Strange Sight | CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND UNSOLVED CASES

Maura Murray

[OVERVIEW]

Maura Murray disappeared on the evening of February 9, 2004, after a car crash on Route 112 in Woodsville, New Hampshire, a village in Haverhill. Her whereabouts remain unknown. She was a nursing student completing her junior year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst at the time of her disappearance.

[EARLY LIFE]

Maura Murray was born May 4, 1982, in Hanson, Massachusetts, the fourth child of Frederick "Fred" and Laurie Murray. She had an older brother, Fred, two older sisters, Kathleen and Julie, and a younger brother, Kurt. Murray was raised in an Irish Catholic household. When she was six, her parents divorced, after which Maura lived primarily with her mother.

Murray graduated from Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, where she was a star athlete on the school's track team. She was accepted into the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where she studied chemical engineering for three semesters. After her freshman year, she transferred to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to study nursing. Murray had stolen makeup (less than $5 worth) from a commissary at Fort Knox during her time at West Point while on a training expedition. This resulted in an honor code violation. Murray was allowed to leave West Point without getting officially expelled, which thereby allowed her to transfer to the UMASS Amherst nursing program

[PRIOR TO DISAPPEARANCE]

In November 2003, three months before her disappearance, Murray admitted to using a stolen credit card to order food from several restaurants, including one in Hadley, Massachusetts. The charge was continued in December to be dismissed after three months' good behavior.

On the evening of February 5, 2004, Murray spoke on the phone with her older sister, Kathleen, while she was on duty at her campus-security job. They discussed Kathleen's relationship problems with her fiancé. Around 10:30 p.m., while still on her shift, it was reported that Murray broke down in tears. When her supervisor arrived at her desk, Murray was "just completely zoned out. No reaction at all. She was unresponsive." The supervisor escorted Murray back to her dorm room around 1:20 am. When asked what was wrong, Murray said two words: "My sister." The contents of this call remained unknown until 2017, when Kathleen publicly explained the conversation: Kathleen, a recovering alcoholic, had been discharged from a rehabilitation clinic that evening, and on the way home, her fiancé took her to a liquor store, which caused an emotional breakdown.

On Saturday, February 7, Murray's father Fred arrived in Amherst. He told investigators he and his daughter went car-shopping that afternoon, and later went to dinner with a friend of his daughter. Murray dropped her father off at his motel room and, borrowing his Toyota Corolla, returned to campus to attend a dorm party. She arrived at 10:30 pm. At 2:30 am on Sunday, February 8, she left the party. At 3:30 am, en route to her father's motel, she struck a guardrail on Route 9 in Hadley, causing nearly $10,000 worth of damage to her father's car. The responding officer wrote an accident report but there is no documentation of sobriety field tests being conducted. Murray was driven to her father's motel and stayed in his room the rest of the morning. At 4:49 am, there was a cell phone call placed to her boyfriend from Fred's phone. The conversation is unknown.

Later Sunday morning, Fred Murray learned the damage to his vehicle would be covered by his auto insurance. He rented a car, dropped Murray off at the university, and departed for Connecticut. At 11:30 that night, Fred called his daughter to remind her to obtain accident forms from the Registry of Motor Vehicles. They agreed to talk again Monday night to discuss the forms and fill out the insurance claim via phone.

[DISAPPEARANCE]

After midnight on Monday, February 9, Murray used her personal computer to search MapQuest for directions to the Berkshires and Burlington, Vermont. The first reported contact Murray had with anyone on February 9 was at 1:00 pm, when she emailed her boyfriend: "I got your messages, but honestly, I didn't feel like talking to much of anyone, I promise to call today though." She also made a phone call inquiring about renting a condominium at the same Bartlett, New Hampshire condo association with which her family had vacationed in the past. Telephone records indicate the call lasted three minutes. The owner did not rent the condo to Murray. At 1:13 pm, Murray called a fellow nursing student for reasons unknown.