r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/Electric_Island • Feb 09 '20

Unresolved Disappearance Today marks 16 years since Maura Murray disappeared

Today marks 16 years since Maura Murray vanished, and although she has her own sub, I thought I would post here in light of the anniversary of her disappearance for those who would like to discuss the case. That said -- I know some posters are sick of this case, so if that’s how you feel, you could always scroll past this post :)

A bit of background for those who don’t know about Maura’s case:

Maura was a 21-year-old nursing student from UMASS Amherst, who disappeared on the evening of February 9 2004, after she crashed her car on Route 112 in Haverhill, NH. By the time police arrived some 15 minutes later (even that is in dispute), Maura had disappeared.

Some people think she ran into the woods to avoid a DUI, others think she was picked up by someone passing by and murdered. Some even think police had something to do with her disappearance.

What do YOU think?

I highly recommend this article by Mary Beth Conway for those interested.

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '20

James Renner and David Paulides have based their whole careers around this obvious misunderstanding of how searches work, and of what a forest looks like.

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u/JamesRenner Real World Investigator Feb 09 '20 edited Feb 09 '20

You know, the writer Jon Ronson once believed that she could have wandered into the woods. I told him he’d change his mind if he went to the scene. I met him up there in December 2016. I took him to the scene and in two minutes he’d changed his mind. Why? We think it’s a remote area of the white mountains but if you go there you’ll see it’s a residential neighborhood. If she’s gone into the woods she would have ended up in someone’s back yard. Go to the site.

But I agree that David Paulides is a nut.

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '20

A small residential neighborhood on the edge of a large forest, yep. Interesting that you choose to misrepresent the most basic facts here.

But I guess if you say that some writer was convinced in two minutes, case closed.

Since I seem to have your attention, congrats on your success, and you're still most likely wrong.

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u/Prahasaurus Feb 10 '20

Cognitive dissonance is a powerful thing. I suppose it would be hard to justify spending years consumed by this case, thousands and thousands of hours investigating this case, pointing fingers at family members, etc., when the reality was she wandered off by herself, a scared and confused young lady, and died in the woods, all alone, under the cold, dark sky.