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

[OldSteve]

From everything I understand and comprehend, it wasn't a recent note, but rather a recently printed out note by Maura.

It was an excerpt from an email sent to her from billy that magically ended up on top of her packed boxes in her dorm room. Verry odd if this printed out email accidentally ended up where it did.

Police made a sloppy statement concerning this finding saying that they found a note (implying that Maura had left a note behind before she left)

Maura's boyfriend who was right beside the police that searched the dorm room stated that no new note was found.

Technically neither one of them are wrong. But both are answering the question of -what was found in her room?- quite differently which is odd.

Thanks for this and you other thoughts Scoops! All very logical.
Thinking about the note, and more specific why it would have been placed so prominently out in the open on top of boxes - that is strange, along the lines of it being staged, purposely placed as if to show the reason MM took off. It almost makes me think MM never went on the trip, but that something happened to her right there, and then her car was driven to Haverhill and made look like she disappeared! There were accounts of the school bus driver saying he did not think the driver he saw was MM, but later he changed that..... Okay, just a bit of letting my mind wonder....

 

[goodgirl65]

Looks like JR is going on hiatus from his blog for awhile..

http://forensicastrology.blogspot.com/2011/05/holly-bobo.html

 

[OldSteve]

Temporary hiatus
http://mauramurray.blogspot.com/

His basement wall collapsed from heavy rain....

 

[belimom]

Thanks for this and you other thoughts Scoops! All very logical.
Thinking about the note, and more specific why it would have been placed so prominently out in the open on top of boxes - that is strange, along the lines of it being staged, purposely placed as if to show the reason MM took off. It almost makes me think MM never went on the trip, but that something happened to her right there, and then her car was driven to Haverhill and made look like she disappeared! There were accounts of the school bus driver saying he did not think the driver he saw was MM, but later he changed that..... Okay, just a bit of letting my mind wonder....

Now that is very interesting. That would explain why she has never been found in NH. I'm still inclined to believe she was on the trip, but now I have to ponder this idea for awhile.

 

[OldSteve]

Now that is very interesting. That would explain why she has never been found in NH. I'm still inclined to believe she was on the trip, but now I have to ponder this idea for awhile.

The problem I have with my theory* is that if something did happen to MM in Amherst, the perp would had to have known something about MM and her family's background in order to go through such an elaborate rouse - driving all the way to Haverhill and crashing the car...

ETA: * I don't mean to claim this as my own... been mentioned before..

 

[scoops]

Maura was positively identified making a withdrawl from an ATM machine in Amherst right as she was leaving for New Hampshire.

the school bus driver Butch Atwood (Although he answered different questions slightly differently) also had positively identified her as well

By all accounts it was Maura who made the journey and she was alone

 

[OldSteve]

Maura was positively identified making a withdrawl from an ATM machine in Amherst right as she was leaving for New Hampshire.

the school bus driver Butch Atwood (Although he answered different questions slightly differently) also had positively identified her as well

By all accounts it was Maura who made the journey and she was alone

I tend to agree with you, scoops, but playing a bit of devil's advocate as a way of bumping this thread....

Just because MM was shown at an ATM machine, doesn't mean she actually took the trip.... IIRC she would buy alcohol for friends, and even keep in her car...

Butch was quite sure it wasn't MM he saw, and her hair was not up, it was down... do we know if she wore it like that... it was only a after he was told it was her that he changed his story IMO...

Also, no video was ever released of her on the road or in Haverhill...

So....

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Someone above mentioned the Chandra Levy case in regard to how easy it is for a man to abduct a female in and from an isolated spot. This case is also like the Levy one in another way: we have a young woman using the internet to research a location (in Chandra's case, Rock Creek Park; in Maura's, places to stay in the resort areas in NH and Vermont.) The young women disappear subsequent to those searches. In both cases, aspects of their private lives are exhaustively investigated for clues and suspicion is cast on people with whom they are involved. Because Chandra was having an affair with a married congressman, the speculation (assumption, really, in many quarters) is that the married man killed her or had her killed to cover up an affair. Of course, the killer turned out to be a serial rapist who saw an opportunity and took it. My point is that there are many things in the lives of adults that look suspicious in light of a disappearance. The turmoil in someone's life might, in fact, put her on a dark road where more bad things can happen--as in, drive on bad roads when tired or upset or buzzed from alcohol and an accident is not a big surprise. That doesn't mean that the emotional circumstance that prompted the trip to NH is connected to her disappearance in any way but geography and opportunity. She was in a place where she was alone in the dark, possibly confused by alcohol and/or the accident and either made a bad judgment to walk out of ther and avoid the DUI (and didn't come back or died of exposure) or was abducted.

Humans attempt to account for everything (the upset phone call at work, the first accident, the packed room, the note, the alcohol, the book she took with her, the rag in the tail pipe, her lie to her teachers, etc.) into one coherent, seamless narrative. That's not how life works. Maura's life appeared to be in some turmoil. She was in a long distance relationship. She was in an intense major in college after having left West Point. As a long distance runner, it is likely that she was a driven, goal oriented person and may have been very uncomfortable if she was contemplating breaking up a relationship in which she had close ties tomthe boy's family or, perhaps, staying in a relationship with someone she couldn't trust any more. Perhaps was having second thoughts about nursing or worried that a DUI might affect licensing or employment in her field. We don't know, and if she confided in anyone about what she was
feeling (family member or friend), we don't know that either. But the accident was clearly a turning point, unless there is some thought that she wrecked on purpose, which would be crazy in light of accident #1. There are lots of ways to commit suicide or stage a disappearance without wrecking a SECOND car and further screwing up you family's insurance. So the accident took Maura in a different direction from whatever plan she has made--or the car wouldn't have had so much stuff in it that she packed and left behind, including books and jewelry. What brought her to NH will not tell us what happened after she wrecked the car, just as Chandra Levy's affair told us nothing about why she was jogging alone in that park where she became a victim to a serial rapist/killer.

I think it is possible that Maura might have taken off in anticipation of the arrival of police, almost certainly to avoid a DUI if that is what she did. As a former marathon runner, I still
wouldn't think twice about walking or running 5 or 6 miles in terms of covering the distance, even though the longest I've gone recently is 10 miles. I wouldn't do it in the dark on an isolated road, but I can sure see a young person with a second wreck in 2 weeks and alcohol spilled in the car adding that up and deciding to hit the road. But the question is--what happened after that? Did she disappear because she couldn't face anyone after screwing up?

Did she take a short cut through some woods and die of exposure? Or was she abducted? She had no transportation and there is only that one sighting of a woman runner and the
mysterious phone call received by her boyfriend that suggest she survived beyond that night. A runner would most likely stick to the roads as providing the best footing, best chance of not getting lost, and most likely place to get somewhere to get out of the cold, spend the night, and consider what to do. Cold air and exercise would also offer a chance to sober up before facing the police. Do we know what she was wearing on her feet? If she was wearing running shoes, she might have had a lot of confidence that she could walk or jog out of there.

As to the note, mainstream media accounts indicate that Lt. Scarinza said that Maura wrote the
note; either he misspoke, the media had it wrong, or he meant to leave the impression it was suicide because that is what he believed or wanted to believe. There is NO question that the state police did not attempt to follow up on the phone records of calls Maura made before the trip, which is very odd if they thought it was suicide, as people she had spoken to might have confirmed she was depressed or where she had intended to stay so that they might have focused a search for the body. I hope this was merely a sloppy investigation. It has always
seemed to me that the one person who could have know she was out there on foot would be a LE officer. I imagine that Fred has wondered about that, too, in light of the gaps in the investigation.

 

[scoops]

Pittsburghgirl definitely brings up some valid points.

In regards to the statement's by Lt. Scarinza which is right here

Lt. Scarinza: "Sometime between Sunday and Monday morning, she packed up all her belongings in her dorm room, to include taking all her pictures off the walls, taking everything out of her bureaus, [and] put them all in boxes and] left [them] on her bed," Scarinza told WCVB-TV, "[She] left a personal note to her boyfriend on top of the boxes."

Lt. Scarinza actually has not contradicted the truth and this statement in no way suggests that Maura wrote out a suicide letter to her boyfriend. In fact in goes right with the fact that Maura printed out a excerpt of an old email from her boyfriend likely meant for her boyfriend to discover it with the note dealing with some sort of him not being faithful to her.

so just like so many times in this case, the police release a carefully guarded and crafted statement trying to cover their own rears and the media and public take off with it and assume the statement means something it really doesn't.

 

[scoops]

The note honestly sounds like something you would do as sort of to send a reminder to your boyfriend/girlfriend for whatever reason or to throw it in their face in spite.

I know that Lt. Scarinza did go on to say that Maura might be either depressed or suicidal and so maybe that is how the media and public tyed his statement as meaning Maura wrote a suicide note but I think the Lt. was just being careful with his words and assuming with good reason that Maura left that note for her boyfriend to discover. Who else would really care about seeing an old email correspondence between two lovers. She likely did print that out and left it on top of her boxes figuring that it would get back to her boyfriend. And since he wrote the darn thing (months or even years ago) it isn't like he doesn't know about the subject. Most likely she was sending him a message with it though.

 

[scoops]

Just a couple of things to ponder

If my car broke down near where I lived for instance, I could get someone I know or even hitch a ride with someone because I could say 'Hey could you take me to so and so down the road.

In maura's case, she was 2 1/2 hours away from where she lived and literally out in the middle of nowhere when she wrecked that fateful night.

For those who think she hitched a ride, where would she go? Where would she tell the stranger to take her, She likely doesn't even know of any places in that immediate area???


Also, many have been hung up on the fact that the search dog lost her scent in the middle of the road about 100 feet away east on wild ammonoosuc rd. from her car. So they automatically assume Maura must've gotten into a car.

However, one of Fred Murray's own hired investigators has come out recently and stated that they have known all along that the dog search they did was only going to be good for 100 yards in any direction because of the time of the year and location of where Maura wrecked. The winds and cooler air would destroy a person's scent within a day or two.

So all along, they knew they were only going to get limited information from a dog search of Maura, so the fact that the dog stopped tracking Maura 100 yards away really doesn't mean a whole lot. (It does prove though that she did start out heading east).

 

[scoops]

One other thing to ponder:

Some of the cases brought up like the drexel case and Chandra Levy case deal with much more visible locations that these ladies became targets from.

In Maura's case, it was pitch black at night. the school bus driver who even talked to her had trouble identifying her, but yet somehow a perp driving around will be able to identify a female alone and vulnerable while its pitch black at night and she was bundled up.

Couple that with the fact that he would've had to snatch her just feet from the Westman's house and the other witnesses house (as they glanced out the window) allthewhile police and fire were en route and just minutes away from when Maura was last seen by her car, makes it quite a daring and lucky feat if a perp did happen to come by and kidnap Maura that fateful night.

 

[OldSteve]

Pittsburghgirl - I agree with your logic about human nature, and relating the CL case to Maura's....

I've mentioned this before, but since the roads had been recently plowed there would have been lots of stones picked up and on the road way - just can't see myself running in the dark on that surface, though years of running have made my ankles used to small twists.... if I did run, I would go back along roads I had just been on, since I would at least know if and where any hazards were... perhaps I'm being to logical....

Although it was dark, I think a driver approaching would have seen MM was a woman in the light of a their car's headlights, and especially if high beams were on or flashed...

In the end, she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and for all the hundreds of thousands times a person might be in this situation and as the odd have it, no one bad is around because it's a remote area, this is the one case where that luck ran out...

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Pittsburghgirl definitely brings up some valid points.

In regards to the statement's by Lt. Scarinza which is right here

Lt. Scarinza: "Sometime between Sunday and Monday morning, she packed up all her belongings in her dorm room, to include taking all her pictures off the walls, taking everything out of her bureaus, [and] put them all in boxes and] left [them] on her bed," Scarinza told WCVB-TV, "[She] left a personal note to her boyfriend on top of the boxes."

Lt. Scarinza actually has not contradicted the truth and this statement in no way suggests that Maura wrote out a suicide letter to her boyfriend. In fact in goes right with the fact that Maura printed out a excerpt of an old email from her boyfriend likely meant for her boyfriend to
discover it with the note dealing with some sort of him not being faithful to her so just like so many times in this case, the police release a carefully guarded and crafted statement trying to cover their own rears and the media and public take off with it and assume the statement means something it really doesn't.

Thanks for posting the quote, scoops; I was working on my iPad and didn't have easy access to cut and paste from documents on the internet.

This is a tremendously interesting statement. How does Scarinza know when Maura packed her stuff? Either he has a witness or witnesses and information that proves the truth of this statement, or he is making a huge assumption. He is quoted as saying "a personal note to her boyfriend, which is unambiguous. The effect of these statements, taken together, suggest suicide. The fact that LE did not follow up on the call Maura made to the NH condo also suggests that Scarinza (and others) had decided there was no need to do a full investigation into her disappearance. Here are the possibilities:
1. Scarinza had reason to believe Maura had packed up her stuff (eyewitnesses) and so that statement was accurate in his view OR he made a big assumption that is unwarranted OR he was spinning the disappearance as a suicide because that was his theory from the get-go.
2. Scarinza knew he was not telling the truth about the note (and so was spinning) OR he misspoke OR he was misquoted. In the case of the latter two, a clarification in subsequent interviews would set the record straight. In the Disappeared episode, I don't recall that he clarified his previous statement but I would need to watch it again to see his most recent position on this. Anyone recall what he said in that show?

Let's use some common sense. If Maura was staging a disappearance, she wouldn't have packed up her staff. She would want to make it looked like she just--disappeared on a trip. If she was committing suicide and wanted to signal that by packing up her stuff, why email her professors, take her books,
and pick up the insurance forms? If a student is suicidal, why would she bother to lie to her professors? And take her books on her last trip? If she wanted to disappear, blowing her money on a resort condo and not fully cleaning out her bank account makes nonsense. If she wanted to send her boyfriend a "message," why not just answer his phone calls and talk t

It seems more likely that, if she packed up her stuff before the trip, she intended to leave school or at least the residence hall. Having arrived at some kind of big decision would explain her breaking down after talking to her sister (or whoever that was). Maybe it wasn't what was SAID in that conversation, but what was unsaid. Then she seems bent on talking to her father but wrecks the car and can't talk to him at that point because whatever it is she has to say will cause more conflict or upset people, perhaps mostly herself. So she decides to get away for a few days but doesn't do anything to burn her bridges with her professors. Then she gets into a second accident without having told anyone what was on her mind.

If Scarinza or other investigators had withing 24-36 hours contacted the numbers she called looking for a condo, the condo own may have recalled what Maura said about the trip (including how long she intended to be away from school, how many people were expected on the trip, her mood, etc.). Renting a whole condo seems crazy if she intended suicide. Surely a regular hotel room--even in a luxury hotel--would be cheaper and easier to find. And if suicide or disappearance was the object, then it wouldn't matter if it was tough to get a great place near skiing, etc. An inexpensive motel on a highway would do. She could drive to some desired spot the next day. If LE had made that call before the condo owner forgot what was said (and Billy's mother, not LE, tracked her down a YEAR after the disappearance), we might have learned a lot more.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Pittsburghgirl definitely brings up some valid points.

In regards to the statement's by Lt. Scarinza which is right here

Lt. Scarinza: "Sometime between Sunday and Monday morning, she packed up all her belongings in her dorm room, to include taking all her pictures off the walls, taking everything out of her bureaus, [and] put them all in boxes and] left [them] on her bed," Scarinza told WCVB-TV, "[She] left a personal note to her boyfriend on top of the boxes."

Lt. Scarinza actually has not contradicted the truth and this statement in no way suggests that Maura wrote out a suicide letter to her boyfriend. In fact in goes right with the fact that Maura printed out a excerpt of an old email from her boyfriend likely meant for her boyfriend to discover it with the note dealing with some sort of him not being faithful to her so just like so many times in this case, the police release a carefully guarded and crafted statement trying to cover their own rears and the media and public take off with it and assume the statement means something it really doesn't.

Thanks for posting the quote, scoops; I was working on my iPad and didn't have easy access to cute and paste from documents on the internet.

This is a tremendously interesting statement. How does Scarinza know when Maura packed her stuff? Either he has a witness or witnesses and information that proves the truth of this statement, or he is making a huge assumption. He is quoted as saying "a personal note to her boyfriend," which is unambiguous. The effect of these statements, taken together, suggest suicide. The fact that LE did not follow up on the call Maura made to the NH condo also suggests that Scarinza (and others) had decided there was no need to do a full investigation
into her disappearance. Here are the possibilities:
1. Scarinza had reason to believe Maura had packed up her stuff (eyewitnesses) and so that statement was accurate in his view OR he made a big assumption that is unwarranted OR he was spinning the disappearance as a suicide because that was his theory from the get-go.
2. Scarinza knew he was not telling the truth about the note (and so was spinning) OR he misspoke OR he was misquoted. In the case of the latter two, a clarification in subsequent interviews would set the record straight. In the Disappeared episode, I don't recall that
he clarified his previous statement but I would need to watch it again to see his most recent position on this. Anyone recall what he said in that show?

Let's use some common sense. If Maura was staging a disappearance, she wouldn't have packed up her staff. She would want to make it looked like she just--disappeared on a trip. If she was committing suicide and wanted to signal that by packing up her stuff, why email her professors, take her books,and pick up the insurance forms? If a student is suicidal, why would she bother to lie to her professors? And take her books on her last trip? If she wanted to disappear, blowing her money on a resort condo and not fully cleaning out her bank account makes nonsense. If she wanted to send her boyfriend a "message," why not just answer his
phone calls and talk to him?

It seems more likely that, if she packed up her stuff before the trip, she intended to leave school or at least the residence hall. Having arrived at some kind of big decision would explain her breaking down after talking to her sister (or whoever that was). Maybe it wasn't what was SAID in that conversation, but what was unsaid. Then she seems bent on talking to her father but wrecks the car and can't talk to him at that point because whatever it is she has to say will cause more conflict or upset people, perhaps mostly herself. So she decides to get away for a few days but doesn't do anything to burn her bridges with her professors. Then she gets into a second accident without having told anyone what was on her mind.

If Scarinza or other investigators had withing 24-36 hours contacted the numbers she called looking for a condo, the condo own may have recalled what Maura said about the trip (including how long she intended to be away from school, how many people were expected on the trip, her mood, etc.). Renting a whole condo seems crazy if she intended suicide. Surely a regular hotel room--even in a luxury hotel--would be cheaper and easier to find. And if suicide or disappearance was the object, then it wouldn't matter if it was tough to get a great place near skiing, etc. An inexpensive motel on a highway would do. She could drive to some desired spot the next day. If LE had made that call before the condo owner forgot what was said (and Billy's mother, not LE, tracked her down a YEAR after the disappearance), we might have learned a lot more.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Pittsburghgirl definitely brings up some valid points.

In regards to the statement's by Lt. Scarinza which is right here

Lt. Scarinza: "Sometime between Sunday and Monday morning, she packed up all her belongings in her dorm room, to include taking all her pictures off the walls, taking everything out of her bureaus, [and] put them all in boxes and] left [them] on her bed," Scarinza told WCVB-TV, "[She] left a personal note to her boyfriend on top of the boxes."

Lt. Scarinza actually has not contradicted the truth and this statement in no way suggests that Maura wrote out a suicide letter to her boyfriend. In fact in goes right with the fact that Maura printed out a excerpt of an old email from her boyfriend likely meant for her boyfriend to
discover it with the note dealing with some sort of him not being faithful to her so just like so many times in this case, the police release a carefully guarded and crafted statement trying to cover their own rears and the media and public take off with it and assume the statement means something it really doesn't.

Thanks for posting the quote, scoops; I was working on my iPad and didn' have easy access to cut and paste from documents on the internet.

This is a tremendously interesting statement. How does Scarinza know when Maura packed he
stuff? Either he has a witness or witnesses and information that proves the truth of this statement, or he is making a huge assumption. He is quoted as saying "a personal note to her boyfriend," which is unambiguous. The effect of these statements, taken together,
suggest suicide. The fact that LE did not follow up on the call Maura made to the NH condo also suggests that Scarinza (and others) had decided there was no need to do a full investigation into her disappearance. Here are the possibilities:
1. Scarinza had reason to believe Maura had packed up her stuff (eyewitnesses) and so that statement was accurate in his view OR he made a big assumption that is unwarranted OR he was spinning the disappearance as a suicide because that was his theory from the get-go.
2. Scarinza knew he was not telling the truth about the note (and so was spinning) OR he misspoke OR he was misquoted. In the case of the latter two, a clarification in subsequent interviews would set the record straight. In the Disappeared episode, I don't recall that he clarified his previous statement but I would need to watch it again to see his most recent position on this. Anyone recall what he said in that show?

Let's use some common sense. If Maura was staging a disappearance, she wouldn't have packed up her staff. She would want to make it looked like she just--disappeared on a trip. If she was committing suicide and wanted to signal that by packing up her stuff and leaving
some old email from her boyfriend, why email her professors, take her books, and pick up the insurance forms? If a student is suicidal, why would she bother to lie to her professors? And take her books on her last trip? If she wanted to disappear, blowing her money on a resort
condo and not fully cleaning out her bank account makes no sense. If she wanted to send her boyfriend a "message," why not just answer his phone calls and talk to him?

It seems more likely that, if she packed up her stuff before the trip, she intended to leave school or at least the residence hall. Having arrived at or struglgled with some kind of big decision would explain her breaking down after talking to her sister (or whoever that was). Maybe it wasn't what was SAID in that conversation, but what was unsaid. Then she seems bent on talking to her father but wrecks the car and can't talk to him at that point because
whatever it is she has to say will cause more conflict or upset people, perhaps mostly herself.
So she decides to get away for a few days but doesn't do anything to burn her bridges with her professors. Then she gets into a second accident without having told anyone what was on her mind.

If Scarinza or other investigators had within 24-36 hours contacted the numbers she called looking for a condo, the condo own may have recalled what Maura said about the trip (including how long she intended to be away from school, how many people were expected on the trip, her mood, etc.). Renting a whole condo seems crazy if she intended suicide. Surely a regular hotel room--even in a luxury hotel--would be cheaper and easier to find. And if suicide or disappearance was the object, then it wouldn't matter if it was tough to get a great place near skiing, etc. An inexpensive motel on a highway would do. She could drive to some desired spot the next day. If LE had made that call before the condo owner forgot what was said (and Billy's mother, not LE, tracked her down a YEAR after the disappearance), we might have learned a lot more.

 

[scoops]

I doubt Lt. Scarinza was even the one who investigated Maura's dorm room (Likely amherst authorities) so his comments about the dorm room are probably based on what was told to him..

However, he has stated that a personal note was left by maura to her boyfriend ... and by all accounts that is exactly 100 percent correct (no deception there on his part). the old email that maura printed out would definitely equal being a "personal note" (even if it wasn't directly written by her or recent) and making the leap that it was left out for her boyfriend (email was correspondence between Maura and her boyfriend about him not being faithful) would not be far-fetched at all. She likely left that old email out in the open intentionally maybe as her own way to explain part of what was troubling her.

As far as her dorm packed up, I do think police are ASSUMING that she packed it up the night before or day of that she left ... But I think that their assumption is a small leap compared to the assumption that Maura just hadn't had time to unpack from winter break. There have been students at UMASS at the time of Maura departing that have gone on record commenting about how odd it was that her whole dorm room was packed up. And they like her would've also just gotten back to school within the last two weeks from winter break.

 

[scoops]

Thanks for posting the quote, scoops; I was working on my iPad and didn' have easy access to cut and paste from documents on the internet.

This is a tremendously interesting statement. How does Scarinza know when Maura packed he
stuff? Either he has a witness or witnesses and information that proves the truth of this statement, or he is making a huge assumption. He is quoted as saying "a personal note to her boyfriend," which is unambiguous. The effect of these statements, taken together,
suggest suicide. The fact that LE did not follow up on the call Maura made to the NH condo also suggests that Scarinza (and others) had decided there was no need to do a full investigation into her disappearance. Here are the possibilities:
1. Scarinza had reason to believe Maura had packed up her stuff (eyewitnesses) and so that statement was accurate in his view OR he made a big assumption that is unwarranted OR he was spinning the disappearance as a suicide because that was his theory from the get-go.
2. Scarinza knew he was not telling the truth about the note (and so was spinning) OR he misspoke OR he was misquoted. In the case of the latter two, a clarification in subsequent interviews would set the record straight. In the Disappeared episode, I don't recall that he clarified his previous statement but I would need to watch it again to see his most recent position on this. Anyone recall what he said in that show?

Let's use some common sense. If Maura was staging a disappearance, she wouldn't have packed up her staff. She would want to make it looked like she just--disappeared on a trip. If she was committing suicide and wanted to signal that by packing up her stuff and leaving
some old email from her boyfriend, why email her professors, take her books, and pick up the insurance forms? If a student is suicidal, why would she bother to lie to her professors? And take her books on her last trip? If she wanted to disappear, blowing her money on a resort
condo and not fully cleaning out her bank account makes no sense. If she wanted to send her boyfriend a "message," why not just answer his phone calls and talk to him?

It seems more likely that, if she packed up her stuff before the trip, she intended to leave school or at least the residence hall. Having arrived at or struglgled with some kind of big decision would explain her breaking down after talking to her sister (or whoever that was). Maybe it wasn't what was SAID in that conversation, but what was unsaid. Then she seems bent on talking to her father but wrecks the car and can't talk to him at that point because
whatever it is she has to say will cause more conflict or upset people, perhaps mostly herself.
So she decides to get away for a few days but doesn't do anything to burn her bridges with her professors. Then she gets into a second accident without having told anyone what was on her mind.

If Scarinza or other investigators had within 24-36 hours contacted the numbers she called looking for a condo, the condo own may have recalled what Maura said about the trip (including how long she intended to be away from school, how many people were expected on the trip, her mood, etc.). Renting a whole condo seems crazy if she intended suicide. Surely a regular hotel room--even in a luxury hotel--would be cheaper and easier to find. And if suicide or disappearance was the object, then it wouldn't matter if it was tough to get a great place near skiing, etc. An inexpensive motel on a highway would do. She could drive to some desired spot the next day. If LE had made that call before the condo owner forgot what was said (and Billy's mother, not LE, tracked her down a YEAR after the disappearance), we might have learned a lot more.

On some of the points you mentioned about Maura's actions.

there are many things that people are pointing to that maura did such as collect the insurance forms as a reason to prove she was not sucidial.

However, I would use many of those same points to prove that she very well could've been suicidal or at minimum been having thoughts of suicide.

Someone that has planned out a suicide to include their ideal final desitination (someplace with meaning to them) would also take other steps as well such as packing up a dorm room to save family the grief of having to do that later.

Getting insurance forms and leaving them securely locked in her crashed car so her family wouldn't have to worry about that detail. She seemed to be tying up all loose ends too, like returning borrowed scrubs right before she left.

Taking some very selective items (stuffed monkey, piece of jewelry,) and heading off to a spot to be alone is a red flag in my book, especially when you consider the alcohol that was purchased. Lets face it, she was headed for a secluded mountain area somewhere, you can gather that much by the different spots she searched to go too. They are in completely different areas, but yet they all had the common link of being places she and her dad and family had vacationed at sometime in the past. She left almost nothing in her bank account by the way after she made the withdrawl of $280.

As far as teachers and her employers are concerned. Sending them an email letting them specifically know she would be gone a week sounds more to me like she was buying time for herself instead of really being concerned about her school status. Buying time to either decide if she wanted to continue with life or not.

If she didn't notify teachers and her employers, after just two days or three, she would definitely have people looking for her, whereas she says she needs a week off and explains it away as a death in the family, then no one at the school or at her jobs would bother notifying parents about why maura isn't showing up. And she would have enough time to complete whatever she was up to.

As far as the books are concerned. I still say she likely didn't carry all of her school books around with her by hand all of the time, and only took what she needed at any given particular time. Meaning she may have school books kept in her car or in her dorm room and the books found, may have been in the car already instead of her specifically taking them, same with the running clothes. I had a girlfriend who always kept a bag of running clothes (or what she called an emergency overnight bag) in her car at all times.

 

[OldSteve]

pittsburghgirl - great analysis!

scoops - sounds like you believe MM was hedging her bets - leaving a way to come back if she decided that's what she wanted to do.... very good analysis as well!

The note on top of the boxes - that's what really gets to me. It's a very important clue, but do we know she placed it there herself? Whomever investigated her room might have seen it amongst her things and placed it on top of the boxes, just so it would get lost or as something to look at further...
Photos of her room without anything being disturbed - that what is needed...

ETA: Maybe the placement of the note was something as simple as MM wanting to get rid of it, or taking it with her, and she forgot.... that would be something, with some much be read into it..

 

[gnomony]

Lets face it, she was headed for a secluded mountain area somewhere, you can gather that much by the different spots she searched to go too.

Well, with all due respect, Stowe really isn't secluded (it's a winter-long traffic jam), and Burlington is neither secluded nor mountainous.

They are in completely different areas, but yet they all had the common link of being places she and her dad and family had vacationed at sometime in the past.

I am unaware that MM, dad and/or family had vacationed in Stowe or in Burlington, although it may very well be true. Do you know a source for this?

Thanks...