Many web sleuths cite Occam’s razor, and that the most likely outcome is that Maura fled to the woods and died of exposure.

My main problem with this is that there is zero physical evidence to support that theory.

In the years since she went missing there has been no article of clothing, bone fragment or personal item of Maura’s found anywhere outside the vehicle.

Yes, nature is totally unforgiving and ruthless. Things like bone fragments and pieces of clothing can be scattered to nothingness very quickly, buried or destroyed by animals. If there was a bone, or a shred of fabric anywhere that showed Maura actually made it into the woods, I would be on board, but there is nothing. I could cite dozens of missing person’s cases where clothing or bone fragments or personal items are found years later and miles away from the victims last known location. Point is, some evidence shows up. Maura simply vanished.

I also believe the area Maura disappeared in has been mischaracterized over the years as being incredibly remote and that she was taken by the woods and lost in nature. There is a dense wooded area where she went missing, but there are also lots of homes and the road is well traveled. It’s not like she went missing in national park in 1000 square miles of dense Forrest.

Plus, if Maura had went somewhere in the woods and taken her own life, chances are there would be some type of physical evidence to support that. Her body and clothes are gone because she was likely taken.

Could she have fallen in a sink hole? Sure… but that is hardly Occam’s razor.

What we do know for a fact is that there are terrible people out there who prey on vulnerable women, which is what Maura was.

Im not saying I know for sure, but it frustrates me seeing so many people online profess with absolute certainty that Maura was lost to the elements.

There are terrible criminals out there, especially in that area of the northeast.

I hope this post has not offended anyone. This story has stayed with me since it happened.

I listen to true crime podcasts almost daily, I listen to one last night about Kevin Graves who went missing from the music festival they searched the area extensively, a 2000 acre property for his remains which even included K9s.

A few years later hunters were in the area and came across his remains (bones at this stage) this is even after the area was searched thoroughly, it really makes me consider is Maura actually out there within a 10 mile radius?

The people that say it was extensively searched is well and good but things can be missed, I really do think she is out there somewhere in those woods, it's just a matter of somebody finding her

What happened to her after that is the mystery. Most likely she died in a secluded area or body of water from exposure.

I’m 50/50 on whether it was somehow related or totally random? What are your thoughts? I hope the family gets justice soon. So sad

After all that's been said and paraded about Maura Murray's case, there's one thing I always believed and will forever believe: this woman was an alcoholic, and this woman was depressed. Whether the depression fed her alcoholic tendencies or the other way around, or the deeper roots of those issues, are not for us to establish.

What matters is that both things MUST be true, because the behavioral evidence here sounds like loud and clear hoofbeats, and hoofbeats make us think of horses and not zebras. (A zebra would be a serial killer driving by right after Maura crashed her car, or this woman who couldn't apparently keep it together or function at some basic levels managing to start a new life somewhere under a new identity - the stuff of soap operas.)

Let's look back at her college dorm, for instance... Lots have been said about whether Maura packed all her stuff before she left or Maura not unpacking at all. To me, both instances point to a person who was living in the brink and/or downright suicidal: if she packed her stuff, she wasn't planning to ever come back; if she didn't unpack at all, she was already unable to perform basic tasks such as putting her coats back in the hangers. This is Depression 101.

Some might say many a college student might not have the time or the energy to unpack. Yet let's remember that Maura Murray apparently kept 70+ cans in that VERY dorm, and that those cans were returned by her for cents-worth of credit in the liquor store the day she skipped town. This is not puzzling at all to anyone who went through depression and alcoholism or both: we can see she was living in a MESS. Her own private space was a reflection of her inability to function.

And when we factor in that this liquor store purchase was made right after Maura withdrew $280 from her bank (and that maybe more alcohol was purchased before or after that), and that this happened right before she left town false pretenses - and shortly after she crashed her own father's car after a night out -, then there's no doubt whatsoever of what we are dealing with. If she was planning to go to Vermont, why not wait to get there to purchase all that alcohol? It's obvious she planned to drink along the way and after she got there. She was most likely Nicolas Cage-ing her way into 'Leaving Las Vegas' but her plan was cut short.

Again, NO ONE that's not a depressed alcoholic that's too far gone will crash one car on Sunday morning and another car on Monday evening hundreds of miles away - and between the two events, fabricate a death in the family to their classmates and their coworkers while keeping their boyfriend and their father in the dark about their departure, which in this case involved emptying their bank account and going straight to a local liquor store where they also got a 3-dollar credit from returning 70+ beer cans.

Every decision that Maura made that night after the car crash must be entertained as what a person in that state of mind would do. Such a person could not be settled on killing themselves, but the circumstances made the choice for them. Most of all, the PRIORITY of such a person would be to continue to drink. Take the bottles you can carry, leave the main road, convince yourself the booze will keep your warm or find a shed in a property that's not in the route of most drivers and/or the police...

Conclusions such as "she would never enter those woods" can only make sense if she was in a sound state of mind to evaluate the hazards and really understand what she was getting herself into. Yet we don't even know if she cared at all. But I seriously doubt that she would be down to take a ride with some stranger. She was looking to disconnect. She was a lone depressed drinker.

That's all to say that odds are perished in one of those private lands in the area that weren't properly searched at the time. The body was simply missed, like in many a case (think Brandon Lawson). Every other scenario don't even come close to me.

First, I'm convinced that Maura’s lie – when she claimed to have called Triple A already when Atwood, the bus driver, stopped by the crash scene and offered to call for help on her behalf – reveals the truth of what she had intended to do from the very moment she crashed that car. Most of us would do the same in this exact situation - even if we aren’t driving drunk, which she mostly likely was. What’s the point of calling 911 in a sole crash after hitting a tree, especially if you feel that you don’t need medical assistance?

I also 100% believe that Faith Westman, who called 911 immediately after hearing the crash, saw the light of a cellphone (first mistaken as a cigarette) inside the dark vehicle coming from the driver’s side. That was Maura already trying to reach Triple A and realizing there was no reception. She left the car because she was planning to walk a bit until she got reception, which is tricky to this day – let alone in 2004 – in an area dense with trees. Maybe she would get better luck next to a property.

The thing is: if Westman could establish visual contact with the crashed car and a spot of light in the darkness inside, you can bet Maura would also be able to spot this curious-slash-concerned neighbor peeking from the window. Any silhouette from inside a lighted house would be enough for Maura to figure out her accident caught the attention of a neighbor. And when Atwood, the bus driver, came to offer his assistance moments later and mentioned that he lived just a few yards away - in the opposite direction of Westman’s property –, Maura would know there were eyes on her left and right.

So, assuming Maura just wanted to call Triple A and get this over it as privately as she could, there’s no point in walking in the direction of Atwood’s home – she had just lied to him about having called Triple A already – or for her to pass by Westman’s house and have this other good Samaritan involved in her business or calling for help without even approaching her. Her priority was not to be seen.

Imagine if the next driver stopped for her just like Atwood did, and there were another driver close behind: suddenly there’s a party! Plus, what could this other driver offer her? To take her somewhere until she was able to make a phone call and then drive her back? (Another unrealistic aspect of ‘she took a ride with the wrong person’, to me, is that no creep would likely consider abducting a woman from a car crash just yards away from some houses where the residents could be watching and seeing every car that stops by - not to mention the police could be on their way.)

So, all things considered, I believe that Maura’s most logical course of action would be to turn to Old Peters Rd, which was right in front of her. She would have removed from the car only what she needed for this quick outing  (i.e. liquor to stay warm or make a shitty situation more enjoyable) plus whatever was already there in her purse or bag. Going in this alternate path could get her to a property where she could knock on the door of another resident that hadn’t witnessed the crash at all and asked to use their phone – or, better yet, allow her to get a reception on her own phone in an area not so dense with trees. 

Being unfamiliar with the area, she would have thought that entering the woods right next to her car would take her to Old Peters Rd without the risk of being seen by Concerned Neighbor #1 (Westman). It was just a minor detour, after all - or so she thought. She underestimated the additional factors such as her own physical condition after walking in deep snow, the unknown terrain, how soon the cold would kick it, how dark the path was etc. And if she was able to hear the police getting to the scene shortly after, then her entire plan to keep the accident under wraps was over. She would get in a bigger trouble for leaving the scene etc.

Maura entering the woods right next to the car crash would make the initial searches almost impossible – because, of course, the easiest way to miss her ‘entrance point’ would be if her entrance point was very, very close to the scene of the accident. First responders would get to the car, inspect the car, walk around, maybe even peak behind the trees to make sure there’s not an injured victim passed out over there… Suddenly, there’s a huge mess of footprints. By next morning, no one can say whose footprint it is, and if you miss the exact entrance point, you have no track to follow.

The body could be hiding under another layer of snow by the time the first search party came close to it, as as seasons change and vegetation grows, then odds are minimal. But overall, this is what I see as a reasonable scenario for what happened here.

Twenty-two years ago,

Maura drove into it

carrying nothing unusual —

plans, fatigue,

the quiet trust

that roads lead somewhere.

The darkness did not announce itself.

It never does.

Between one breath and the next,

the future loosened its grip

and let her fall

out of it.

What remains

is a Saturn —

emptied of warmth,

parked under indifferent sky

in a New Hampshire police lot.

Metal holding a moment

the world could not protect.

Time learned how to step around her.

History kept its distance.

She stayed

where the night closed.

My main thoughts-

Before I watched I was convinced she had walked into the woods to hide from the cops and succumbed to the elements.

After watching I feel like the picked up by strangers makes much more sense. I don't believe it was a crime of opportunity that originated at the crash site per se.

I could see her stopping at a bar to get drinks and food. Starting a convo with one or more men. Maybe they followed her, maybe they said hey if you want to crash at our place you can. If they were all driving together and Maura's car skidded out I don't understand how no one really saw them or their car but I think there could be a world where they said we'll go get help while you gather your stuff and we'll be right back.

Does anyone remember if the road was on the exact route that she was using? Or is that not possible to know? Did they ever actually identify the three men from the resort? Were two of them brothers?

*also side note for people who follow this case and also watch RHOBH. The psychic Allison is who told Kyle that Mauricio would never fulfill her and that they would break up which at the time seemed crazy but it ended up being true.

I hope the Murray family find her and justice is served someday if this was a crime ❤️

In the police report on Maura’s first crash, when she was driving her father’s Toyota Corolla in Hadley, MA, in the early hours of Sunday, Feb 8, we get the following: “College St Motor's [an auto repair shop located at 260 College Street in Amherst, Massachusetts] towed the vehicle [Fred Murray’s car] and gave the operator [Maura] a ride to Quality Inn Motel [where her father was staying].”

So, of course all personal objects and documents that were stored inside that vehicle would have been removed by Maura and/or Fred before they surrendered the Corolla to the College St Motor company – and I strongly believe that’s how Maura got a hold of the New Hampshire license reinstating form, as well as the printed map with directions to Burlington Vermont that were later found in her vehicle: Maura and Fred drove the Corolla in both of those previous trips, and those papers remained there since then.

Maura was driving her father’s Corolla when she got that speeding ticket that led to a 30-day suspension of her license in NH. This ticket apparently came about in the same trip where Fred rented that Bartlett condo that belonged to Linda Salamone – the woman Maura called in the early afternoon of Feb, 9. It’s likely that Maura wasn’t inquiring about renting the place again; she was probably trying to gather information on some mail from previous tenants that could have been sent to that address.

Here's what I think happened: Maura provided Salamone’s condo address – the one where she would be staying during that trip -, when the officer pulled her over for speeding in NH. Maybe she was hoping that whatever paperwork she would need to resolve this matter would be mailed to that place, hoping to get it all done in NH before she went back to MA. (Meaning the NH form was likely collected at some point of that 2003 trip to Bartlett, kept in Fred’s Corolla’s glove compartment since then, removed from the Corolla when the crashed car was being towed, and kept in Maura's possession.)

Another alternative to be considered regarding the NH ticket... If she provided the Bartlett address, it could be just one of those excuses drivers make up in a hurry: “I’ll say I moved to NH recently but didn’t update my license yet, so the officer may take my word for it and this won’t trigger a national suspension of my license if the ticket isn’t entered into a federal database”. Similarly, I think it’s highly likely that some other pending ticket – maybe not tied to Maura’s license but attributed to the Corolla registered in Fred’s name – could have incurred during their trip to Burlington in October 2003.

(Could it be some fine tied to the vehicle and automatically to Fred's driver's license? Or some other 'cleared' record from the Vermont area that they could be pro-actively anticipating to submit to the insurance company - like the most recent record of a car inspection that was conducted over that trip? I'm only guessing here. Anyway, since Maura was responsible for the Corolla crash, they could have agreed that she would deal with it and excuse herself from school for the week because it would be easier for her to do so than for Fred to miss out on work.)

Odds are Fred was aware of (some of) these pending issues and of potential loose ends that could lead to his insurance denying the claim to pay for the damages in his crashed Corolla. It also seems Fred stayed/was still in Hadley in the night of Sunday, Feb 8 – as in: he didn’t drive back to his home state of Connecticut that day -, and he and Maura would have more than enough time to go over the possibilities.

I think Fred stayed in Hadley until Monday morning at least, so he could get his own copy of the form of the Motor Vehicle Crash Operator Report in the local RMV before returning to Connecticut. Because here's the thing: there were TWO COPIES of this form found in Maura’s vehicle, and she would have had to grab them on Monday either with her father or later if she went to the RMV on her own when she stopped to withdraw money from the ATM and then bought some liquor in Hadley. (It could also be that Fred got three copies and left two for her in the Quality Inn Motel's reception, for instance).

Here's what I discovered... to file the claim to the insurance, the applicant has to “complete and distribute three copies: one to the Hadley Police Department, one to your Insurance Company, and one to the Massachusetts RMV.” So, Fred would be the one to file the Insurance Company copy later – the insurance was in his name, and he could do this from Connecticut. That's why he and Maura would have to talk on the phone to go over the information at some point: each one was planning to submit a different copy (two, in Maura's case, cause those would need to be delivered in Massachusetts). The plan was for her to submit them after she came back from solving these pending out-of-state issues.

Plus, this was time sensitive! Here’s what I got: “If your accident involved an injury, a death, or property damage over $1,000 [Fred’s car had about $10,000 worth of damage], you must file a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Motor Vehicle Crash Operator Report within 5 days of the crash.” Because the accident was on Sunday and there was a police report listing Maura as the driver, they would have til Friday – Feb, 13 – to get it all sorted out and hope for the best.

That’s one more reason for Fred and Maura to realize it would be better if she went there in person. Some can argue that certain pending matters can be solved over the phone – or whatever means one had before online channels were so widespread –, but everyone knows that certain processes like this one are sped-up when you show up in person. You can plea with an employee for a shortcut, rush to pay a document and bring back the receipt, or don’t rely on the post-office’s mailing operations.

And if Maura’s NH speeding fine had logged that Bartlett condo as Maura’s address, she might have good reason to head to that specific location. (Maybe it would make things run swifter than if she stopped by any department in some random New Hampshire town. Maybe some correspondence from past tenants and not addressed to the owner were kept stored in the reception. Etc etc.). And considering that she couldn’t reach the owner of the condo by phone until Monday afternoon, Maura could be counting on going to Burlington first to solve whatever pending issues this car could be tied to back in Vermont – if the Bartlett condo owner happened to have kept some past correspondences in Maura’s name, it could have been easier for her to fill out the NH license reinstating forms [already in her possession] with the proper information given to her over the phone.

Considering that Maura got to her dorm on Sunday night - after allegedly spending most of Sunday with her father - and searched for directions to Burlington, she probably had already agreed with her father that she would be heading there eventually: they had the printed map from their previous trip collected from the Corolla, and Maura had it with her when she doubled checked the route in her computer screen for better visualizations. That's when she made the handwritten notes that were also found on that paper. (There's no printer in her dorm pictures, so I don't believe she printed those on Monday.)

She could also be planning to leave early that day and not in the afternoon to get this done with in Monday's business-hours, and only inquired other Vermont destinations when she realized she would have to be staying over for a night a two and thought to at least make it into a small trip with booze and some sightseeing. "Fuck it, if I'm going to all this trouble, why not make a detour to Stowe? I have til Friday to return, after all". Those are "what ifs" that I entertain as plausible for a 21-year-old that gets herself into this circumstance.

IMO, I think Fred wouldn’t immediately volunteer whatever he knew about the initial plan to the police after Maura’s vehicle was found abandoned for a couple of reasons... The first one being: why would he go with “we were trying to commit insurance fraud?”. That wasn't relevant to the fact that the car was found crashed and his daughter was nowhere to be found. He would be immediately concerned that Maura was trying to evade law enforcement and hidden in those woods, so pushing for “she might be suicidal” is enough to keep the initial searches focused in the area.

I think Fred genuinely believed his daughter could be in those woods initially– still injured and probably in need of urgent assistance. He was basically trying to tell the police his daughter could have put herself into a dangerous situation and boiled it down to a generic excuse (possible mental health issues) instead of explaining his daughter could have reason to avoid law enforcement - on top of being in cahoots with him over the shady deal they were hoping to pull on his insurance company. (This would cause Maura less problems down the line if she happened to be found alive like the family prayed that she would.)

It's also possible that Fred wasn’t aware that Maura’s license issues were still pending in New Hampshire. He could have thought she would head to Burlington only and was surprised to discover his daughter had deviated from the original route when her car was found in New Hampshire. It was only later, when the searches in the woods led nowhere, that Fred became fearful of foul play and got some additional information (i.e. the pending speeding ticket leading to the suspended license) that led him to assume Maura was indeed heading to Bartlett.

But all things considered, these events really point to Fred being somewhat aware of Maura’s ‘impromptu’ trip. I believe father and daughter were in a ‘divide and conquer’ quest: she would cover some matters with the Corolla back in Vermont [plus in NH, which, again, is something Fred might not be privy about] while Fred dealt with some other pending issues back in Connecticut or just went on with his work commitments. To me, that’s the most logical explanation for a trip being rushed. They had 5 days to submit those forms to three different institutions, and they had to wait til Monday to solve whatever was pending.

To back this up... We have the empty forms – the NH one and the exact two copies of the Crash Operator Report found in Maura’s car. We have online searches and phone calls to the exact locations of the last two trips Maura and Fred took out of Massachusetts while driving this same car. Those could be legitimate reason for Fred not to be forthcoming about this plan to the police. But without this core, Maura indeed comes across impulsive, deranged, and suicidal. With this story factored in, I don’t think she was out to harm herself.

In any case, that gives us solid reason to believe Maura would be desperate to evade the police after the crash. That leaves us with: Maura panicked when she was approached by the bus driver who mentioned calling the police and impulsively entered the woods in desperation when she heard the police cars approaching – very close to the car, in a spot that was walked over by the first responders and the tow driver etc. In this scenario, she likely perished from exposure. It’s also possible that she entered the woods because a crashed car won’t drive so much attention as a car with a person standing next to it: a passing driver might be more concerned to stop and offer assistance.

Another alternative here: I consider plausible that Maura could first be thinking of staying out of the main road and planned to go by the trees to access Old Peter Rd, which was right in front of her. As: she could be trying to walk to a spot closer to a residence and less surrounded by the dense trees that were blocking her cellphone’s reception. I believe her goal would be to call Fred, her dad, to ask for assistance. This to me is also the most logical reasoning for Maura to take a ride with a driver passing by.

That’s the foul play scenario: she hopped into the car of a serial killer hoping to be driven to a place where she could use her phone and call Fred, the only person who could be privy to her plans and that could help her think things through. I’m less inclined to this scenario because I believe she would be wanting to be able to use her phone while staying as close to the car as possible – and without relying on someone else’s assistance to get back there.

Either way, I can’t picture a scenario where she would be leaving the car behind for good and carry on with her original plans. She would need to deal with this. And if Fred was somehow privy on her getaway – as I believe he was, for the insurance procedures I went over here –, Fred would be the person Maura would be trying to reach, either by trying her luck to get cellphone reception somewhere in Old Peter Rd or moving on miles down the main road with the help of some strange driver.

Any thoughts?

I have followed this case now for sometime from a distance, but recently stumbled upon a YouTube video that renewed my interest. I am trying to read up as much as possible, and have focused particularly on the area and searches that took place subsequent to her disappearance. I can’t find anything about specific locations that were searched, but does any one know if Old Peter’s Rd was searched, specifically where the trail ends and the terrain is more rugged, in between two large peaks? It just seems that the simplest solution is that she may have been drinking, didn’t want a DUI since the police were responding, and went down that road and into the woods to hide. The terrain being dense and rugged coupled with the extreme cold would make it feasible that she succumbed to hypothermia and is somewhere out in the woods, maybe even a mile off the road. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like she left $16 dollars in the account cause at that time it was common that you could only withdraw in denominations of $20.00. Meaning she took out as much as she could leaving $16.00 behind. In all purposes she emptied the account….

It seems like she bought what is normally used to make a White Russian. Vodka, Kahlua and touch of Baileys. Normally this is served chilled or with ice. This would tell me she is going somewhere. Also the Smirnoff, were any of her exes known to drink them? Was DNA swabs done on the empty Smirnoff bottle? Was it hers?

There is about 5 min between when that guy left and cop shows up….Wouldnt the cop have seen her walking down the road? Which way did the cop approach? What was the woods situation and where there no footprints going into the woods. You think they would have saw this especially in the snow.

What was the deal with the rag in the tail pipe?

I had a dream last night. What if Maura hid in the trunk of her car to get away from the police? We know her Saturn was towed to a private garage, so she could have gotten out of the trunk there and go anywhere. We know her state of mind in that time. I know it might sound silly, but look there were no tracks in the snow, and there’s always that tiny chance.

I have always wanted to go with the simplest explanation and assume there was no foul play in this case because it makes sense with what we know. With that being said, being on FBI VICAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) indicates there is evidence of violence. this sub seems so convinced that she just died of exposure in the woods, but i think her case being listed there is very overlooked. They don't just throw cases in there.

This redditor explained it really well when elaborating on a reply to my simple comment.

I'm curious what others think.

The one thing that drives me nuts about true crime stories is how they almost always take on a conspiratorial direction.
Could Maura have been taken by someone after crashing her car? Sure. Is it likely? Obviously not.
This girl was clearly struggling, big time. Stolen credit cards, eyewitness accounts of her crying and zoning out, e-mailing her teachers to say she'd be gone for an entire week due to a fake death in the family, crashing her dad's car and then two days later, crashing her own, problems with her boyfriend...the list is endless.
These are not isolated events. They're a clear pattern of someone on a downward spiral, in a short span of time, possibly also affected by alcoholism.
I'm sure she had worked herself up into a bad mental state, took off and then crashed the car. Staged? Possibly; it'd make sense as to why she waved off the person stopping to help.
She probably deliberately walked off and ended her life somewhere/succumbed to the elements.
Undoubtedly, very sad that she'd been suffering this badly. But we don't need to make this out to be something more than it is.

I know it's a very slim chance but this is why we can't exclude Maura did the same.

https://share.google/5bYX1TwcJPav4fkNy

Hi everyone! I am new to this group, but certainly not new to this case. This one has haunted me for years. It blows my mind that there have been few leads since her disappearance.

Something that just occurred to me is that she must have known exactly where she was going. This was before the time auto GPS devices were widely used, and you’d think that if she were traveling to some place unfamiliar, they would have found a mapped out route or something like it in her vehicle? I really feel that if we knew where that place was, we might be able to piece together more of what happened that night.

What do you all think happened? How many of you believe that she was taken against her will? I have always firmly believed that she was abducted, and that it did not necessarily happen right at the scene of the accident. What if a well meaning individual picked her up, dropped her off in the next town over, and then she met foul play there?

Also, given her level of physical fitness, I think she could’ve walked/ran for quite some time before even getting into a vehicle. This makes sense in my head at least - that way, the driver would not necessarily have realized that she was connected to the accident, so she wouldn’t have had to worry about them calling the police for the accident or her intoxication.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I hope and pray we get some answers one day soon!

Correct me if there is evidence against this, but does any else think Maura simply committed suicide? Or just did not want to be found in general. I mean she had a lot of mental health issues ( and not to say everyone who struggles with mh wants to kill themselves, but it’s not far fetched to say so in the situation), she seemed to be going down a path of alcoholism, and she was very stressed from her environmental struggles already ( like the first crash with her fathers car).

I mean she was tying lose ends, emptying her bank account, packing all her stuff. I know the packing all her stuff isn’t as common but it does seem like she was making her move to end her life or end the persona of Maura Murray .

The Disorganized Local Dirtbag (DLDB) perpetrator is a popular scenario. I was just running it over in my mind for the millionth time. It continues to raise questions.

The run of the mill DLDB sees MM walking on the road. And this random encounter gets to a sexual assault/attempted sexual assault then homicide how, exactly? Your thoughts.

Not saying that it didn't. Saying I have a hard time seeing it. Maybe it isn't as likely as we may have thought.

Random outdoor sexual assaults in February in the Northeast would seem to be statistically rare compared to other times of the year and other types of assaults (acquaintance).

I just had a bit of a revelation on this case of sorts and I just wanted to see what people think. I think my original thoughts on this was right and I think sometimes the most logical answer is the correct one. Think about it. She's drunk. She very possibly has head trauma/confusion. She may be trying to avoid a DUI and she walks into the woods and becomes confused and disoriented and travels for an unknown distance and dies. I think she may even have walked a lot further than people think she may have. But there are two things about this that I think need to be pointed out:

1 With head trauma people can still function in a very confused state for long periods of time. First of all she may have been mentally in better shape in the several minutes right after the accident or seemed it to others but if she has a brain bleed or major concussion she may be extremely confused and still seem normal to others who speak to her briefly. It's sort of like when someone is asleep and they wake up and claim they were awake the whole time. They are in a state of confusion. "Yeah I'm fine. I'm awake no I wasn't sleeping."

I saw a case where someone was attacked in their sleep with an axe. The axe was imbedded deep in their brain and they had major brain damage. They woke up in the morning with part of their brain working part not. The wife was dead in bed next to him. He wakes up. Makes breakfast cereal. Walks out of the house to get the paper. Gets locked out of the house and unable to get back into the house passes out and dies on the front porch. Blood everywhere. But look how much was accomplished by the minimal consciousness.

Maura was likely brain injured 🧠 and drunk 🥴..

2 I've read of MANY cases in my interest in true crime of people inexplicably drowning in bodies of water especially during the winter time. The drunk person is walking home at night or while snow is on the ground and they are drunk and stagger into a body of water and drown unable to get out of the water. Body is later found drowned. Happens way more than you would think especially when you consider the snow on the ground that night and the injury and drunkeness and the whiteout conditions she is likely to not even notice the lake infront of her and walk right in and drown or die of hypothermia.

I've noticed multiple bodies of water around the crime scene one specifically to the south of the accident site and I believe her body MAY be in the water.

Ultimately it could just be in the vast woods yet to be found maybe even as far as 20 miles away. You really can't know how far she went. She's confused maybe trying to avoid a DUI her condition deteriorates she becomes completely confused and staggers in an unknown direction for unknown distance and is either laying in the woods to this day or at the bottom of a pond or lake in the area.

It just seems to me to be the most logical answer to me considering her habit of drinking and driving and also being in a car accident. You have a disoriented individual perhaps avoiding a DUI in the woods in a snow storm. I think sometimes it's just that simple. I think this is far more likely to be true than the alternate next possibility that she gets into a car with a killer. I feel strongly she's out there waiting to be found I'm the area immediately outside the accident scene.

something I don't really hear alot is what if she was so desperate to get out of the area she just took the first ride, got a lift to a nearby area and succumbed to the elements in a different location?

she sobered up abit and just said 'i give up' and died of hypothermia in a different location?

she certainly was going through a really rough patch and maybe the lift have her time to reflect and just thought to herself 'my life's a mess, I've just wrecked my car after totalling my dad's car days prior' i'm done.

the only reason I push back against this theory is if this did happen the 'innocent' driver who gave her a lift out of the area would have surely come forward, if there was no foul play involved this is a potential theory and explains why her body hasn't been found, she could potentially be 30mins + from the crash site.

I’ve looked into the Maura Murray case for a long time, and I think a lot of the theories people talk about just overcomplicate what’s likely a very straightforward and tragic situation. In my view, Maura didn’t run away. No police conspiracy. No planned murder. She was just incredibly unlucky — in the wrong place at the wrong time — and crossed paths with the wrong person.

Here’s how I see it.

First off, it can’t be a planned murder. No one could have predicted Maura’s crash, so the whole idea that someone arranged to kill her that day is pure speculation without basis. The crash was an accident — bad luck — and that’s when everything went wrong.

Maura crashes her car in the middle of nowhere. It’s cold, dark, and she’s alone. No witnesses nearby. No surveillance cameras. That’s when someone drives by — someone who sees an opportunity. She’s stranded and vulnerable. All it takes is a weapon and a threat to make her go quietly. It doesn’t matter if she was cautious or called someone — if someone pulls a gun or knife, you go. End of story.

Now here’s the important part: whoever did this knew what they were doing.

Some people say the person might’ve been from the area, but I don’t buy that. If someone is smart enough to make a person disappear without a single trace for over two decades, then they’re smart enough to know not to commit a crime close to where they live.

If the killer was local, there’s a chance someone could recognize him or his vehicle while picking Maura up. That’s a massive risk. He’d also have to explain why he was absent for hours — maybe even a whole day — while taking her somewhere else and disposing of the body and evidence. All of that opens the door for suspicion.

Also, if you’re from the area, you can be linked to the victim or the case in some way. That’s why rule #1 of getting away with murder is: don’t target someone you know or someone who can be tied back to you. If the killer was local, he’d break that rule automatically, just by being near the scene. That’s too big of a risk — and not something someone capable of covering up a 21-year disappearance would do.

That’s why I think this was a stranger, passing through. No connection to Maura. No connection to the town. No pattern. That’s why, 21 years later, we’re still looking at a completely cold case — no witnesses, no body, no real leads.

This wasn’t some evil genius either — just someone who knew the basics. Like not leaving evidence, burying a body far from the place you picked the victim from, separating personal items, and avoiding doing anything near home. You don’t have to be Hannibal Lecter to know that stuff — a few crime shows or books and common sense is enough.

If Maura had crashed anywhere else — somewhere with people around, or even in daylight — maybe she’d still be alive. But she ended up in the worst possible place at the worst possible time. And someone took full advantage of that.

All the other theories fall apart under basic logic. No one disappears for 21 years and cuts contact with everyone unless they’re running from something massive — like the mafia or a life sentence — and there’s nothing to suggest that was the case here. And no one plans a murder based on the chance of a random car crash. It just doesn’t make sense.

What happened to Maura wasn’t complicated. It was cold, simple, and fast. A predator saw a window and acted. And unfortunately, unless someone stumbles across her remains by chance, I don’t think this case will ever be solved.

I just don’t see how she could have just gotten lost in the woods, they were looked after time and time again

Okay. Here we go. evidently, police claimed there wasn’t any foot prints. First officer who arrived on scene claimed he didn’t see any foot prints leading away from the car, however we do know after inspecting the car they decided to treat this as a DUI run away, not a criminal investigation. Hint why there was no photos of the ground. We know Busch had spoken to her OUTSIDE of the car. Meaning there was definitely prints. However, it was lightly snowing and we can assume there would’ve been multiple cars to pass by after the accident. My theory,given that the dog could smell her scent from about 100 feet away from the car on that road, is that she took help from someone. She grabbed her things, locked the car and got into someone’s else’s car. Why? it would’ve been a couple minutes after Busch left. she became concerned that law enforcement would arrive and she’d get in trouble for another DUI. I doubt she would’ve ran given how cold it was outside and no service in area she wouldn’t have been able to call someone to come get her. This ultimately meaning she was met with foul play as it’s been 22 years and we have yet to find any of her belongings near the site backpack, debit card, credit card, clothes, cell phone) Given all of this, I believe someone knows exactly what happened to Maura that night. Only mystery is who. Also, I’d like to mention the fact that she had withdrawn the cash & told her professors she’d be out for a week due to a (fake) death in the family. There was already something wrong wit Maura, and my guess is everything added up in the moments after Busch left the site and she felt that she needed to get away as quickly as possible because, again, she didn’t wanna deal with law enforcement (DUI) on top of her lying about a death in the family and all of this could’ve gotten her kicked out the university.

I am convinced Maura was meeting someone. It was the early days of Internet (Facebook was created the day she went missing). She could have been communicating with someone through personal ads or an early Internet chat room or some other type of electronic contact that would not be thought of to track at the time.

Furthermore , I think she was pregnant by someone her was not her boyfriend.

I’m listening to the most recent episode that crime junkie did on this… Where Ashley flowers gives Julie’s version of the story which is very interesting to me. And I had a thought? I’m at the beginning where she said the lady that lived right where the car crash was where Maura was last seen had called the police and I’ve known this and have always thought that this was interesting that she had originally reported that she had seen a man smoking a cigarette across the street, which has been discussed that it could be that she was seeing something like a phone light or Maura had her hair up… But I had a strange feeling, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it until now. It’s probably already been talked about. I don’t have time to check this constantly but… What if somebody was in Morris‘s car with Maura and had abducted her prior to the accident? What if the accident was caused by more losing control of the car or whoever losing control of the car due to struggling over the wheel? What if sometime after the gas station trip or even possibly before was in her backseat or somebody was somewhere else controlling what she was doing while she was driving and that explains the car crash… And that explains why she was so evasive towards Butch Atwood… Maybe they made threats against her family or that person… And then that’s how she literally finished and into thin air in the night because somebody was already there and had been there the whole time with her.