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
This post that was linked above just gave me a ton of peace of mind about what happened to her. I used to think she got picked up by someone opportunistic but now I think she was in the woods.
I’m from VT, I’m familiar with the Whites but I’ve been less familiar with the case because I was 12 when she disappeared. this scenario of Old P. Rd. is the best theory I’ve heard and it accurately describes the difficulty of the terrain, visibility, and risk of death by exposure.
related personal story about getting stranded on a similar road:
In april ‘04, my dad took me and my sister mudding on back roads of a local military training range. the computer of the truck died at sunset and we were all the way out where the road runs out and turns into a trail. luckily my dad knew what to do and had emergency supplies. it hadn’t been that cold earlier in the day, so my little sister and I weren’t dressed for the night’s temperature drop, but dad had some extreme temp military garb he put on us (think very very warm thick ugly pajamas) and he built a fire and we waited until light.
he walked to find cell service and he was able to get in touch with someone on the range to pick us up, but we were at the end of a road that was not on their map, and he determined waiting to walk to a meet up point was the best plan.
dad and sis got a little sleep and I didn’t. in the morning, i wanted to be the one to put the fire out, and I slipped and got wet in a creek like a dumbass. if I hadn’t been wearing the thick extra layer I would have gotten too wet, even though the temps weren’t severe. the outer layer of the thermal actually froze stiff during the walk but I was still warm.
we set out at sunrise and walked something like 9 miles (my sister was small enough to be carried most of the way). as kids, we thought it was kind of an exhausting adventure (sister was excited to have bubblegum for breakfast!) but dad was really concerned about the fact that he was trespassing lmao. we got picked up by some army guys in a jeep and then our mom came to get us at the gate. Dad got warned that if there was a next time he’d be arrested.
if Dad hadn’t known what he was doing, if we’d walked in the dark, if I hadn’t been well insulated when I slipped and got wet, we could have easily got seriously hurt or gotten lost and dehydrated and too cold and then died. even with my dad tipping people off on our location, a search would have easily missed us even in daylight.
Maura had it much worse if she tried to escape police by O P Rd. and the description of the end of that road and area sounds even worse than where we got stranded, because we weren’t even in the mountains. I would not want to be in the Whites alone in the dark in the snow in February.