Maura Murray

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whatif wrote:

i've read previously that maura's car had a full tank of gas when it was found, which naturally leads to the assumption that she had gassed up shortly before disappearing. that got me thinking.
on my own driving trips, even in certain parts of the country that i'm familiar with, it would be possible that, when stopping for gas, i would be far enough off a main highway that i could easily get turned around when leaving the station and head the wrong way, away from the main highway instead of back to it. it's even happened to me in normal daylight in areas of my own town. eventually, i would figure out i was going the wrong way and get myself turned back around.
on the web sleuths forum, a poster close to maura and the family, who goes by the name peabody, said that in the car was found not only printed directions, but also hand-written directions on an index card to burlington, vermont. the printed directions also included other potential destinations, but let's stick with burlington and the index card for a moment.
so, maura is driving north on I-93, getting low on gas –*maybe* she has been drinking – and she sees a sign for gas next exit, which is 302. maybe she even feels comfortable with the area because she is familiar with part of the 302 from her previous adventures. so she takes the exit and the sign along the exit ramp indicates that the nearest gas station is a couple miles to the right on 302, in nearby woodsville.(i'm not sure if this is the case in 2004, but humor me.) she follows the winding stretch of the 302 until she hits woodsville, finds a station and gasses up.
now, whether due to possible alcohol consumption or just a natural disorientation in an unfamiliar area, she hops back in her car and takes off down 302, but instead of driving back toward I-93, she's driving in the direction of bradley hill road. as she winds her way along the road, she starts to get a nagging suspicion that she went the wrong way, but because of the dark and the unfamiliarity with the area, it's not until she gets to the curve at the weathered barn that she thinks , "ok, i definitely did not pass this driving to the station from the I-93 interchange."
so, she's in the process of actually turning her car around somewhere in the vicinity of that area and manages to somehow get stuck or spin out, and then, maybe in a fit of frustration, she guns the accelerator and hits something with the car to do the damage and trigger the airbags. now she's upset, angry, frustrated, etc. she pulls the car over and tries to call aaa, but there's no signal where she is. maybe now she's frightened and shortly thereafter the school bus driver comes along. she tells him she's called aaa, they have a brief exchange when he mentions calling law enforcement and once he leaves, maura gets out of the car to grab whatever she thinks she immediately needs (backpack, liquor,?, etc.), secures the car and her other belongings, but instead of continuing EAST on 302, she's actually running back WEST on 302 in the direction of the gas station, planning on eventually getting back to the station or getting a better cell signal.

as far as the scent dogs tracking maura to the junction of 302 and bradley hill road, perhaps maura momentarily thought it would be good to go to the sbd's house, headed there and then changed her mind, turned around and made a run for the gas station back in woodsville.
maybe maura was headed to burlington after all.

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Fred Garvin wrote:

Not to beat a dead horse, but my earlier comment about the message she left on her boyfriends is still perplexing and I think indicates she survived the initial night.
Does anyone know when she left the message?
From what I can tell it was left through the use of a calling card which means she had to have access to a landline to use the card. I have to believe this was her and she was using calling cards she had and probably used when making calls form her dorm.
Why call your boyfriend and leave a message that consisted of breathing, shivering, and whimpering and hang up?
A goodbye message? Distress call after being abducted?

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JWB wrote:

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We have talked about that not all that long ago and sort of came to the conclusion that she was not likely going the wrong way. The gas stations are not far from the highway in fact the truck stop just off rt 91 and others are close by in wells river.. Jenkins brought up some other good points saying that there are just to many lefts and rights to get to where she ended up and to far from the highway.
302 west could take you to Burlington Vt but mapquest would take you rt 91 to rt 89. Maura would have gotten off Rt 91 a long distance prior to Woodsville. lets say maura was taking Rt 302 to Burlington and went East and not West. Maura would have continued on rt 302/rt10 and not taken the right on rt 112. That right is a sharp right.
It is a possibility that she was really lost especially if drinking but I think unlikely.JMO only

whatif wrote:

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thanks. it definitely makes sense that, with gas stations so close to the interchange of I-91 and 302 that she wouldn't have had to make her way in as far east as woodsville to find a station. and i also should have remembered the number of deliberate turns she would need to make to end up on 112. that pretty much rules out that she was on that stretch of road by accident, then.
appreciate the reply.

James Renner wrote:

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This is just a red herring that won't go away. Police tracked down the Red Cross worker who made that call to Billy's phone. She didn't think the call had gone through right and didn't speak. There was breathing but no sobbing. It was not Maura.

James Renner wrote:

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This is just a red herring that won't go away. Police tracked down the Red Cross worker who made that call to Billy's phone. She didn't think the call had gone through right and didn't speak. There was breathing but no sobbing. It was not Maura.

Orko Kringer wrote:

other random thoughts about maura's travels and all would fall under the opinion category:
When maura made the decision to turn onto Rt. 112, she immedeiately would've been met by a sign welcoming people into the white mountains national forest.
I would think she would realize (if she was indeed going the wrong way) pretty quickly.
There is also a big sign that lets you know that if you stay on the 302 you will end up in littleton and if I recall the sign has multiple destination routes on it. This is all next to a gas station, restaurant I believe. It's when you turn into the white mountains national forest, that the scenery quickly changes from a town feel to a deep in the woods kind of feeling.
If Maura was indeed unfamiliar with traveling from amherst to the white mountains area herself (meaning she has been in that area but never was responsible for driving it herself) and she wanted to go to the bartlett area, it would make sense for her to do a mapquest search and think she had found a shortcut off of I-91 by taking the 302 to Rt. 112.
Looking at a map online, it looks like a shortcut (but that is not taking into consideration, road conditions (such as it was winter time) etc..
Also, lets say maura was going the wrong way. She went pretty far into the white mountains national forest without turning around. that means she was driving deeper and deeper into the woods. I would think she would've realized something was wrong a lot sooner and turned around. and gotten back out into a more town like feel of a location than a deep woods like feel.

Orko Kringer wrote:

other random thoughts about maura's travels and all would fall under the opinion category:
When maura made the decision to turn onto Rt. 112, she immedeiately would've been met by a sign welcoming people into the white mountains national forest.
I would think she would realize (if she was indeed going the wrong way) pretty quickly.
There is also a big sign that lets you know that if you stay on the 302 you will end up in littleton and if I recall the sign has multiple destination routes on it. This is all next to a gas station, restaurant I believe. It's when you turn into the white mountains national forest, that the scenery quickly changes from a town feel to a deep in the woods kind of feeling.
If Maura was indeed unfamiliar with traveling from amherst to the white mountains area herself (meaning she has been in that area but never was responsible for driving it herself) and she wanted to go to the bartlett area, it would make sense for her to do a mapquest search and think she had found a shortcut off of I-91 by taking the 302 to Rt. 112.
Looking at a map online, it looks like a shortcut (but that is not taking into consideration, road conditions (such as it was winter time) etc..
Also, lets say maura was going the wrong way. She went pretty far into the white mountains national forest without turning around. that means she was driving deeper and deeper into the woods. I would think she would've realized something was wrong a lot sooner and turned around. and gotten back out into a more town like feel of a location than a deep woods like feel.

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Tang Zoi wrote:

A BIG ALSO: Who was driving the Dark blue or black truck that was parked near the scene with a red light flashing on the dashboard? This vehicle was seen by a witness coming from a Bath NH town meeting. The witness had come across the covered bridge from Porter Hill/Hill rd. to Rte 112 and stopped at the stop sign.
The dark colered truck went by them on Rte 112 headed east towards the accident scene with red light flashing on the dash.
WHO WAS DRIVING THIS VEHICLE??????????

Tang Zoi wrote:

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She was not in the WMNF. Her car was found approx. 3 1/2 to 4 miles before the National forest.

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JWB wrote:

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Orky the white Mountain national Forest doesn't begin until several miles east of the crash site . She was not well into the national forest.

Wowzer the real one wrote:

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Most likely one of the firemen heading to the scene if it was spotted about the same time as the accident. They many times use their own vehicles rather than to drive all the way to Bath or Woodsville to the fire stations.

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Orko Kringer wrote:

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I disagree and I have personally driven the same route myself.
Now you can argue offical starting point of the white mountains or not.
But there is a sign (right when you leave the 302) that welcomes you into the white mountain national forest. So while you are splitting hairs with me, maura would've seen this sign. And from the time you turn off of the 302 and pass the campground site, the only thing you see are trees and houses, no more businesses etc.
A few miles of going deeper and deeper in and then you run into the swiftwater gas station and then the site of maura's accident.
I don't know of many people that (if lost) would turn onto a road that leads you into the deep woods and keep going for several miles. They would immediately (IMO) realize something is not right and turn their vehicle around.

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JWB wrote:

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maybe a sign there Orky but the Forest doesn't begin until several miles after the crash site ( east ) she hadn't entered into the forest yet never mind being well into it. I travel the route often as well as Wowzer. Maybe Wowzer has a different take on it. The Welcoming signs are generally located as soon as you are entering the national forest. Not splitting hairs at all. It is what it is.