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

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(I don't know how accurate this is) but the weather almanac has the high temp for that day in that area as being 35.6 degrees or something real close to that. But the low for that night ended up being (-7) degrees. No precipitation was reported for that day in this area. the very next day, the high temp was once again right under 36 degrees while the low was something like 28 degrees that night.

Wow! I did not know it got that cold that night, -7. If she did make a run for it, (too bad it's unknown if she had a flashlight) could have gotten out of the area before stopping, resting, and scumming to the cold.
 
Regarding sighting of missing persons - in so many cases I've followed there always seems to sightings of the person, and I don't any that have panned out (though the must be a few).
The big mistake is that most sightings are are based upon general facial features, hair styles, and not something really specific/unique to the person - like mold patterns, tattoos, scars, etc...
 
Wow! I did not know it got that cold that night, -7. If she did make a run for it, (too bad it's unknown if she had a flashlight) could have gotten out of the area before stopping, resting, and scumming to the cold.


If that info is correct, (which I believe it to be) my bet would be that around 7 :30 p.m. that night it was probably in the mid 20's (and fastly dropping) at the time maura wrecked.

The weather almanac site has the reported high and low temperature for that day in that area (bath, NH-St. Johnsbury), but does not break down precisely when the day reached its high or low.
 
FWIW, the original post from "Tourist in Canada" came from the Amherst, MA Topix forum on a thread started by a poster called Beagle. It was posted in April, 2009 from Sharon, MA (post #21). Sounds like a hoax to me.

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/amherst-ma/TDI8GHE3636JOUPSP

That explains it. Beagle is 112dirtbag or something of that effect. He is the one with the youtube channel where he antagonizes the Murrays and the blogger Renner. Topix has no moderator as far as I know. If this so called insider knows why Maura left and her whereabouts, why were they being so cruel? If there were issues between Maura and her dad, why punish Maura's mom and siblings and not disclose the info to the family? Seems very cruel, which is why I think the post was a hoax. I don't understand why people can be so cruel. They must be just horrible people. JMO
 
Regarding sighting of missing persons - in so many cases I've followed there always seems to sightings of the person, and I don't any that have panned out (though the must be a few).
The big mistake is that most sightings are are based upon general facial features, hair styles, and not something really specific/unique to the person - like mold patterns, tattoos, scars, etc...

I agree. I think most people stink at facial recognition. I saw a video still frame of a family walking into a Walmart type store in Montana which supposedly someone thought was the missing McStay family. Well, it looked absolutely nothing like them. It was almost laughable. JMO
 
Sorry if this has been said before, but what were the weather conditions? My amateur google search brought up results saying it was in the 20's that night. She left her car around 7 PM... I'm assuming it wasn't in the 20's then.

After reading through all of the threads and the blogs and Internet sites, I really think she is still alive. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but after taking everything in (here, the official Maura website, the blogs)... Something doesn't seem right.

I read that the first news articles on her disappearance stated that it was 12 degrees F, but it was later corrected with a temp of 33 degrees. Supposedly, the 33 degree temp was pretty consistant all night. I need to back this up with a link or proof, but this is what I have always believed. Generally, during a New England winter, clear skies at night mean very cold temps. When it is cloudy, the temps are milder, because the overcast holds the higher daytime temps like a blanket. I believe it was a cloudy night. JMO
 
(I don't know how accurate this is) but the weather almanac has the high temp for that day in that area as being 35.6 degrees or something real close to that. But the low for that night ended up being (-7) degrees. No precipitation was reported for that day in this area. the very next day, the high temp was once again right under 36 degrees while the low was something like 28 degrees that night.

Scoops, do you have a link for that weather almanac? It would be nice to have it for future reference too. Thanks!
 
(I don't know how accurate this is) but the weather almanac has the high temp for that day in that area as being 35.6 degrees or something real close to that. But the low for that night ended up being (-7) degrees. No precipitation was reported for that day in this area. the very next day, the high temp was once again right under 36 degrees while the low was something like 28 degrees that night.

Scoops, I think I found your source (Farmer's Almanac?). After midnight it would have been Feb. 10th, so I'm thinking the low was around 28 degrees. The -7 degrees was probably for the very early hours of Feb. 9th, which would have been before Maura left for NH. JMO
 
Scoops, I think I found your source (Farmer's Almanac?). After midnight it would have been Feb. 10th, so I'm thinking the low was around 28 degrees. The -7 degrees was probably for the very early hours of Feb. 9th, which would have been before Maura left for NH. JMO

You definitely could be right there.

I typed in Feb 9, 2004 and it said the high on that day (as recorded for record) was 35.6 and the low was (-7). I then typed Feb 10, 2004 and it said the high for that day was 36 and the low was 28.
 
If that info is correct, (which I believe it to be) my bet would be that around 7 :30 p.m. that night it was probably in the mid 20's (and fastly dropping) at the time maura wrecked.

The weather almanac site has the reported high and low temperature for that day in that area (bath, NH-St. Johnsbury), but does not break down precisely when the day reached its high or low.

According to the National Weather Service the temperature in Concord NH, the closest official NWS monitoring station to Haverhill, the temp. at 7:51 PM was 37 degrees Fahrenheit. By 11:51 PM it had dropped to 34. The coldest recorded temp during the first twenty-four hours Maura was missing was 19,9 degrees Fahrenheit recorded at 6:51 AM Feb 10, 2004.
 
The textbooks may have just been in her car. I really don't see how she could think she would still be in the nursing program if she took off like that. She would not be able to produce proof of the death she told about. Nursing programs have all their clinical hours to met state regulation, they are a tight fit in the program. You can not miss days, most programs do not allow you to "make up" clinical hours. At best students can try to get in a future nursing rotation, but generally they are forced out of the program. Maybe she thought she could get away with it, but she had to know she wouldn't.

This is from the UMASS school of nursing student handbook.

Attendance at all scheduled clinical practice experiences is mandatory. Absence for any reason must be explained and will be evaluated by the instructor, who will decide whether an alternative experience must be arranged.

This strikes me as very open-ended. Certainly no mention of dismissal from the program. If her academic performance and reputation were as good as they have been reported to be and her instructors thought well of her I think, had she returned, she would have picked up where she left off
 
But if she used a death in the family excuse, how was she going to back that up? Also a week is a long time to make up. Clinical hours would be harder to make up.
 
The comments from readers after the analysis is interesting. They bring up things that I have not heard about (red truck/umass plates, etc.)

A well respected resident of the Swiftwater area did observe a Red Truck lurking in the area that night Maura vanished. Here's what she wrote on a previous forum:

"I wish I could give an exact description of the truck but I can not. I was walking that night about 7 p.m to the local store. As I was walking up the hill, a truck passed me and slowed down. When it got to the middle of the hill it stopped in the road. I immediately looked at the plate and noticed it was from Massachusetts. There is only 1 street light there and I could not tell how many people were in the vehicle. As I got closer to the truck it took off up the hill. When I rounded the corner to the store, I could see the truck in the driveway of the store. As I walked into the parking lot, which is well lit, the truck took off toward the crash site, (of course at that time I did not know there was a crash).

As for the Red Truck, it slowed, then stopped and waited for me to get closer, then took off up the hill. He did not leave the store parking lot in any sort of hurry.

When I entered the store I asked if she saw the people in that truck and she said no, no one had come in. I told her about them stopping in the hill. Then we just forgot about it. I stood in the store a while and was there when the police and ambulance went by. I never saw that truck again. The only way I can describe it is that it looked like someone who delivered wood. That was my first thought about it........red, MA plates and delivered wood. Either having a wood body or even just slats in the body. It was not a king cab or extra cab. Just a regular truck. That is all I can tell you.

I was in the Swiftwater store for 1/2 hour - 45 minutes. It was about 20-30 minutes after I was there that the police went by. I am not at all Maura's size and in fact I was bundled up that night. I believe I caught the truck off guard as I was walking well off the road and as they passed I walked back on, which is why I believe they stopped completely. They could not see me without any street lights and maybe went to the store and waited for me to get up there to get a better look??? I don't know. That is just how it seemed to me.

The truck didn't scare me. My thought is that they/he/she thought I was someone else. That is what I was thinking that night. When I saw them sitting at the store, I again thought, they really think I am someone else. And as I got closer and I could see the driver moving around - I was thinking, there, I am not the person you are looking for, and he drove off. I wish to God I could remember what I was wearing that night, but I can't.

Someone asked about the truck and whether it was 4 wheel drive. I believe it was. I have been looking at trucks and have determined that it was definitely a four wheel drive or at least it was a 3/4 ton pick up, because it sat up high. The other thing I remember is that the window in the back was hard to see in....it wasn't very large.....which tells me it was an older truck maybe???"

-30-
 
About the red truck.

No doubt, the witness to the truck that night sounds credible.
However, there are too many holes for me to be able to mesh the red truck having something to do with maura.

First witnessess called 911 about maura at 7:27 p.m (That is a precise time from a 911 record, not a guestimated time from a police report). after hearing a loud thump and looking out their window. (That tells us that maura most likely wrecked just a few minutes earlier (7:20 p.m. to 7:25 p.m.) No way these witnesses waited around for 15-20 minutes before dialing 911.

If this red truck witness is accurate about her times, the red truck would've passed the accident site in front of maura.

Someone stalking maura doesn't make sense, this person would be tailing maura not leading the way.

Someone meeting up with maura might be ahead of her, but would not be that much ahead of her that maura would wreck and would be at the accident site for almost 30 minutes without this "friend" wondering what happened to her and back tracking until they found the wreck.

If this red truck was really up to no good and it was the cause of Maura's wreck (as a sabatoge/abduction type deal), then this person would've immediately struck and grabbed maura not disappeared long enough for witnessess to come by and hear from maura.
 
About the red truck.No doubt, the witness to the truck that night sounds credible. However, there are too many holes for me to be able to mesh the red truck having something to do with maura. First witnessess called 911 about maura at 7:27 p.m (That is a precise time from a 911 record, not a guestimated time from a police report). after hearing a loud thump and looking out their window. (That tells us that maura most likely wrecked just a few minutes earlier (7:20 p.m. to 7:25 p.m.) No way these witnesses waited around for 15-20 minutes before dialing 911. If this red truck witness is accurate about her times, the red truck would've passed the accident site in front of maura. Someone stalking maura doesn't make sense, this person would be tailing maura not leading the way.Someone meeting up with maura might be ahead of her, but would not be that much ahead of her that maura would wreck and would be at the accident site for almost 30 minutes without this "friend" wondering what happened to her and back tracking until they found the wreck. If this red truck was really up to no good and it was the cause of Maura's wreck (as a sabatoge/abduction type deal), then this person would've immediately struck and grabbed maura not disappeared long enough for witnessess to come by and hear from maura.

I doubt that the Red Truck was a friend or acquaintance of Maura's, most likely the occupants were the perps. who abducted her.

The accident at Weathered Barn corner could have happened earlier (7:05 or so) and the witnesses in the white house might have called 911 after waiting to see if the car and driver were going to be able to drive off after the crash. They didn't offer to help her so possibly they heard the commotion, went back to what they were doing and then 15 minutes later (or thereabouts) when the car and girl were still there they then called 911.

Perhaps the Red Truck knew Maura's route after overhearing her receiving directions at a local gas station, McDonald's or at the Walmart? Most likely they were lying in wait at SSS hoping to nudge Maura off the road further down Route 112 where there are no houses. Except the accident happened. If they heard the call go out on their scanner they could have been there in a matter of minutes. There are many other side roads to lurk on between the store and the accident site. If someone told Maura to take Goose Lane to Route 112 then Red Truck would have been perfectly positioned at SSS. They may have moved on though after being spotted by the neighbor (witness).

I doubt if the Red Truck was the direct cause of the wreck at WB corner. There may have been an earlier accident or intentional sabotage of the Saturn (or Maura) at a previous location by the occupants of that truck i.e. slashed tire, rag in the tailpipe or spiked Coke bottle.
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/01/jessica-ronhock-body-found_n_1395284.html

Here is a chilling story about a massachusetts girl that was just found after her jeep cherokee ran off a cliff.

She was a nursing student (in upstate new york) who up and left one day from school (just one day into a new semester) leaving a note for her roommate telling her there was a "Family emergency" when there was none.

She was witnessed at an atm (by herself)

She drove across country, (Police were able to track her movements through bank info) she went to florida, texas and ended up in arizona.

She was found months after her car went off the cliff by some hunters.

They have not released cause of death yet to my knowledge.

Very creepy considering the circumstances around maura.
 
I know I harp upon this, but while it appears on the surface that the exposure time Maura had for a perp to see her and take her was small, there is the extenuating circumstance of her car was not running right, maybe even smoking or sputtering, and I often wonder if she attracted unwanted attention as a result - when stopping for gas, or even while driving. Someone seeing this might have even mentioned it over a CB radio, or tow truck frequency...
So, because of this I still think it was possible a perp got wind of her plight and got her.
I also think it was also possible:
She accepted a ride from someone who then took advantage of the opportunity.
She may have sought shelter a garage, house under construction, barn, someplace where she fell asleep and was discovered by someone who took her.
And still believe she might have run till exhaustion and succumbed in the forest or fell thru ice in the river...
 
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