NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - # 3

[Peabody]

Here's a map that shows topography. (Ignore the red.)
The accident would have been on Route 112, a little after where it says "Swiftwater" on the map.
http://www.portlandvelo.com/Moosilauke_tour.jpg

T-Rex - thanks for the map

As you look at the map, Maura's accident occured approximately 3/4 of an inch south of Swiftwater on the road marked in gray (rt 112) at the south point of the "V". This is a very sharp, hairpin turn

 

[Peabody]

Thanks, Hydemi.

I read through some of that site case information this morning, and found it intruiging that with Rausch's phone, often you couldn't tell that the message recorder was on. So if she were trying to call him, and felt like the call didn't get through, she could be sitting there waiting for it to connect and sniffing and crying waiting to leave a message.

Which makes 1000 times more sense, to me, than thinking she intended to leave a crying message with no words. But to not know she's being taped and is just waiting to connect, I get that completely. It's a surprise to me, though, that Rausch didn't have the message professionally copied on to some other source, because that's all the evidence they had of what happened to her. That's it. To erase that message, when a grown man would know it could probably be enhanced to provide clues and compared to other recordings of her voice, and perhaps background sounds could be enhanced - frankly this is a stumper why he erased it.


EDITED TO ADD: I keep thinking about the tracing of this call to the red cross. That would have been a landline - a much easier call to confirm. Does LE have both the trace from Rausch's cell phone, and do they claim they have corresponding phone records from the Red Cross land line that confirm that a call was made at that minute to his cell phone? Does anyone know? This is bugging me because this one piece of information seems like it wouldn't be that hard to confirm for sure, yes or no, did it come from the Red Cross.[/QUOTE]

The only thing NH LE claimed was that they traced the prepaid calling card call FROM Rausch's cell phone to a prepaid calling card owned by the Red Cross.

Of course, the Rausches and Murrays later learned that prepaid calling card calls cannot be traced even by LE unless one has the card number and the pin

I emphasize that Sharon told me that NH SP traced the mysterious prepaid calling card call while she, her husband and now Cpt Rausch sat in a room with the NH SP in the Haverhill Police Station; that she immediately disputed that the call was from the ARC because they would not have had her son's phone number (because she was the only one that had spoken with ARC and she knew that she had not given them his cell and cell phones do not have directory assistance; also the ARC had her cell and had not called her; her thinking was IF there was any reason they needed to correspond, they would have contacted her).

When the Rausches insisted the call was not ARC, then they were all told that the police believed that Maura was upset with her family and that she was already in Kenton OH on her way to the Rausch residence (again the Rausches disputed this because Kenton is Northwest of them and they asked if they perhaps meant Canton and the officer became hostile and said there was no Canton OH - fyi Canton is Northeast of the Rausches and would have made some sense)

Hope this provides you with some clarification.

 

[KatherineQ]

Thank you Peabody, it does clear it up a little. So often in cases like this there are these roadblocks - either the phone company can verify the type of card used, or they can't, and why there is any dispute about this is beyond me.

That phone call is such a huge clue, I'm still ruminating on it.

Another frustrating part for her family is it appears pretty clear LE has turned up information among her friends that she either intended to escape her family, or she intended to commit suicide, which may be misinformation. It seems so cruel that the Murrays aren't allowed access to all the information.

Thanks again for your clarification.

 

[Peabody]

Thank you Peabody, it does clear it up a little. So often in cases like this there are these roadblocks - either the phone company can verify the type of card used, or they can't, and why there is any dispute about this is beyond me.

That phone call is such a huge clue, I'm still ruminating on it.

Another frustrating part for her family is it appears pretty clear LE has turned up information among her friends that she either intended to escape her family, or she intended to commit suicide, which may be misinformation. It seems so cruel that the Murrays aren't allowed access to all the information.

Thanks again for your clarification.

Fred and investigators have spoken with all of Maura's known friends, co-workers, acquaintances. **ALL** of them say that Maura had her nose to the grindstone for work and school and was very much enjoying looking forward to spending her life with Cpt Rausch.


Therefore, unless someone is being "two-faced", **ALL** of her friends are as confused as her family, which leads everyone to believe that some harm has befallen Maura.....they have made no suggestions or implications of her being suicidal or of possible reasons to runaway.


As to the earlier discussion regarding Maura's not wanting to be an army wife: it only makes sense that she would just break up with her army boyfriend/fiance......she would have no need to start a new life. As it stands now, Maura and Cpt Rausch would have been married last fall and he would only have 2 years left in the service if he would choose to pursue civilian life........not even long enough for it to affect their having children and them moving to different schools. I am sure if army life was a roadblock for her, he would not stay in the army.

 

[KatherineQ]

Her friends would have a much clearer perspective on her than strangers like me, and as Marc Klaas said, (paraphrasing) taking a snapshot of a family's life at any given time can be a confusing picture. Something like that.

To a stranger like me on the internet just reading the hard facts of the case, she seemed to be on a complete downward spiral. She had wrecked a couple cars, was apparently drinking heavily, secretly left school and packed up her belongings and lied to her professors about where she was going. Withdrew money out of the bank, bought a LOT of alcohol for one person to drink, and was drinking fairly heavily while trying to drive away in the dark.

That behavior, of drinking WHILE driving in the dark is almost suicidal, and could be considered pre-suicidal, it think. It's not like someone who drinks in a bar and then needs to get home so he drives drunk. Drinking on a long car trip in the dark on curvy snowy roads is so dangerous that it is alarming.

Prayers for her, and for her family, this is so confusing that it appears the cops have decided something suspicious is going on besides the obvious of stranger abduction.

 

[nnglas]

The different types of alcohol are strange. It just makes me think she was with someone or going to meet someone. And if she was with someone, then they could have been drinking the alcohol while she was driving. It could also explain why she went out of town in that car when it wasn't in the best of shape. She would feel safe if someone was with her. Have they established that some of the alchohol was missing, as if someone was drinking it. Oh yeah, that's right, they haven't established anything to the family.

 

[KatherineQ]

The different types of alcohol are strange. It just makes me think she was with someone or going to meet someone. And if she was with someone, then they could have been drinking the alcohol while she was driving. It could also explain why she went out of town in that car when it wasn't in the best of shape. She would feel safe if someone was with her. Have they established that some of the alchohol was missing, as if someone was drinking it. Oh yeah, that's right, they haven't established anything to the family.

nnglas - I thought the family had all the information available about how much alcohol she bought, and what types, and how much was consumed that afternoon and how much was spilled, and how much was taken from the car by her when she wrecked and left on foot.

 

[KatherineQ]

I just went back and read some of the site again, and this stuck out:

Caledonian 7/10/04 - Scarinza also said when Murray left the Amherst campus, she had with her a box of wine, and bottles of vodka, Kahluha and Bailey's Irish Cream.

The box of wine, of which most had been spilled, was found in the car. But some of the other bottles were not found.


Later, there are comments where police call her endangered and possibly suicidal.

I'm thinking this one backwards and forwards. If you were in a wreck, and had been drinking that day, and set out on foot in the dark freezing night, why would you take several bottles of alcohol that you had to carry with you?

I can see why it would be under consideration that she intended to commit suicide. The more and more I read of this story, her behavior seems suicidal. Why was it important to her to take several bottles of alcohol with her to carry on her back?

 

[armywife210]

As to the earlier discussion regarding Maura's not wanting to be an army wife: it only makes sense that she would just break up with her army boyfriend/fiance......she would have no need to start a new life. As it stands now, Maura and Cpt Rausch would have been married last fall and he would only have 2 years left in the service if he would choose to pursue civilian life........not even long enough for it to affect their having children and them moving to different schools. I am sure if army life was a roadblock for her, he would not stay in the army.

I haven't found where this was said and by whom so I am just quoting peabody, perhaps I wasn't reading close enough. I have a really REALLY hard time with the scenerio about her not wanting to be an army wife....
First of all, she knew what Army life was about. They do learn about that stuff at West Point. Second of all, she began dating Billy at West Point. She allowed herself to become serious with him. Someone who doesn't want to be an Army Wife does not put herself in that situation. Besides, she was a very independent person. If a woman can be independent, Army life can be really fun. Especially when you are a "find the positive" type of person.

 

[nnglas]

I just went back and read some of the site again, and this stuck out:

Caledonian 7/10/04 - Scarinza also said when Murray left the Amherst campus, she had with her a box of wine, and bottles of vodka, Kahluha and Bailey's Irish Cream.

The box of wine, of which most had been spilled, was found in the car. But some of the other bottles were not found.


Later, there are comments where police call her endangered and possibly suicidal.

I'm thinking this one backwards and forwards. If you were in a wreck, and had been drinking that day, and set out on foot in the dark freezing night, why would you take several bottles of alcohol that you had to carry with you?

I can see why it would be under consideration that she intended to commit suicide. The more and more I read of this story, her behavior seems suicidal. Why was it important to her to take several bottles of alcohol with her to carry on her back?

You are right KatherineQ. I read about the spilled wine, I just didn't realize that apparently she other bottles that were missing as if she took them with her. If this is true, it does seem kind of odd that she would take them with her. Did they find her cell phone in the car?

 

[armywife210]

The different types of alcohol are strange. It just makes me think she was with someone or going to meet someone. And if she was with someone, then they could have been drinking the alcohol while she was driving. It could also explain why she went out of town in that car when it wasn't in the best of shape. She would feel safe if someone was with her. Have they established that some of the alchohol was missing, as if someone was drinking it. Oh yeah, that's right, they haven't established anything to the family.

sounds to me like she wanted to make some good mudslides. As for the Baileys irish cream, I have been told that she liked it in her coffee.

 

[hydemi]

I think ArmyWife is right about the mudslides, a favorite drink of Maura's.

The better question about alcohol is evidence of it at the crash scene.

The bottles of Bailey's, Kahlua, & vodka were gone.

The box of red wine had cracked and spilled evidently during the accident.

There was a beer bottle inside the car (see Fred Murray's first letter to NH Gov. Benson in May 04).

Whether she had been drinking or not, she was probably concerned about alcohol in the car knowing that police were going to arrive soon, as Atwood the schoolbus driver had just told her he was going to call police despite her saying she had called AAA and asking him not to call police, which he said he was going to do anyway.

The previous day in Amherst Ma, she had been in her Dad's car also in an accident around 3.30am near Hadley Ma, after a night of drinking with friends who had urged her not to be driving. She avoided any charges in that incident evidently because the road was icy and slippery, and the policeman gave her a break (no testing?), and presumably there was no evidence of alcohol in her Dad's car as there was in the Saturn on Monday night.

I think she was worried about the insurance claim for her Dad's car already, which was in the Saturn with her, as she had promised her Dad to call him night and to get it filled out. Now here she is in another accident in the Saturn with at least some indisputable evidence of alcohol.

 

[KatherineQ]

Hydemi, you write this as if you don't think Atwood should have called the police.

It sounds like he was trying to get her help, and perhaps he knew there isn't cell phone service out there, and knew she was lying about calling AAA. Not wanting her to freeze to death or meet up with some other problem, he called the police. It seems.

Is it possible the reason the police didn't see her when they came is she was hiding from them?

edited to add: I had read somewhere that the box of wine was open, and also spilled.

Have you ever used a box of wine? You have to pull and twist the tap to open it, and once you've done that if the box falls or something falls against it, it can cause it to squirt out. I didn't think her car was in bad enough shape to actually puncture that bag and cause the wine to come out of the box if it wasn't already opened - is that documented - that the box of wine had in fact not been opened already when the crash occurred? It seems quite possible that the crash could crush the box - but to split that bag?

 

[hydemi]

While Atwood has been criticized on this site and on the Maura site, I am not suggesting that he should not have called police. On the contrary!

I only mean to suggest that his mention of police worried Maura, it would seem to me because like most youthful drivers she was most probably extremely aware of the risks of alcohol being found in her car--opened or unopened, whether or not she had been drinking.

We do not know what happened to the "Mudslide" bottles but it seems likely to me that she took them to dispose of them to get rid of some of the alcohol she had with her in the car.

I actually think her car slid off the road because of the thawing re-freezing that was probably going on with the temps in the low 30's, not because she was drinking or speeding or driving badly.

The big question is why she did not just sit and wait for the police, who in turn would have called a tow truck etc.

Thus Atwood's mention of the police, I mean to suggest, created a bit of panic on her part--she had avoided being charged the night before, would she be as lucky this time?

 

[armywife210]

I think ArmyWife is right about the mudslides, a favorite drink of Maura's.

The better question about alcohol is evidence of it at the crash scene.

The bottles of Bailey's, Kahlua, & vodka were gone.

The box of red wine had cracked and spilled evidently during the accident.

There was a beer bottle inside the car (see Fred Murray's first letter to NH Gov. Benson in May 04).

Whether she had been drinking or not, she was probably concerned about alcohol in the car knowing that police were going to arrive soon, as Atwood the schoolbus driver had just told her he was going to call police despite her saying she had called AAA and asking him not to call police, which he said he was going to do anyway.

The previous day in Amherst Ma, she had been in her Dad's car also in an accident around 3.30am near Hadley Ma, after a night of drinking with friends who had urged her not to be driving. She avoided any charges in that incident evidently because the road was icy and slippery, and the policeman gave her a break (no testing?), and presumably there was no evidence of alcohol in her Dad's car as there was in the Saturn on Monday night.

I think she was worried about the insurance claim for her Dad's car already, which was in the Saturn with her, as she had promised her Dad to call him night and to get it filled out. Now here she is in another accident in the Saturn with at least some indisputable evidence of alcohol.

As I find out more about this case, I am sort of stepping back to reflect on past experiences with things, and things that I may do in her situation. I realize that my theories have changed a bit as I find out more information.
I have a really likely theory about the alcohol. I posted it on mauramurray.com earlier tonight but I will go at it again. First of all have you ever attempted to drink from a box of wine? Unless she had a nice little wine glass with her (not a normal thing to carry in your emergency pack) I cannot see her opting to open a wine box in a vehicle, not to mention while trying to navigate the vehicle... with any intent whatsoever of drinking from it. Have you ever tried to open one of those suckers? In my experience those things can very difficult. However, I did discover while attempting to open the derned thing that if it was to drop out of ones hands, it is more than happy to open as it hits the floor or any other solid object. So that leaves me with two slightly different scenerios, but not enough to make a difference really. She crashes into a snow bank. I dont think she was going fast or driving irresponsibly, I do think that it was icey. Did the wine bottle break during the impact? Or did she decide quickly to put all of the CLOSED containers (including the wine) of alcohol into her backpack to move to the trunk. Not to hide it, but even though its legal to have closed containers in your car it might look a bit better for her if they were in her trunk. THEN while she was tossing the bottles in she dropped the box inside or out of the car and it broke? Does it matter which? Not really, either way I can see it happening. So she locks the door to her car, walks back to put the rest in her trunk with the plan to then walk back to the busdrivers house when she is taken. OR perhaps she HAD it in her backpack from when she purchased it (she wouldnt have put the wine in because a box of wine could break open in there) and she decided to take the busdriver up on his offer of help. However, her bottles never made it to the trunk because she didn't get that far. OR she wasnt trying to put anything in her trunk, the wine box had broken on impact, and she had just decided to walk back to the busdrivers house because it was AFTER she had last talked to him that she tried to call AAA and discovered no signal. She grabbed her backpack because her wallet was in it and the police, upon arrival, would immediately ask for her license. She locked the car because her jewelry was in there.

 

[hydemi]

I would go for your last scenario after your last OR.

She could have continued trying to get a cell signal as she walked toward Atwood's about 80-100 yards ahead, she might have noticed the road marker near Atwood's driveway across from Bradley Hill Rd which shows distances as 7 miles back west to Wells River VT and as 16-17 miles east to North Woodstock and Lincoln, she might have then spooked and taken off if Atwood had been coming out his front door to his porch or if she had heard/seen the police cruiser driven by Cecil Smith approaching behind her, and lastly she might have jumped into a car going east or west (probably more vehicles going west from what I can surmise from the mentions of cars on the road by Atwood & Smith).

Another possibility is that she found someplace to hide at that general area by Atwood's residence where the dog (it was only a single search dog on 2/11) lost the scent taken from her new gloves--from which she could have waited and watched a while to see what Atwood & Smith were doing.

The puzzle about her being picked up at the scene is that most of the drivers were locals heading home at that time of night, people living nearby like the contractor who belatedly said he saw her perhaps 30-40 minutes later.

I just am not into believing that one of these locals was an opportunistic killer, so if one of them picked her I think we would know about it.

And lastly there are the helper/accomplice theories which explain her quick getaway but not her being seen (if she was) by the contractor.

 

[armywife210]

Why hide from the police though? I mean truly, in your theory is the she totally wasted? I cannot see any intelligent person hiding from the police over this. If she was drinking or if she wasnt... There is red wine spilled in the car, sooner or later they would find out that she was driving it. It makes no sense to me that someone was following her aiding in her getaway. The reason is because of the old K.I.S.S. ... There is NOTHING in her past to lead one to believe that she would run away from her old life. To the contrary. There is nothing in her past to lead one to believe that she would hide from LE.
Yes, taking off like she did seems to be out of character, but it you really look at it, is it? She was very independent. She liked to work out her stressors on her own. She had never done this before, true. But I cant see that it is out of her character to just get away for a few days.
Again, she had recently gotten triple A, a false sense of security perhaps, so she wasnt worried about her car anymore.

 

[docwho3]

Just 2 examples on my recently started list of people who leave even when it seems unusual for them to do so:
***************************
Olga Khaleel

. . .Olga Khaleel was last seen Jan. 10 after dropping off her two children at a relative's home.
Davie police said Monday that a man visiting South Florida for a family reunion saw the missing persons flyer at local store and recognized Khaleel. He then notified police.
Officers interviewed Khaleel, who said she left her home of her own accord and was never held against her will. She told police that she had personal problems and needed to get away and did not want to be found.
Police said they are glad that Khaleel is OK, but frustrated that they spent so much time trying to find her.
"What concerns us is that we spent hundreds of man hours and we spent weeks looking for her," Lt. Bill Bamford said. "Not that we would have spared any cost looking for Mrs. Khaleel, but we took investigators off other cases. We had at least five police agencies involved. ... A lot of man hours went into finding her. We wish she would have just contacted someone here locally." . . .

http://www.nbc6.net/news/6781167/detail.html

. . ."She said she was at the bank, when she gets out from making the deposit, she will return the call. That is the last we heard from her," Andre Khaleel said.. . .

. . .Andre Khaleel, who has been married to Olga for 12 years and known her for 14, said that in the past, his wife has always been in the right place at the right time.
"I'm just so distraught at this moment. I just don't have words to describe to you what I'm going through at this time," Andre Khaleel said. "The kids are asking questions at this point. They're tearing up. They know something is wrong. Obviously, they've never gone four hours without their mother. Today's the eighth day.". . .

http://www.nbc6.net/news/6191705/detail.html
***************************
Patricia Lea Whaley

. . . An Angels Camp mother of three who vanished nearly 16 years ago has been found alive and living a new life in Colorado, an investigator said yesterday.
Patricia Lea Whaley disappeared April 20, 1990, after telling her family she was headed to a doctor's appointment in Lodi, causing family and law enforcement in Angels Camp to speculate whether Whaley had been kidnapped or killed.
Whaley's van was found in a Lodi parking lot, along with her purse and identification. But no trace of where Whaley had gone was discovered until last Thursday when Calaveras County Senior District Attorney's Investigator John Crawford plugged Whaley's name and Social Security number into the department's new Accurint computer search program . . .

. . . The investigator contacted law enforcement in Colorado, who assisted in locating Whaley.
Crawford said the find was bittersweet.
Whaley, he said, does not want to see or be contacted by her family . . .

http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=19488
http://websleuths.com/forums/showpo...074&postcount=1
Thread located at:
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35484
****************************

 

[Peabody]

Just 2 examples on my recently started list of people who leave even when it seems unusual for them to do so:
***************************
Olga Khaleel
http://www.nbc6.net/news/6781167/detail.html
http://www.nbc6.net/news/6191705/detail.html
***************************
Patricia Lea Whaley
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=19488
http://websleuths.com/forums/showpo...074&postcount=1
Thread located at:
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35484
****************************

DocWho,

I don't mean to be "in your face", but truly, listing those people who have run away is not any supporting evidence in Maura's case any more than listing those who have vanished without a trace to only be found dead years later supports that she has been harmed.

I specifically mention this because, although I have not researched the statistics, sadly the "daily news" seems to support that the vast majority of missing females are found murdered, not living a new life.

 

[hydemi]

One or the other happened.

At the point she left the scene on her own, she was no longer just getting away for a few days. We just don't know why she did that if that's what occurred.

Nothing about Maura has ever seemed "totally wasted" to me, everything I have learned about her suggests a deliberate and purposeful highly motivated individual who did not always choose to share what she was thinking or what she was intending even with those closest to her.

If she was somehow grabbed in those ten minutes, probably by a local even a neighbor as the posters have inveighed, this was a criminal case from the get-go as argued by family members although in truth they did not urge a criminal investigation until about ten days had passed from what I can tell in the early media reports.

I have seen nothing at all to support the various helper/accomplice theories.

So I have pursued the question of why she would have left the scene on her own as that makes the most sense to me--was she afraid of Atwood? did she want to avoid police because of the alcohol evidence or some other reason? was she determined already just to keep going and not stop and not let the car accident prevent her from leaving?

The early suggestion from Lt Rausch that her reason or reasons for leaving Amherst and what happened to her after the second accident in Swiftwater may be two different unrelated things seems a good insight to me. What started out as a three-four day sabbatical, perhaps, turned into something other than a little holiday, we just don't know which of the the two leading theories (abduction or runaway) is the truth.