NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - # 8

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I am on a "leaf peeping" vacation (aka fall foliage quest) and have been since October 7th; although I do not have a laptop, I am using the computer at the B&B at which I'm staying to post this. Earlier today I was driving west on Route 112, I passed the tree on which the VERY LARGE blue ribbon is tied at the spot of MM's disappearance, and a little while after that I encountered road construction.

During two stops for oncoming traffic, I talked to the respective flagpersons, and both of them told me the construction will continue "farther east along the road ending at the big barn."

I am posting this because I don't know how many of you regularly drive Route 112 in that area so I don't know that anyone else would weigh in on the subject. I am hoping that perhaps something, ANYTHING, will be found that will be a "new clue" as a result of the road construction project (I counted seven construction workers at the first stop, six at the second, and LOTS of vehicles parked all along Route 112 in the respective construction areas).

Before I entered the area where Maura was last seen, I stopped for awhile in Lincoln and spoke to some folks there (I know them from earlier trips) to see if anyone had heard anything new on the subject of MM; I also stopped for awhile in Woodsville after I had passed through the construction areas. No one has anything further to share on the subject of MM's disappearance, but everyone was friendly even though the economy of the last several years hasn't been favorable.

Valiantly attempting to keep the faith that MM will eventually be found so her family will at least have some closure.....
 
The White Mountains are thickly forested and most people stick to the trails. Hunters go off trail, but not so much along roads such as Rt. 112, because there are better areas to hunt. Also quote "IMO, in the woods along the road side (Rt. 112 and maybe 116) all the way to the next towns would be a start, especially where they didn't search before. Maybe, work backwards from the towns to the Haverhill. I think she was pretty fit, so she could have gone far. Volunteer hikers could do it. It could be hairy in places though.


I like McSpy's point about looking along the immediate roadsides and not necessarily so deep in the woods. I am not sure if Fred Murray has searched the woods directly by the roadsides or not. It does make good sense to check these areas thoroughly (If they haven't already). If Maura were trying to hide from traffic she may not have gone as deep into the woods as we think. McSpy is right. Most Hikers usually stay on trails and hunter's don't hunt directly along roadsides. It would be pretty unlikely that hunter's and hiker's in those woods would spend much time along the immediate roadside and happen upon any remains. I think it is an automatic thought that one has to go deep in the woods to find a missing person. Many missing people are actually found along roadsides oddly enough. People go missing in vehicles that run off the road into remote woods or water, bodies are dumped in ditches or buried a few yards off the road. Some people have been hit by cars and knocked over hillsides and some people get off the road to hide from something. (My friends and I did this when we were younger if we were out after dark and saw a car coming down the road.) If Maura did this on a cold night and remote area that adds an element of danger. I wonder if the road crews working along side the roads could be alerted to keep their eyes open. Many will duck off into the woods to take a leak. (Sorry to be so blunt). They could be doing "double duty"
 
My opinions only, no facts here:

Where the dogs lost the scent, Maura was either taken north or east by vehicle. My bet would be that she is buried and somewhere east from where the scent was lost, maybe a bit up Bradley Hill Road. Are there any small domiciles there that could have housed the perpetrator at the time the disappearance occurred (perennial rental units)? If so, I would look around them.
 
I am on a "leaf peeping" vacation (aka fall foliage quest) and have been since October 7th; although I do not have a laptop, I am using the computer at the B&B at which I'm staying to post this. Earlier today I was driving west on Route 112, I passed the tree on which the VERY LARGE blue ribbon is tied at the spot of MM's disappearance, and a little while after that I encountered road construction.

During two stops for oncoming traffic, I talked to the respective flagpersons, and both of them told me the construction will continue "farther east along the road ending at the big barn."

I am posting this because I don't know how many of you regularly drive Route 112 in that area so I don't know that anyone else would weigh in on the subject. I am hoping that perhaps something, ANYTHING, will be found that will be a "new clue" as a result of the road construction project (I counted seven construction workers at the first stop, six at the second, and LOTS of vehicles parked all along Route 112 in the respective construction areas).

Before I entered the area where Maura was last seen, I stopped for awhile in Lincoln and spoke to some folks there (I know them from earlier trips) to see if anyone had heard anything new on the subject of MM; I also stopped for awhile in Woodsville after I had passed through the construction areas. No one has anything further to share on the subject of MM's disappearance, but everyone was friendly even though the economy of the last several years hasn't been favorable.

Valiantly attempting to keep the faith that MM will eventually be found so her family will at least have some closure.....

Good info! Wonder if the road crews were told to keep an eye out for anything relating to MM... have a feeling they weren't :(
 
Good info! Wonder if the road crews were told to keep an eye out for anything relating to MM... have a feeling they weren't :(

BBM

The two flagpersons to whom I spoke are well aware of MM's disappearance along that stretch of road, and both told me the construction crew knows of her disappearance.

I apologize I did not include this information in my original post on the subject.
 
BBM

The two flagpersons to whom I spoke are well aware of MM's disappearance along that stretch of road, and both told me the construction crew knows of her disappearance.

I apologize I did not include this information in my original post on the subject.
You did real good on this!
 
Now this is new, at least to me. But if Mr. Renner spoke to the state police official who wrote the warrant, why can't its authenticity be definitively established?

The post begs the question of whether state police identified the caller and who that person was.
 
UP as of now. BIG I would say. If true things are starting to become clear.

http://mauramurray.blogspot.com/

I have heard of this call, but not in this detail. I have a few questions on this call:

Did Maura answer the phone?

What was the duration of the call?

If Maura didn't answer the phone, why didn't the caller come forward?

Was it established that she knew this caller?

Was this caller's phone number a NH or a MA number?

Who called her?

If the caller was driving up to meet her, where was he/she driving from?

Is this caller missing too?

Has LE talked to the phone owner?

Does the caller have an alibi for that evening and did family or friends notice them not returning home for a day or longer?
 
If Maura was meeting someone up there and she disappeared because of an accident or foul play by a stranger, then why didn't this caller come forward? Now, maybe he did, but LE is witholding the info? Also, how did Maura set up this meeting? Does LE have evidence from her email and phone records of any coorespondence with this person? Could Maura have told someone in person of her plans, but didn't expect them to drive up to NH? Could Maura have made a phone call from a public phone to this person? The public phone could have been in NH or on campus.

I have more questions than answers!
 
Of course, the call could have simply been a wrong number...
 
Of course, the call could have simply been a wrong number...

I agree. Someone dials a wrong number and unknowingly becomes a person of interest in a missing person case. :twocents: There's a lot of running speculation with this old piece of "information" that I have yet to see on a formal letterhead.
 
Are we sure, someone was trying to get a hold of Maura?

Maura placed a call to her own voicemail at 4:37 p.m. the day she went missing to check for messages.

What this may prove though, is that Maura didn't travel up I-91 like what has been thought, but rather Maura went up 1-93 instead. She is from the eastern part of massachusetts, so maybe she was either more familiar with I-93 or she had a specific pit-stop in mind on her way up north.
 
Are we sure, someone was trying to get a hold of Maura?

Maura placed a call to her own voicemail at 4:37 p.m. the day she went missing to check for messages.

What this may prove though, is that Maura didn't travel up I-91 like what has been thought, but rather Maura went up 1-93 instead. She is from the eastern part of massachusetts, so maybe she was either more familiar with I-93 or she had a specific pit-stop in mind on her way up north.

"Sprint Corporate Security advised this affiant that during the late afternoon hours of February 9, 2004an outgoing telephone call was made to Murray from the Londonderry, NH Sprint tower."
http://mauramurray.blogspot.com/

Based on the call being outgoing from the tower, I take that to mean it was incoming to her cellphone, no?
 
Are we sure, someone was trying to get a hold of Maura?

Maura placed a call to her own voicemail at 4:37 p.m. the day she went missing to check for messages.

What this may prove though, is that Maura didn't travel up I-91 like what has been thought, but rather Maura went up 1-93 instead. She is from the eastern part of massachusetts, so maybe she was either more familiar with I-93 or she had a specific pit-stop in mind on her way up north.

I may just be slow (it's Friday) but I don't follow the logic here. If we are talking about an incoming call to Maura's phone, pinging off a tower, are you suggesting that she was calling herself? Does a call to voicemail record as a call to the phone? I've never thought of my voicemail as being "in" my phone. I will admit to tremendous ignorance on these matters. But my guess would be ( and that is what it is--a guess) that LE would know if the call discussed in the warrant was to her own voicemail.

scoops, if I have misunderstood you, please correct my technologically ignorant self.
 
I may just be slow (it's Friday) but I don't follow the logic here. If we are talking about an incoming call to Maura's phone, pinging off a tower, are you suggesting that she was calling herself? Does a call to voicemail record as a call to the phone? I've never thought of my voicemail as being "in" my phone. I will admit to tremendous ignorance on these matters. But my guess would be ( and that is what it is--a guess) that LE would know if the call discussed in the warrant was to her own voicemail.

scoops, if I have misunderstood you, please correct my technologically ignorant self.

call it being not up on technology or whatever, but I just happen to have the very same style and type of phone (Now) that maura had back in 2004 and whenever I go to check my voicemail, yes you actually end up dialing your own number to check your own messages and I would assume because you dial that it pings off of whatever cell tower is nearest to where you are at.

Also, the Rausch's would've known if there was a mystery phone call because they were the ones who got the bill for Maura's cell so that rules out the whole police keeping that info from the public because Sharon would've went public with that and she would've been the one to see it before the police.

It is a fact that maura did check her voicemail at 4:37 p.m. that day while en route to wherever she was intending to go. And this seems to be around this time that this "new info" points to Maura getting a phone call. So I think IMHO that there are some well-meaning people (Renner, chris king blogger dude) that are just confusing some basic known info about her steps that day.
 
Just to add some info after verifying,

If Maura has her phone turned on, then it will automatically ping every 30 seconds and hit on whatever cell tower is nearest to where she is located.
It doesn't matter if she is receiving a call, checking her messages, calling out to someone or not doing anything, her phone will ping regardless as long as its turned on

And It is a known fact (at least stated as fact in the original southshore-express series done by maribeth conway) that Maura would've had her phone on at precisely 4:37 p.m. when she checked her voicemail. So whereever she was at 4:37 p.m., the nearest tower to her at that time would've picked up the ping from her phone and recorded it.

even still, when you check your voicemail and you hit the voicemail button on your phone, it dials your phone number so technically that would count as an incoming phone call. (but probably is a moot point considering the phone pings no matter what as long as its on)

Also, I think why we haven't heard about a mystery phone call in the late afternoon hours before in the past seven years, is because early on, they (Police and sharon rausch etc.) had determined that it was Maura checking her voice mail, therefore no reason to look any deeper.

I'm sure this search warrant request filed by Lt. Landry is real and legit, but we don't know the context of it. Did he file this request early on and then realize it was maura checking her phone messages and so therefore his request became moot (over time). Was Lt. Landry out of the loop compared to other investigators early on in this case?

It is also possible that this chris king guy that got a hold of Lt. Landry's statements may just be going off of that info alone. A lot can change quickly in a case like this, it can be real easy to overanalyze and read into a single search warrant request that was made a long time ago.
 
My opinions only, no facts here:

To keep this thread inspired, I will repost a series of discussions I presented on this case awhile back. These posts been very slightly modified for clarity:

Part 1: There is a "fight or flight" aspect to everybody's personality. It takes a certain event or a chain of successive events for this happen. After Maura wrecked her father's car, something snapped. Something driven by guilt over the accident and a thousand, nay a million snippets of prior history that define one's individual and fascinating personality. Maura decided to go on a road trip for soul-searching and with the childish thought in the back of her mind that she would rent a room up north and call her father and have him come up and visit with her near the old location where they used to go when she was a little girl. Maura is not a party animal, but bought some alcohol and was sipping it as she went. That is only natural (in spite of open container laws), because she was stressed and just wishing to stay calm. Unfortunately, she was not 100% sober when she rounded the bend on Wild Ammonoosuc Road in wintery conditions, and she slid off. Now, she is really feeling frantic- what if the cops come and arrest her for DUI? She is wrestling with feelings of guilt, remorse, and confusion (even though in reality she has done nothing wrong). She was offered help by a bus driver, but refused it. She walked 100 yards to the junction with Bradley Hill Road at about 1 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. That is where she disappeared. That is where the dog tracked her. That is where the scent ended. Prior to this event, everything that happened was "white noise" and unrelated.

Part 2: As I stated previously, I believe that the crime started at Bradley Hill Road at about 1 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. I am aware of the rag or whatever stuffed in the tailpipe of Maura’s car. I acknowledge it could have been sabotage by another or even a suicide attempt, but this detail somehow seems so irreverent that is has to be overlooked for now. But if someone were to argue that all of the white noise in the case ended when the car slid off the road and the initial crime occurred right there, I would not vehemently argue against them. But I still believe that Maura walked the 100 yards from the car wreck to Bradley Hill Road at about 1 Wild Ammonoosuc Road by herself. The people who permanently lived around the location of Maura’s disappearance all seem to be respectable and decent. Some of them have subsequently been hounded and I cannot blame them if they are tired of talking. The officers who stopped by the accident scene early on (but Maura was already gone), also appear to be stalwart individuals who acted professionally. I suggest the sleuth look a wee bit beyond the presently-known names for a suspect.

I usually list a calculation of the odds of certain outcomes in an unsolved criminal case. This shows the readers where my mind is at and what my biases are. So here goes:

Maura was abducted by someone who was a “sometimes-resident” of the area- 3 out of 7.
Maura was abducted by someone who was a permanent resident of the area- 2 out of 7.
Maura was abducted by someone randomly passing through- 1 out of 7.
Maura wandered into the woods and died in a non-criminal manner- 0.5 out of 7.
Maura went on a marathon run down the road to places unknown- 0.5 out of 7.
Part 3: following my two previous posts on the Maura Murray case, I want to list the strategies that I have used in the Holly Bobo, Jamison family, Maura Murray, and McStay family cases (and some others):

1) look up ALL of the people named in the case (witnesses, people you suspect, officials, etc.) who are interesting to you- on the internet. Use Google advanced search and put keep adding currently-relevant words in the “without any of these words box” until you can read about the person PRIOR to the case. In the Maura Murray case, simply typing the word “Maura” in the unwanted words box will significantly reduce the number of hits, although this can also cause you to lose a few relevant hits. As soon as a new sensational crime is reported, all of the associated players show up on thousands or hundreds of thousands of hits related to the current case. This is internet “white noise”, and prevents you from getting hits about the person’s past prior to the case.
2) if all of the people named in the case check out OK (no prison time, arrest warrants, UFO abductions etc.), then look at their immediate relatives using Google advanced search in the same reverse manner. Parents have sons and daughters and sons and daughters have parents. There are brothers and sisters and uncles. It is a package deal.
3) to better laser-in-on an individual person of interest, pay close attention to which of the main players is telling the least-believable story. Whose fish gets longer every time they tell the story, and whose fish stays the same length? Silence by itself does not prove anything. People who are even incidentally involved in high-profile cases are being hounded constantly and oft-times get tired of talking to the press. Pay attention to those who offer up words and shrug about the silent ones. There is little you can do about silence. So what might constitute a non-believable story? Three things stand out for me: the story changes significantly over time, the story-teller’s memory gets more accurate with time, or their story is widely-rejected by other major NAMED players in the case.

As others have noted on websleuths, I rarely use a suspect's name. But I give tips so others can have the satisfation of finding their own names. In the best (and worst) case scenario, Maura may be a mile or less from where she disappeared.

Something that police should ask when they go door-to-door in the neighborhood after a crime: do you have any relatives visiting your house or lodging out back? The person who answers the door is not the entire picture.

I am not being provocative, I am being practical. There are three categories in a neighborhood: permanent, sometimes, and transient. The permanent are more likely to be solid and uninvolved. The transient have less to lose and are most likely to be involved. But the ones in the middle are sometimes overlooked.
 
My opinions only, no facts here:

To keep this thread inspired, I will repost a series of discussions I presented on this case awhile back. These posts been very slightly modified for clarity:

Part 1: There is a "fight or flight" aspect to everybody's personality. It takes a certain event or a chain of successive events for this happen. After Maura wrecked her father's car, something snapped. Something driven by guilt over the accident and a thousand, nay a million snippets of prior history that define one's individual and fascinating personality. Maura decided to go on a road trip for soul-searching and with the childish thought in the back of her mind that she would rent a room up north and call her father and have him come up and visit with her near the old location where they used to go when she was a little girl. Maura is not a party animal, but bought some alcohol and was sipping it as she went. That is only natural (in spite of open container laws), because she was stressed and just wishing to stay calm. Unfortunately, she was not 100% sober when she rounded the bend on Wild Ammonoosuc Road in wintery conditions, and she slid off. Now, she is really feeling frantic- what if the cops come and arrest her for DUI? She is wrestling with feelings of guilt, remorse, and confusion (even though in reality she has done nothing wrong). She was offered help by a bus driver, but refused it. She walked 100 yards to the junction with Bradley Hill Road at about 1 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. That is where she disappeared. That is where the dog tracked her. That is where the scent ended. Prior to this event, everything that happened was "white noise" and unrelated.

Part 2: As I stated previously, I believe that the crime started at Bradley Hill Road at about 1 Wild Ammonoosuc Road. I am aware of the rag or whatever stuffed in the tailpipe of Maura’s car. I acknowledge it could have been sabotage by another or even a suicide attempt, but this detail somehow seems so irreverent that is has to be overlooked for now. But if someone were to argue that all of the white noise in the case ended when the car slid off the road and the initial crime occurred right there, I would not vehemently argue against them. But I still believe that Maura walked the 100 yards from the car wreck to Bradley Hill Road at about 1 Wild Ammonoosuc Road by herself. The people who permanently lived around the location of Maura’s disappearance all seem to be respectable and decent. Some of them have subsequently been hounded and I cannot blame them if they are tired of talking. The officers who stopped by the accident scene early on (but Maura was already gone), also appear to be stalwart individuals who acted professionally. I suggest the sleuth look a wee bit beyond the presently-known names for a suspect.

I usually list a calculation of the odds of certain outcomes in an unsolved criminal case. This shows the readers where my mind is at and what my biases are. So here goes:

Maura was abducted by someone who was a “sometimes-resident” of the area- 3 out of 7.
Maura was abducted by someone who was a permanent resident of the area- 2 out of 7.
Maura was abducted by someone randomly passing through- 1 out of 7.
Maura wandered into the woods and died in a non-criminal manner- 0.5 out of 7.
Maura went on a marathon run down the road to places unknown- 0.5 out of 7.
Part 3: following my two previous posts on the Maura Murray case, I want to list the strategies that I have used in the Holly Bobo, Jamison family, Maura Murray, and McStay family cases (and some others):

1) look up ALL of the people named in the case (witnesses, people you suspect, officials, etc.) who are interesting to you- on the internet. Use Google advanced search and put keep adding currently-relevant words in the “without any of these words box” until you can read about the person PRIOR to the case. In the Maura Murray case, simply typing the word “Maura” in the unwanted words box will significantly reduce the number of hits, although this can also cause you to lose a few relevant hits. As soon as a new sensational crime is reported, all of the associated players show up on thousands or hundreds of thousands of hits related to the current case. This is internet “white noise”, and prevents you from getting hits about the person’s past prior to the case.
2) if all of the people named in the case check out OK (no prison time, arrest warrants, UFO abductions etc.), then look at their immediate relatives using Google advanced search in the same reverse manner. Parents have sons and daughters and sons and daughters have parents. There are brothers and sisters and uncles. It is a package deal.
3) to better laser-in-on an individual person of interest, pay close attention to which of the main players is telling the least-believable story. Whose fish gets longer every time they tell the story, and whose fish stays the same length? Silence by itself does not prove anything. People who are even incidentally involved in high-profile cases are being hounded constantly and oft-times get tired of talking to the press. Pay attention to those who offer up words and shrug about the silent ones. There is little you can do about silence. So what might constitute a non-believable story? Three things stand out for me: the story changes significantly over time, the story-teller’s memory gets more accurate with time, or their story is widely-rejected by other major NAMED players in the case.

As others have noted on websleuths, I rarely use a suspect's name. But I give tips so others can have the satisfation of finding their own names. In the best (and worst) case scenario, Maura may be a mile or less from where she disappeared.

Something that police should ask when they go door-to-door in the neighborhood after a crime: do you have any relatives visiting your house or lodging out back? The person who answers the door is not the entire picture.

I am not being provocative, I am being practical. There are three categories in a neighborhood: permanent, sometimes, and transient. The permanent are more likely to be solid and uninvolved. The transient have less to lose and are most likely to be involved. But the ones in the middle are sometimes overlooked.

Your statistical probabilities here are interesting and leave much room for a scenario "outside the box"..
In one of Mr. Renner's blogs, there was an interesting tip, which im unsure if he is still following:

http://mauramurray.blogspot.com/2011/08/is-it-clue.html#links
 
In the past, I think the incoming call was dismissed as her calling her voice mail and wasn't adequately investigated. I have thought back to myself at Maura's age, trying to understand her motives/actions. I had a secret love, and because of that I did things that would have seemed strange, had anyone investigated me. I believe Maura was a young girl in love, a strong and reckless love, and full of guilt for having to keep it a secret. That's the reason for the strong (over)reaction to a phone call, that's why she took off in the middle of the night to her "dad's motel" and that's the reason for the fateful trip too. Love....I know I did a lot of foolish things because of it when I was 20-ish. It's the only thing that makes Maura's story make sense to me.
 
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