Maura Murray -- Newspaper Clippings from the Baffling Unsolved Missing Person's Case
Author: Shane Lambert
Original Time of Writing: December 20th, 2020
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.
Missing Person: Maura Murray
Last seen or contact date: shortly after 7pm on February 9th, 2004
Where last seen: in the vicinity of Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire, about a mile from Swift Water Village about five miles from Wells River, Vermont (across the Connecticut River). She was taking a sharp turn on Wild Ammonoosuc Road between Old Peters Road and Bradley Hill Road (there's a blue ribbon tied around a tree on Google Maps).
Maura Murray is one of the more famous cases of missing people from this century. She was last known to have been in New Hampshire. She was involved in a single-vehicle car accident and then disappeared from it before the police arrived to find her vehicle locked. She has not been seen or heard from since.
The case has some similarities to cases that are unrelated. Many times across America someone has been involved in a car accident only to disappear in the immediate aftermath.
In 2020, Yvette Slim went missing after an accident. In 2018, Blair Minnifield (NamUs #MP52423) got in a single-vehicle accident, went to the hospital, and then disappeared. Stephan Chan (NamUs #MP50755) disappeared the same year after a single-vehicle accident. In 2016, Brandi Shontay Brown disappeared after hospitalization from an accident.
A car accident that is followed by the disappearance of the driver is interesting to think about. We can imagine that an individual who is near a breaking point might cross that point after a car accident, especially if the accident is his/her fault. Life can be tough and car accidents are no small deal: even if you escape injury dealing with the bureaucratic procedures after an accident can be very annoying. It follows that someone who is already mentally unwell might see this as the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.
But with Maura Murray, I've often wondered if the car accident wasn't so much that straw but maybe she had already decided to disappear herself. The accident might have been the result of indifference to her life or maybe even a last-ditch call for help if she was in a suicidal state. It was her second car crash in recent days and she was thought to be "distraught" at this time of her life. Months earlier, she faced legal problems for fraudulently using a credit card.
The individual who spoke to Murray shortly after her accident (Butch Atwood, now deceased) suggested that she may have been intoxicated. Thus, Murray might have been facing a drunk-driving charge if she stuck around the accident scene. Other witnesses said that they saw her roadside and police dogs lost her scent about 100 yards from her car.
This is a baffling case and, like most difficult missing person's cases, there are a lot of ways your mind can go. The father was always adamant that she met with foul play -- so adamant that it is hard to disregard his opinion. That would make you think that an abductor arrived at the scene of the accident. However, that in itself would be one Johnny-on-the-spot abductor as he/she would have arrived on the scene in the minutes between the crash and the arrival of the authorities.
That Murray told lies to her school and work in the time frame before she disappeared is interesting. It suggests that her life was not in balance. That she was drinking and driving adds weight to this, in my opinion.
Of course, if she fled the scene for legal reasons and hitched a ride then why hasn't she been heard from since? She would not likely flee a drunk-driving charge for years as first-time offenders for that can expect leniency. If she voluntarily entered a passer-byer's vehicle, then why didn't this driver contact authorities later? In my opinion, the best chance of finding her is simply that she did enter someone's vehicle and that this person has never confronted the story of her disappearance and doesn't know he or she has valuable information.
But this case remains baffling and I gravitate toward suicide as the most likely explanation for her disappearance. It doesn't matter to me that her father thought this unlikely as there is often a divide between what parents notice of their children and their mental reality.
However, I don't feel strongly about my opinion. Suicide by facing-the-elements doesn't sound like a great way to go. There's no reason to believe that Murray had a gun and it was evening when she went missing in February -- a cold time of year in the northern USA. Hiking through the night-time forest for a cliff to jump off doesn't sound like a great way to go either.
At the end of this case, I feel like we're left with the facts and details of her case -- all of which point to nothing but difficult-to-weight speculation. Years have passed and we're still waiting for that moment when things finally make sense.
NamUs # and Link: #MP54
Ethnicity/Race: White
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 21 years old
Hair: Light brown or brown
Eye color: Greenish/bluish
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 5'7" and 120 pounds
Other: dimpled cheeks
Scars: right calf
Clothing: Possibly wearing a dark-colored coat and jeans, carrying a backpack.
I have followed this case since Maura first was reported missing. Personally, I believe Maura may still be alive and now is a transient or would like folks to think she is. Not your normal transient though. She may now be slightly larger in size then in 2004, fairly well dressed for a transient, intelligent yet not so willing to converse, and tidy in appearance. I suspect she may not know who she is or does not want others to know. I also believe she may have been in the West Lebanon, NH area in the spring of 2017 and may have been given a free meal at a restaurant or two in that area. Why did I not contact authorities, one may ask? I really believe this person was completely aware of her surroundings and preferred to be left alone. Also, I could have been totally off base.
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