logical route to get to her dad's hotel by anyone and it is a pretty straight-forward route with no big curves in the road and it's not out in the country by any stretch.

It has been said from the beginning that Maura's first accident was caused by the fact that she slid on the ice.

 

[scoops]

IMG_9780 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

This is another picture right from Maura's FIRST accident site.

I am literally standing just in front of the guard rail that Maura wrecked into (curiously getting a lot of looks by the way from cars coming by) and taking a photo of the road Maura would've came down. You can see her dorm in the background (actually her's is right behind the big tower you can see, in an almost identical building).

Maura simply left her dorm parking lot, which leads right onto Massachusetts Rd. (N. Hadley road some refer to it as) and headed straight down before plowing right into the guard rail.

It was a pretty straight-forward trip. Had Maura not wrecked, she would've turned left at the T-Intersection and gone about two miles right into the heart of hadley and next to the Hampshire Mall.

Once in hadley, Maura would've turned right on Russell St. (town's busiest road) and about a mile down on the left would've been her father's hotel.

 

[Leomoon80]

Well, in light of Mr. Renner's revelation of the words of the Detective & Aunt, then I vote for Suicidal thoughts because of the way she behaved in the dorm, the liquor stock, not taking the help when it was offered on the road after the accident from the Bus Driver, on and on. Also, being rather non-wordy/evasive on the emails with "I'lll call you later" type of responses. She was feeling very down it appears.

Yes, I think it's leaning towards this end, so I can see why the father doesn't want to "go there".
As for the "bushy haired stranger" angle, or a predator on the loose at just the right exact time of her depressed state,.....well, anything is possible too.

Stranger stories have been told.

 

[OldSteve]

snipped:

Why Maura left her own dorm to return her father's car at 3 a.m.. in the morning remains a pretty big mystery in my book. I truly think Maura wanted to get something off her chest that night.

First, Scoops are you sure you are not James R.? If not, you are doing a great job at writing your own book! Most interesting and well done!

What I snipped from your post - you are right about that being a big mystery, and thanks to the way you've present it - I've wonder that because she had the accident driving over to see her father, she never did get to tell him/discuss the reason why she needed to see him at ~4am. It must have been important! If only she had discussed whatever it was - things might have turned out differently as far as her taking or needing to take that fateful trip she took....

 

[telemag]

The more I think about this the more I am becoming convinced that someone stuffed that rag in Maura's tailpipe to make her car stall. I think Maura stopped for gas and possibley had someone look at her engine. It would have been easy for this guy to follow her from a distance knowing for sure her car would stall especially with only 3 cylinders working. I never believed Maura would stop to think to put a rag in her tailpipe for whatever reason. Her car was facing the other way so on coming traffic would have seen the front of her car first. Did anyone happen to examine the rag? Would have been nice to know how dirty it was. Of course it could have been dirty to begin with. Just my opinion and I could be wrong. When it comes to this case nothing would surprise me.

 

[Leomoon80]

What would make a young woman go to see her sleeping father at such an hour as this. How far would she have had to drive to actually see him, had the accident not occurred (how many hours to drive?) Perhaps she wanted to be there at first light when he awoke.

Why didn't she talk to him afterwards about what was so important to her, and really, perhaps she did get it off her chest, and that is what is what we do not have access to as we muse over this case.

She did talk to her sister, perhaps the sister knows and isn't saying. Otherwise, it appears to be a family that doesn't share info with each other,from the outsider viewpoint (me) sitting on the sidelines listening to what came down towards the end of her life.

Going out at an ungodly hour to see her dad, not making it, yet talking to her sister, How about the father? Was he made aware of her problems and wanting to change universities?

 

[xLiqoricex]

I came across an article about this case and it also allowed room for people to comment. I read some comments that others wrote and one struck at me as really weird and suspicious. Kind of gave me the creeps about what possibly could have happened to Maura Murray. The web site is Maura Murray 2010 Case Update? feel free to read the comments.

But the one that struck me as odd was from a person who had first hand experience almost similar to what happened to Maura except this person made it out alive.



Rt 112 breakdown
"I was just on Rt 112 about 5 miles from the location Maura went missing. It was last week , on the 7th anniversary of Maura's accident. No cell phone coverage, negative 8 degrees and no way to get my car out of a snowbank which I drove into after avoiding 2 moose in the road.

I was heading to my ski house in Woodsville, it was after midnight. The few things I brought included 4 beers. During the 1.5 hours of digging the car out and hiding from passing cars I decided to drink 3 of the beers. My car wasn't moving and the clutch was burnt, I had no hope except to hike down the road and get cell coverage.

I did just that and called a local tow company when I had bars. Before the tow truck showed up the police did. The officer invited me to get in the cruiser to warm up while the tow truck hooked the car. Before I knew it I was cuffed and stuffed into the back of the cruiser.I was arrested for DUI. This was not at all what I expected but I was safer than I was an hour before that. I didn't put on my hazard lights and when I could hear an oncoming car I hid behind the huge snowbank.

I spent much of my time digging with the small shovel I keep in the car. On our way back to the station I explained this to the officer and told him why I was frightened by the events of the evening. The Woodstock officer stated he had no knowledge of Maura, her disappearance, even the case! He called in another officer to keep an eye on me as he booked me. The other officer also had no knowledge of Maura or her case. These are new officers I understand, but still, no clue as to a young woman gone missing only 7 years ago right in their patrol area!

Believe me, I gave them all a piece of my mind. I was booked and spent the night in Grafton County jail. I asked plenty of the correction officers about Maura's case and they too seemed to not care or didn't know. It was a horrifying experience but I am safe.

Even though I have to deal with the charges, I'm not worried since I wasn't driving and have no record. I feel like I was destine to go off the road right there, that night, and deal with those cops. I hope they do the research and maybe get more involved. Shame on them all! THIS WHOLE CASE IS A MESS THANKS TO COPS WHO THINK THEY KNOW MORE THAN THEY DO."
Reply answered by Lucky girl | 02-16-2011 at 04:09 AM

According to this person, the cops didn't know or didn't care about the Maura Murray case. That to me is just pretty disturbing. Maybe someone really knows more than he or she has said but the entire case is being botched. Maybe another person hurt Maura and it is being covered up.

And what was with the rag stuffed in the tailpipe of the car? I wonder if she put it there or if someone put it there. If Maura was drinking I don't think she would have put the rag in there. Maybe someone had an opportunity to put the rag there then she drove off not realizing it and the person caught up with her once she crashed. Maybe the rag caused her to crash. I really want an explanation for this.

The site above offers other ideas and clues.

 

[OldSteve]

The more I think about this the more I am becoming convinced that someone stuffed that rag in Maura's tailpipe to make her car stall. I think Maura stopped for gas and possibley had someone look at her engine. It would have been easy for this guy to follow her from a distance knowing for sure her car would stall especially with only 3 cylinders working. I never believed Maura would stop to think to put a rag in her tailpipe for whatever reason. Her car was facing the other way so on coming traffic would have seen the front of her car first. Did anyone happen to examine the rag? Would have been nice to know how dirty it was. Of course it could have been dirty to begin with. Just my opinion and I could be wrong. When it comes to this case nothing would surprise me.

So much has been written about just what you are saying!

Have you gone back over the old boards to see what was said?

We know she did stop for gas just before her crash, and as I'm sure you know the rag used came from the emergency kit her father had given her...

 

[xLiqoricex]

So much has been written about just what you are saying!

Have you gone back over the old boards to see what was said?

We know she did stop for gas just before her crash, and as I'm sure you know the rag used came from the emergency kit her father had given her...

Well, I guess this can rule out my rag theory. But I still don't understand why it would be in tailpipe. Maybe just so people could see that she had crashed.

 

[telemag]

So much has been written about just what you are saying!

Have you gone back over the old boards to see what was said?

We know she did stop for gas just before her crash, and as I'm sure you know the rag used came from the emergency kit her father had given her...

Yes I have been all over the otherboards. Thing is, do we know 100% for sure where the rage came from? So much has been written that was false. Of course like I had said, someone could have gone into her trunk if they had an oppertunity to look at her car when she stopped for gas and used her own rag.

 

[OldSteve]

Wow! Reading "To me, I'd say the car stalled and she was trying to regain control as she came to the turn." - from James R.'s latest blog.... Now this is a real game changer, IMO !!

http://mauramurray.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-accident-probably-happened.html

 

[xLiqoricex]

Yes I have been all over the otherboards. Thing is, do we know 100% for sure where the rage came from? So much has been written that was false. Of course like I had said, someone could have gone into her trunk if they had an oppertunity to look at her car when she stopped for gas and used her own rag.

I thought of this as well.

 

[xLiqoricex]

http://mauramurray.blogspot.com/2011...-happened.html


I've already said that someone may stuffed the rag in the tail pipe. Only difference is I said to crash not to stall. I don't know much about cars and how they react to stuff.

 

[scoops]

snipped:



First, Scoops are you sure you are not James R.? If not, you are doing a great job at writing your own book! Most interesting and well done!

What I snipped from your post - you are right about that being a big mystery, and thanks to the way you've present it - I've wonder that because she had the accident driving over to see her father, she never did get to tell him/discuss the reason why she needed to see him at ~4am. It must have been important! If only she had discussed whatever it was - things might have turned out differently as far as her taking or needing to take that fateful trip she took....

OldSteve,

Thanks for the compliments. But I am positive I am not James in fact I am a Sports Editor of a small-town newspaper in Southern Illinios to be exact who just like everyone else here took a lot of interest in this case.

I have gained a lot of investigative, interviewing and photography skills as a direct result of my journalism background and decided to try and at least apply some of those things to my recent journey into Massachusetts and New Hampshire for the first time ever.

I had limited time, so I narrowed my objective to mostly just getting a story out about Maura Murray through photos. ( I did no interviews and basically just tried to stay out of the locals hair and out of their way while I was doing what I did).

When you have a story that has been told by multiple sources over and over and over, you develop pictures in your mind that may or may not be accurate to what really happened.

So that was basically my objective: Provide accurate photos from locations of interest in this case and let the photos tell their own story.

 

[xLiqoricex]

Wow. I'm done posting here.