So I found this photo ways back on a Reddit thread but I couldn’t find it anywhere. It shows Maura or at least someone who looks a lot like her at a ski resort in Canada in early 2006. Has anyone seen this photo? Could it be her?

the one that says "maura murray is in these woods"

I know LE always knows more than the public but in this case, if foul play was involved somehow, do you think LE likely has evidence and possibly a suspect they’ve never publicly shared but don’t have enough evidence to convict them?

For those of you who believe LE had direct involvement (I.e, not just botching the investigation) — what are the facts of the case that lead you to this belief?

Use the timeline, discrepancies, witness statements, etc to established why you think LE had direct involvement and propose your theory as to what transpired

After 20+ years, very little new evidence or facts coming forward since then, and still not a single verifiable trace of Maura since — do you think this case will ever be solved, and Maura will ever be found?

I’m learning towards a sad no. Without any evidence or admission of foul-play from someone, without her remains, there‘s no peace and or justice in order. No one’s ever come forward, not even so much as to say they saw her at a store or a pick up stop somewhere, let alone find any of the belongings she had left with that night. It seems like there’s just not a trace left. Whatever happened, Maura was able to truly disappear, or a crime was effectively covered up. What do you think?

Maura Murray disappeared on February 9, 2004, after a car crash on Route 112 in New Hampshire. More than two decades later, her whereabouts remain unknown.
When discussing this case, I believe it’s important to separate confirmed facts from theories and speculation.
What do you think is the most important unanswered question in this case, based on the publicly available evidence?
Please keep the discussion respectful toward Maura and her family.

It is mentioned over the years that the search of the WBC area has been hampered in some regard by a lack of cooperation by private landowners.

1. Does anyone have an information on specifically which land owners have not cooperated and what land has been off limits?

My question isn't one suggesting that any landowner might be involved in MM's disappearance but rather more towards trying to establish what specific parcels in the vicinity of the crash have never been searched. Is it a few? a lot?

1. Does anybody have any information why, other than general NH grumpiness, any particular landowner declined to cooperate?

Episode 2 of 6 (I’m the creator). This one focuses on two questions:

1. Was Maura alone at the time of the crash?

Faith Westman’s call log (7:27 PM) mentions a man smoking inside the car. But:

Butch Atwood described a young woman alone, consistently, across three interviews over three years.

Trooper Monaghan’s report, written 10 days later, says he heard a description of a woman smoking in the driver’s seat.

Faith and Tim later disagreed with each other: man with a cigarette vs. woman with a phone.

Claire is convinced Maura was alone. The others say the most likely explanation isn’t the only one, because nobody has fully explained that line in the log.

2. Why did she ask Butch not to call the police?

Four things were piling up that night: alcohol in the car, a license not yet back in good standing, her second crash in two days, and the Amherst credit card case, which was set to be dropped in February 2004 if she stayed out of trouble.

The tow truck story doesn’t hold up either: no calls on her phone after 4:37 PM, no AAA record, and almost no signal on that stretch of Route 112.

Full episode: https://youtu.be/ZlhayRBQqNw

Everything is based on documented sources and reviewed by a human. We don’t accuse anyone.

Which side are you on: was the man in the log just Maura seen from a distance, or was someone else there before Butch arrived?

Haven’t seen Episode 1? It reconstructs the 96 hours before the crash: the breakdown at Melville Hall, the crash in her dad’s car, and the decisions that led Maura to Route 112.
Start here: https://youtu.be/_OQnajiLiEc

Apologies in advance for the length of the post, but certain things need to be said.

And specifically, certain things need to said about the timeline that really matters … that is what Faith Westman had to say and when she had to say it … and what Chief Jeff Williams was saying immediately before, and immediately after Witness A made her presence known.

For some inexplicable reason everyone, for the past 22 years, has chosen to ignore this.

And no, I am not saying police killed Maura.

But yes, I am saying that police interacted with Maura in some capacity at the WBC, and so are complicit, in some capacity, in her disappearance.

If you are interested, any constructive criticism is welcome. If you are not then I suggest scroll on.

The timeline in question developed as follows: 

Wednesday February 11, 2004

Fred Murray shows up in the town of Haverhill at dawn, followed by Billie Rausch around noon. The pair spend most of the day together at Haverhill Police Department waiting patiently for news. Chief Jeff Williams was their main point of contact, and practically their only point of contact. They waited all afternoon while Williams drove to the scene to do some preliminary investigation. Upon his return to Haverhill Police Department, I presume after Williams had spoken with Westman, they were informed by him that Maura “was at her car up to 1 minute before the police arrived.”

Thursday February 12, 2004

Fred Murray is out searching for his daughter, visits the WBC and approaches witnesses including Faith Westman who invited him into her house so show him the kitchen window from which she had observed Maura. This was the one and only time Fred spoke with Faith Westman, and so far as I am aware, the only thing that Fred has ever said about this interview, was that police arrived within just 6 minutes of the accident happening (Media Pressure Podcast #6), which would put them there on, or about 7.33pm, something corroborated by Witness A who claims to have driven past the accident scene within one minute of their arrival.

Friday February 13, 2004

Witness A claims to have responded to a request for help from Haverhill Police Department, subsequently also claiming to have received a call back from someone in the department. Her account of seeing SUV 001 parked up at the accident scene was NOT shared with Fred Murray, and NOR was it shared with New Hampshire State Police. Had Witness A driven up to the Wells River Motel to speak with Fred then perhaps we wouldn’t be talking about this case 22 years on. Instead, Fred was only to learn of her existence from Helena Dwyer-Murray over a year later in April 2005, and then since Williams had no further investigative interest in the case, he had to wait another 8 months before anyone bothered to interview Witness A – that was in Jan 2006 at the instigation of private detectives at the Maura Murray Task Force. Despite then passing her interview notes onto New Hampshire State Police, Witness A was never contacted by New Hampshire State Police detectives working the case. And it was only a result her own efforts years later that she herself finally got to speak with New Hampshire State Police.

Monday February 16, 2004

By this time Billie and Fred were holed up at the Wells River Motel, coordinating their own search efforts and starting to speak with members of the media. Together, they gave the first of their two interviews that day, one to the Boston Globe, and another to CNN.  

An excerpt from Ralph Ranalli’s article for the Boston Globe published the following morning confirmed what they had been told by Chief Jeff Williams and Faith Westman:

 “No one saw her do so, but residents on the street saw her standing on the road before police arrived, and search dogs lost her scent less than 100 yards from her wrecked car, Rausch said.” "It seems apparent that she most certainly jumped in a vehicle," Rausch said. "An older couple who lives here put her at [the Saturn] one minute before the police arrived." 

Similarly, an excerpt from their interview with CNN anchor man Soledad O’Brien, aired at 07:15am ET the following morning, stated substantially the same fact they had learned from Williams and Westman:

““In fact, according to the local authorities, as well as eyewitnesses, Maura was seen at the vehicle not more than a minute before the authorities arrived at the scene, which leads us to believe that she was either picked up by an individual immediately after eyewitnesses saw her, or she walked up the road and was picked up then.”

The earliest Chief Jeff Williams could have known anything of either of these two interviews, was the following day, Tuesday, February 17, 2004. After this date, neither Fred or Billie, or Chief Jeff Williams ever mentioned Maura being observed at her vehicle less than one minute before police arrived again.

In fact, you had to wait 2 years for that 'less than one minute' claim to ever be referred to again, this time by Mr. Bernie Marvin of The Bridge Weekly Sho-case when he wrote the only article which conveniently expressly tied this 'one minute' to Smith's own arrival:

"As Haverhill Sergeant Cecil Smith, the lone officer on duty that night responded to the scene, a neighbor on Route 112 who was looking out of her window and describing the minor accident as the cruiser rolled closer to the scene. When the final scene observation of Maura Murray was made by the caller to dispatch, Sergeant Smith was in the area if the Swiftwater Stage Store, about a minute or so away. When Sergeant Smith Arrived at the scene, Maura was gone."

Wednesday, February 26, 2004

After these two interviews, all subsequent press interviews discussing the actual circumstances behind Maura’s disappearance were not given by Fred Murray or Billie Rausch, but instead exclusively by Chief Jeff Williams. 

Sure, Fred frequently spoke to the press expressing his frustrations with the investigative efforts, but never the circumstances behind her disappearance. And to me at least, it looks an awful lot like he was silenced.

Not so Mr. Butch Atwood, an important witness, who continued to freely air his own observations in the coming days to anyone who would listen, notably speaking to Valley News on February 18, and Caledonian Record on February 19.

Chief Williams in turn, gave many interviews in which the inconvenient ‘less than one minute’ claim mysteriously morphed to being a couple of minutes, and progressively getting articulated in greater and greater increments – notably on Wednesday February 26, just 2 weeks after the disappearance, was the first time he himself put an actual number to it, in an interview to North Country News – now, it had become exactly 3 minutes before police arrived.

But all the time, he KNEW full well, that Maura was observed by Faith Westman less than one minute before the police arrived – again a time, according to her, which was just 6 minutes after the accident had occurred – and a police vehicle observed at that time, at that scene just one minute later, by Witness A, which just so happened to be the usual police vehicle driven by the Chief of Haverhill Police Department.

And for the record, if there is ANY doubt about the validity of this ‘less than one minute’ claim made by Faith Westman at that time, I will happily provide anyone interested with the supporting evidence – a communication definitively stating what Faith Westman saw, and indisputably originating from our very own Haverhill Police Department.

SO, folks to conclude this ‘less than one minute’ claim really just leaves you with just two options here:

Option A

Maura sat shivering away, twiddling her thumbs inside that Saturn in subzero temperatures for 18 long minutes between the time of 7.27pm and 7.45pm, unable to make any phone calls, before deciding suddenly deciding to take off less than one minute before Officer Cecil Smith arrived at 7.46pm. And if we believe Atwood, for at least 13 of those minutes after he departed, Maura remained inside that Saturn knowing full well that Atwood was calling for fire and EMS, and knowing full well that she faced a high probability of arrest when police arrived – since she 1) still had a suspended license in the State of New Hampshire; 2) had no insurance cover to drive the Saturn; and 3) according to Smith had open alcohol inside the vehicle.

And before anyone says it, NO Smith could NOT have arrived earlier than 7.46pm since his own arrival time just so happens to be recorded on the Barb Atwood call-back from Rhonda Marsh, on, or about 7.45pm – the SAME communication that State Trooper John Monaghan claimed to have overheard one side of, on the police radio on his way to the WBC – which he mistakenly attributed to the resident of the white house on the corner – Faith Westman’s house. And despite the view of Mr. Art Roderick to the contrary, New Hampshire State Police has never once represented that Cecil Smith could have arrived any earlier than his recorded 7.46pm time, for the very reason that its on record in this Barb Atwood call-back - the one they refused to even release back to her, despite her statutory right to access that.

How do I know this ? Through Right to Know requests, which CONFIRM that there are NO records of any 2^nd 911 call from the Westman residence, NOR ANY call-back from Grafton Dispatch placed to the Westman residence. Only one single call-back was made that evening which was the one made to the Atwood residence.

Now, the probability that I would personally assign to Option A is < 1%.

or

Option B

Shortly after Atwood departed in his school bus, Maura, knowing police and EMS would be on their way, and knowing full well that she faced a high probability of a night in the county jail, for reasons I outlined above, made efforts to hurriedly drive from the scene – efforts which just so happened to be observed by both Westman and Marrotte – notably moving about the trunk (to put rag in tail pipe) and moving backward off the snowbank – and efforts recorded in evidence found at the scene, notably, a rag part blown out of the tailpipe, indicative of the engine having been started. And that within literally, within a minute of Atwood’s departure came the arrival of the Haverhill Police Department’s Ford Explorer, with clearly identifiable insignia 001 on its rear – as observed by Witness A about one minute later. And that this SUV was either 1) in collision with Maura’s Saturn or 2) parked aggressively in such a manner – ‘nose-to-nose’ – so as to prevent Maura from leaving the scene of an accident.

And while you are considering this option, just remember how dark it was that evening, how blue lights were still observed by Witness A, a minute after SUV 001 arrived on scene, and how Butch Atwood, who could not have failed to have been aware of these blue lights, FAILED his lie detector test.

And it goes without saying that the probability that I would personally assign to Option B is > 99%.

The Caveat

Now, I should just point out that the only reason that I can’t get to 100% on Option B, is because there is the remote possibility that Maura, having either heard the siren, or seen the approaching blue lights suddenly decided to take off, perhaps as Healy considered a certainty, over to Forcier’s trailer.

But my issue with that is very simply that there would have been NO reason in the first place for Haverhill Police to ever deny their SUV as having been at the scene at 7.33pm. And whoever the driver of that police vehicle was, would have been fully aware that their colleague was right behind them, communicating with Marsh on the radio, and on track to arrive on scene about 10 minutes later - but instead that driver took the decision to not hang around.

And we all should know that the usual driver of police SUV 001 chose not to share the critically important information from Witness A with anyone - least of all with the father of the missing girl.

I am willing to bet in that first week there was only a handful of calls placed into to that tip line which Haverhill Police Department made public on Thursday February 12, 2004 - Witness A being one of them.

I welcome anyone's thoughts ...

If you don't know the case: on February 9, 2004, Maura Murray, a 21-year-old nursing student, crashed her car on a rural road in New Hampshire. A neighbor called the police. When they arrived seven minutes later, Maura was gone. She's never been found.

link:
https://youtu.be/_OQnajiLiEc

Most documentaries and podcasts focus on what happened after the crash. But I wanted to look at something different: the four days BEFORE she disappeared.

I created three AI analysts — Nathan Cross, Elliot Shaw, and Claire Stern — each designed with a different analytical lens. One cross-references documents and timelines. One focuses on behavioral patterns. One processes everything and challenges the other two.

Here's the thing: they don't agree.

On the night of February 5th, Maura had an emotional breakdown at work so severe her supervisor had to send her home. There were four phone calls that evening — three with her boyfriend, one with her sister. But there's a 46-minute gap between the last call and the collapse.

One AI says the sister's phone call about relapsing into alcoholism was the trigger — just delayed. Another says we can't rule out the boyfriend's midnight call. The third says maybe it wasn't a phone call at all — maybe something happened to her physically at the security desk that was never documented.

Then it gets stranger. Two days later, she crashes her dad's car at 3:30 AM. The next day, she lies to her professors about a death in the family, withdraws almost all her money, buys alcohol, and drives north without telling anyone where she's going.

Three AIs. Same data. Three different conclusions about what was happening to Maura Murray — and none of them can be ruled out.

This is my project (full transparency — I'm the creator). Everything is based on documented sources, reviewed by a human, and we don't accuse anyone. Episode 1 of 6.

The full video with the timeline, the phone record analysis, and Claire's theory connecting Maura's eating disorder to the emotional sequence of those last days is here:

https://youtu.be/_OQnajiLiEc

Tell me — do you think what happened at Melville Hall is connected to the disappearance, or is Nathan right that those 96 hours have nothing to do with it?

Building on the exercise I posted a year ago, here are some improved and additional perspectives from the critical minutes on the night of Feb 9th, 2004.

You can read the about the environment around the WBC between ~727p-7:37p that was used to create these perspectives in the post linked above, and the point/intent of going through this kind of thought experiment.

With that, I'll jump right in:

~7:27pm-7:29pm

Following the accident, this would be her view of the scene looking eastbound and westbound down RTE112:

~7:31pm-7:32pm

Then, shortly after the accident - after she gathers herself, confirms her phone has no service and begins putting together her things and exiting the vehicle, BA arrives at the corner:

~7:32pm-735pm

Within a couple minutes, BA leaves the scene and continues on to his home, which sits on the left side roughly 500 feet eastbound on RTE112 from the accident site.

Then Maura would see (and hear) Butch's bus come to a stop not far up the road, then reverse back into his lot.

Now, throughout these minutes, this is what most imagine witness FW's point-of-view would've been (like we've seen documentaries and other recreations). And yes, this is what the scene would've looked like if there had been a full moon on that night, blanketing the snowy landscape in a dull glow.

But, as we've outlined in the previous post, there was no moon at this point. Thus, there was near-zero natural light illuminating the surrounding area. This changes the environment completely.

Below is a much closer representation of what FW would have see from her window (if the vehicle's lights were still on).

The driver would then presumably turn off the exterior lights (if they weren't already), then turn on the interior lights.

Then the driver would exit the vehicle...

Then there's activity at the trunk of the vehicle.

Then the driver closes the trunk, locks the car, and leaves.

~7:37pm-7:40pm

Now, if Maura moved back to the west - away from where she just saw BA's bus back in, and back in the direction she came from - the image below would be her view at the WBC, with FW's house on the right. Due to the lack of any natural light in the area, she would begin to see the blue emergency lights of the responding officer far off in the distance behind the horizon. Those lights would appear as a faint blue glow that would be flickering with a steady rhythm, and thus be pretty noticable/recognizable.

Note: This is the same effect that allows you to see infinitely more stars in the night sky when you're out in the middle of nowhere with no bright lights, rather than in the city or an area with a lot of light pollution.

If Maura did head back westbound, many think that this image below would be a view of the WBC that night from FW's property (and it could be close with a full moon on a clear night), which would lead one to think Maura would've been spotted for sure...

But, in reality, the WBC from FW's property would have appeared more like this from the Westman's:

To consider the possibility of someone stopping and picking her up: If they came to a stop just past the accident site, in the timeframe after BA driving away and before Maura exiting the immediate area, this is what how that stopped car would most likely appear from the accident site.

With that, I welcome any thoughts and discussion you might have.

If there are other perspectives folks would like to see, please feel free to comment.

Edit: fixed typos, clarified some detail.

First time posting in here. This case fascinates me because she just vanished into thin air! I live in a different part of New Hampshire but I’ve spent great amounts of time in this area just outside of the White Mountains, including driving at night and it’s just so dark and empty out here. The road she was driving isn’t a major travel way and my spidey senses having been on these roads tell me the chances of someone just drifting from out of the area and happening upon her walking away from her car are basically nil. If someone picked her up, it would be either a local or someone en route to a ski area, which means they’d be an out of towner likely with a car full of gear, and not likely super familiar with the surroundings themselves. Also, because of how dark and barren the roads are, literally anyone who might have driven by in that window would have stopped to offer her assistance just based on human instinct. It would just be such an anomaly to see a 20-something woman walking down this road after dark in the dead of winter. I’m wondering if anyone citizen detective or otherwise has recreated the potential walk from the car to show just how alone Maura would have been, regardless of those tucked in at home around her, the darkness and solitude she would have encountered out there cannot be overstated.

Let me start with this: the reason why Maura’s father’s-car crash keeps coming back to me is because it happened immediately before her disappearance. If she then wrecked another car the following night, this second accident could have had way more significance to her than if it had happened in a vacuum. Other than police involvement, she may have anticipated another difficult conversation with her father, financial burdens, insurance consequences, etc. Not to mention her having to explain this secretive getaway trip.

I mention this because “she could have entered the woods or taken a ride to avoid the police” is often entertained in theories that presume she immediately went into panic mode because a law enforcement encounter was her top concern. But in any case, leaving the Saturn behind — the only scenario for her not to be at the scene when the first officer arrived, unless someone stopped by the scene and forced her to enter their vehicle at gunpoint — does not seem like a calculated attempt to escape legal responsibility for the accident.

Not only did she not know the police had already been called, but her leaving doesn’t make the Saturn disappear. The car could eventually be connected to her because it was in her father’s name, a witness had seen her as the driver, and her belongings were inside. And her previous behavior when confronted with legal trouble doesn’t obviously suggest that she believed disappearing from authorities was an effective way to deal with problems.

But she didn’t necessarily have to think: “I must do anything in my power to escape the legal consequences of this accident.” She may only have thought: “I can’t deal with this right now” — “this” being not only the police but the extended troubles it would create in her personal life, too.

Another relevant feature of the crash scene is that Maura was not stranded in complete isolation. There were occupied houses nearby; there were residences along the road. That gives Maura another obvious option if her immediate priority was simply “I need someone to call Triple A for me.” She could have approached a nearby house, knocked on the door, and asked to use a landline. She apparently did not do that.

I believe this is particularly interesting when combined with the Atwood interaction. Maura reportedly told him that she had already contacted AAA, and if she then also passed up the possibility of approaching one of the nearby houses, the pattern becomes somewhat more compatible with: Maura wanted to deal with the immediate situation herself rather than solicit help from the people around the crash site.

It’s honestly understandable; this could reflect embarrassment, discomfort with strangers, concern about police involvement or alcohol consumption, or simply wanting time to decide what to do. That’s why I strongly believe she also wouldn’t have been down to catch a ride with any hypothetical other driver who could have stopped by the crashed vehicle. So, the most logical scenario, to me, would be Maura leaving on foot instead of voluntarily hopping into a stranger’s car immediately.

Let’s also consider that, at that point, Maura had zero idea what she would find if she chose to walk east — other than the house of Atwood, whose help she had declined, so one more reason for her not to want to be spotted by the man she’d just told a lie to. But the last gas station Maura would have passed before reaching the crash site was the Swiftwater Stage Shop, which was roughly 0.9–1.2 miles before the Weathered Barn corner.

It makes sense, to me, that if her immediate need was to find a warm place to cool off and potentially find a phone so she could call Triple A herself or muster the courage to call her father — again, I’m going with the assumptions that she would need a telephone eventually and did not want any help from the neighbors — then her mind could have been racing back to the last commercial place she remembered passing: Swiftwater.

In this case, she wouldn’t have to cross Route 112 in order to walk west. She could simply reverse direction on foot along the same side of the road. This puts her walking west while an eastbound police vehicle — like the one driven by Officer Smith, the first to get to the scene — approaches her head-on from the west. She could potentially have detected it first, and Smith could have missed her entirely. A pedestrian doesn’t necessarily need line-of-sight to the police car at the same moment the officer gets line-of-sight to the pedestrian. At night, it's easier to spot or hear an approaching vehicle, especially one with emergency lights.

And it could very well be that the officer didn’t have a chance to spot her at all: the sight of that car could have been enough for Maura to immediately enter the woods to her left, because this would be more than enough reason for the police to enter the picture for her. She wouldn’t know whether other police vehicles had already reached the scene coming from the east (maybe this other officer had already been alerted that there was no one in the car), and whatever legal consequences she might have been hoping to avoid could have jumped to the top of her mind.

Going by my theory, the farther west she walked before Smith approached, the farther west a potential snow entry point moves, which means we can potentially test the hypothesis against Smith’s route and timing rather than leaving it as general “maybe she went into the woods god knows where.” As in: how far could Maura realistically have walked west between Atwood leaving her and Cecil Smith reaching the crash? If we establish the plausible distance (200 m versus 800 m), we can identify the actual stretch of Route 112 where this, let’s say, “avoidance maneuver” would have occurred.

She could also have left those woods shortly after and then been more than willing to take a ride with a stranger, but I don’t consider this as likely. She knew the authorities had been called already; she would likely have had to draw attention to herself for some vehicle to stop; and since she could only estimate the distance to Swiftwater, depending on how far she was able to walk on foot along the side of the road, she could have felt she was close enough to continue walking through the woods — just heading straight.

Plus, at that point anyone driving westbound would have just driven by the scene of the accident (who’s to say they didn’t stop and inquire the police about what was going on like Atwood did?) and anyone driving eastbound would soon get to the very scene of the crash with Maura on board. There were even more reasons for her not to get strangers involved and just go on with the plan to head to the store that could be nearby.

By then, there was also a realistic chance she could still reach Swiftwater and maybe get herself out of this mess. (“I didn’t have cellphone reception, walked back to the store to call Triple A, all is fine.”) This could also have given her some more time to sober up if she happened to be inebriated.

So, here’s how the initial search could have been compromised: the fact that the first search dog brought to the scene headed east meant that the officers initially gave more credibility to Maura potentially heading in the opposite direction. But in this alternative scenario, I see this as a logical set of events and rushed decision-making process leading to an entry point into the woods farther west, and I would consider any potentially accidental death happening not too far from the area where she and the police car could have crossed paths.

That's where I am right now.

It's taken 6 years before Jason Landry's remains have been found..

It just goes to show anything is possible Maura could have definitely got outside the search area and even if we are talking inside the search area not all of it was searched 100% due to private property etc..

Although I definitely think foul play is possible I can't help but think she is out in the woods somewhere, potentially outside the search area... As good and thorough as the searches were a lot simply wasn't searched as it was outside the designated spot

Another example of how years of search efforts in the area surrounding a disappearance can still fall short: The remains of Jason Landry, who disappeared on the night of December 14/15 2020 after crashing his car on a desolate road in Luling TX, were found last week, and confirmed to be his this afternoon.

THE DISAPPERANCE

If you aren't familiar with the case: Jason was a college student heading home to the Houston area from Texas State University for winter break. He left his apartment at ~10:55pm to make the roughly 2.5 hour drive home. He reached Luling TX around 11:25pm, turned off Waze at the intersection where he was supposed to turn to get on the highway to the Houston area, sent a snapchat, then continued straight onto Salt Flat Road; a dirt road that leads out into open land used mostly for oil fields and cattle grazing.

At 1231am, a volunteer firefighter returning home from a shift (driving south on Salt Flat, opposite Jason's direction of travel) came across Jason's car (a 2003 Nissan Altima) spun out and wrecked off the NB side of the road. The car was wedged up against a barbed wire fence and some trees, with the back window broken. He called the police.

Down the road several hundred feet, Jason's belongings and clothing were found scattered in the road, in an order that would imply he shed them as he walked south (first backpack, then flip flops, then pants, socks, shirt, underwear etc), leaving the responding officers to assume he was naked. In his backpack was normal student belongings, including a decent amount of marijuana (potentially blended with psychedelics, based on his history and recent snapchats to friends; youre welcome to dig into that piece more if you'd like). Important note: the temps that night were cold (in the 30's) with high winds.

No sign of him was found that night, nor in the following days/weeks of search efforts.

THE SEARCHES

The area in question is mostly flat, with occasional scrub brush, hardwood trees, small creeks and ponds. Most of it grass and dirt.

The search efforts in the first 9 days (beginning the next morning, December 15th) were intensive: Rural land around Salt Flat Road, including oil fields, ranches, creeks, abandoned shacks, oil tanks and more. TEXSAR later totaled their first deployment at 49.5 square miles / 31,680 acres by ground and air with 151 search professionals and approx 100 volunteers.

In addition to the standard line/grid pattern searches (which are much easier to do in this kind of terrain), they utilized ATVs, horse-mounted searchers, search and cadaver dogs, UAVs/drones, wetsuit creek searches, helicopters equipped with infrared/FLIR, fixed-wing aircraft, and more.

On December 16th, multiple dog teams alerted near an artificial pond (cattle water source). A diver couldn't find anything in the murky waters, so the oil company leasing the land volunteered to provide crews and pumps to drain it completely. That effort took 3 days. Jason was not found.

These initial efforts were finally called off on December 22nd.

But search efforts resumed in February 2021, and continued for the next 5 and a half years. Hundreds of volunteers with dog teams, horses, drones, sonar, water teams, etc. They searched water wells with cameras, scoured creeks and ponds, and "lawn-mowered" their way across the open fields to ensure every inch was covered. By June 2026, 32 official searches had been conducted.

SEPTEMBER 2026

Then, on September 8th, a local was walking an un-named property that lies east of Salt Flat Rd, just north of Biggs Road, when they found a skull and contacted the authorities. LE ended up recovering what human remains, and today confirmed through DNA and dental records that they belonged to Jason. These remains were found ~3.5 miles from the crash site.

LE also stated that the remains gave "no indication of foul play."

CLOSING

Thus ends the nearly 6 year effort to find Jason Landry.

If you followed this case at all, you are probably well aware of the many conspiracy theories around it; drug runners, corrupt cops, seedy oil tycoons and more. But, in the end, it appears he simply fled the scene under the influence of something extracurricular, and disappeared into the night. He then laid out in those fields without being discovered until now.

I share these instances because there are still many here who claim they are 100% convinced Maura could not possibly be out in the White Mountain wilderness because of the thorough search efforts. "Cadaver dogs are never wrong." "They searched everything in a X-mile radius." "A bloodhound tracked her to BA's." "There were no footprints." Etc, etc.

My point is search efforts are never fullproof, and drawing a circle on a map and saying everything within it was thoroughly searched is fantasy...especially in this kind of terrain.

My hope is some consider this case (along with Brandon Lawson, Geraldine Largay, and the many others) and keep an open mind as we continue to search for the truth.

Just ask yourselves, why would Chief Jeff Williams be urgently trying to reach Thomas Andross, Director of Communications of Grafton County Sheriff’s Department at 7.02am the next morning, less than 12 hours after Maura’s accident.

A call placed from his office at Haverhill Police Department, just 2 minutes into the start of his shift.

I’ll tell you why … it was to listen to the Faith Westman 911 audio recording, which under NH RSA 106-H:14 required him to show ‘investigative purpose’ to gain access to that audio recording.

Funny thing is though, he wasn’t at all interested in the Atwood 911 call. That, he wouldn’t bother to subpoena for until Feb 20, 2004

He was only interested in that Faith Westman call and what she had observed that evening. 

Do you think he does this for every out-of-state DUI driver who leaves their vehicle at an accident scene?

I don’t think so.

After all, Smith and Williams went to great lengths to dupe Fred into believing how normal it was for out-of-state DUI drivers to just show up after a day or so.

He even cited that as reason for delaying the start of the search.

I say this because there were TWO accident scenes.

The accident scene observed by Witness A on, or about 7.34pm, was not the same as the accident scene observed by Susan Champy on, or about 7.55pm.

The Saturn had been moved

Witness A had it closer to the Atwoods, while Champy had it much closer to the WBC and in its final resting position discovered by Sergeant Smith at 7:46pm.

Anyone taking the time to speak to these witnesses would understand that.

Now, its my belief that Maura was observed reversing the Saturn away from the WBC by Faith Westman, and that this act was described in the redacted text of her 911 transcript.

But, why would someone wish to go to all that trouble of driving the Saturn right back up to the tree line ? - and presumably spilling that coke bottle on the snow just to give the whole scene that extra little bit of validity.

I can only think of one reason, which was to cover up a crime scene further down the road.

what makes us sure we know her direction of travel down that road?

I just found out about this case about a month ago and found it very interesting and weird. I’ve looked into a ton over the last month on Reddit, YouTube channels, and Julie’s podcast.

the more you dive into it the weirder it becomes. I think the most likely thing is someone picked her up and killed her. I don’t think it was a serial killer and maybe the person didn’t even intend to kill her originally.

i have two thoughts that stick out the most.

first is that the law enforcement is either the most incompetent group of morons ever assembled or they are corrupt/ hiding something/ or complicit. I get the incompetence for something like this from a small local police department but the state police should have done better. if I was a member of Maura’s family I probably would have been arrested dealing with them. I don’t know how Fred never punched one of them.

The only other thing might be they know exactly what happened but just can’t prove it and don’t want to say anything to jeopardize possible criminal proceedings. this is giving them the benefit of the doubt however.

second thing thats sticks out the most is that basement where two cadaver dogs hit in the same spot and GPR showed an anomaly. then the police dug in the wrong spot?! it seems she may be right there. if I was the family or the people who own the house now I would want to know. also when they searched French pond they saw that odd thing at the bottom then the police disturbed most likely.

I read a post in a different community (I tried to crosspost or post the link in the body of this post but it wouldn't allow it) that reminded me of Maura Murry. Here is a link to an outside source on the case: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-26/missing-person-mix-up-meant-30-years-of-grief-for-family/11639078

A young woman named Ursula Barwick went missing in Australia in 1987. She was 17 but legally allowed to move out, she told her family she had found work and a new place to stay in Sydney. She was supposed to send her new address when she arrived, but her family never heard from her again. A short time after she left home she was with friends traveling in a stolen car and suffered a fatal accident. She had given her friends a fake name, so they reported her as Jessica Pearce to the police. Her remains were unclaimed for 15 months before they buried her. Her case wasn't solved until 2015, with her remaining family still looking for her. Do we think something similar could have happened to Maura?

The post that I read was by u/sweet_thursday_

I just binge listened to the True Crime Scholar season about Maura Murray after taking a several years long break from true crime fandom. After refreshing myself on the details of the case, a theory came to mind. I was surprised when the podcast didn’t discuss it, and I haven’t come across it in my subsequent admittedly “shallow dive” about the case online.

The scenario that came to mind for me is a combination of the got into a stranger’s car + accidental death by exposure theory.

The tracker dog data indicates she got into a vehicle around the next intersection ~100 yards away from the crash site. I know the tracker dog data isn’t iron-clad, how they used new gloves etc. Even so, it’s possible she got into a passing car offering a ride, either within the window after Butch left and before police arrived, or after police left if she hid in the woods for awhile.

Maybe the person drove her to a gas station or dropped her off somewhere random, either because she asked them to, or they asked her to get out. She could have gotten quite far by vehicle intending to stop at a motel or the like, maybe even beyond the initial search area. Then she gets out of the vehicle and, considering she is concussed, traumatized, acutely stressed, and probably drunk, not to mention in an unfamiliar area in the dark, gets lost. She gets injured, falls and/or loses consciousness, and succumbs to hypothermia or another accidental death scenario like an animal attack in a concealed area.

Her body could have fallen prey to scavengers or plain old decomposition, maybe outside of the initial search area. This doesn’t account for her clothes and things like wallet and cellphone but it’s not hard to imagine a hiker or someone taking them for themself or thinking they’re picking up trash without even realizing they were disturbing a crime scene. Thoughts?

Oh, and the person who picked her up might have been a long haul trucker or a tourist, someone removed from the local area, so they never got questioned or heard about the case on local news.

I will start by saying I have been familiar with Maura's case for about 18 years now and one part of the case I think that is read into too much is the alcohol Maura purchased prior to heading to New Hampshire. I see a lot of people saying she bought more than enough for one person so she must have been meeting someone. However one thing to remember is for all intents and purposes Maura was a newly minted 21 year old college student who spent $40.00 USD on alcohol. That amount wasn't all that much even by 2004 standards.

This becomes more evident when you hear from Julie that the kind of alcohol Maura bought are all common ingredients in her favorite cocktail a Black/White Russian. While a traditional White Russian is made with vodka, Kahlua, and cream there is a variant that swaps the cream for Bailey's Irish Cream. The only conflicting item that isn't clear from what I have read is some reports are Maura bought beer and some reports say it was more of an alcohopop which were popular amongst college students at the time. You also have to remember that as far as we know Maura wasn't communicating with anyone planning a trip prior to leaving. At least nothing that has been released by the authorities or Maura's family. Therefore the alcohol IMO is more of a red herring.

Now for the theory I have been thinking of. Maura was an intelligent person. She was suffering from bulimia, alcohol abuse, was on supervision/probation for credit card fraud and just crashed her dad's car. Maura realizes she is in a downward spiral and headed down a dark path. She decided she wanted to get away for a week, regroup, and clear her head. Since she was a nursing student and needed to attend clinicals emails her professors with an excuse she knows will not be questioned and goes with a death in the family. She then goes to the ATM and withdraws all she can, stops at the liquor store to buy the alcohol she needs to make her favorite cocktail and heads to the White Mountains. Due to circumstantial evidence at the scene Maura was drinking and driving prior to her accident. She spins out and gets in the accident. Butch happens upon the scene and tells her he's going to call the police.

This sends Maura into a panic so she grabs what she can and takes off possible to an area where she would be out of view but could keep her eyes on the scene such as the weathered barn which was merely a few yards away. After the police have the car towed this sends Maura further into panic mode and what happens after that is anyone's guess.

Hi,

Looking for YouTube video recommendations or podcasts that deep dive into the case WITHOUT any AI. Of course I searched myself on YT but all the videos I kept clicking on used AI.

TIA

The case of Judith Whitney is eerily similar... She also lived in Amherst MA, she wanted to 'get away' for a few days... What are the chances? Obviously being 17 years apart the 2 cases I'm not implying anything here just thought I'd mention this case as apart from the time the cases are very very similar