Starve.Org White Noise Usenet Archive: "A student vanishes (Missing MA Woman)"

I keep wondering if she suffered head trauma of some sort the first
time and then again, the second time as well

anne

A student vanishes, and none knows why
Woman who left crash had planned a getaway

By Peter DeMarco, Globe Corresondent, 2/15/2004

Six days have passed since college student Maura Murray crashed her
car on a rural highway in northern New Hampshire and disappeared
without a trace. But as family, friends, and investigators continue
their search for the 21-year-old Hanson native, two questions continue
to baffle them: Where was Murray going, and what was she running from?

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A junior in the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's nursing
program, Murray was doing well in school. She had a dedicated
boyfriend, a loving family, and close friends. Her father, Frederick,
had just told her he wanted to buy her a new car.

But on Monday, Murray apparently decided she needed to get away from
life for a while. In short order, she withdrew a few hundred dollars
from an ATM machine, packed her cellphone wall charger and her
favorite stuffed monkey into her Saturn, e-mailed her professors to
tell them she wouldn't be in class all week, and headed north for the
White Mountains.

Whatever her intended destination was, she never made it there in her
car.

At about 7 that night, while taking a sharp turn on Wild Ammonoosuc
Road in Woodsville, N.H., Murray lost control and slammed into a snow
bank. Shaken by the accident, and apparently intoxicated, Murray told
a witness she didn't need help, local police said. The witness went to
call the police and by the time they arrived Murray was gone.

Using tracking dogs, helicopters, and trained searchers, local and
state police, as well as state fish and game officials, covered nearly
20 miles along Route 112, but found no trace of Murray's footprints in
the snow. The tracking dogs lost her scent within 100 feet of the
accident, leading investigators and her loved ones to believe she
either hitched a ride and continued on her way, or was abducted.

"We're all under the assumption that since the trail sort of falls off
someone picked her up. We really hope she doesn't quite understand how
many people have been looking for her," said high school friend Carly
Muise. "Maybe if she doesn't realize that, the person who gave her a
ride will and will come forward." Murray, a former top student and
track star at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, is described by
friends and family as a responsible, attractive young woman who is
very close to her family, in particular her father, who spend
yesterday checking bus stations in New Hampshire and Vermont for any
signs of her.

A self-reliant woman, Murray toughed out three semesters as a chemical
engineer at the US Military Academy at West Point before deciding the
Army wasn't for her. Since transferring to the University of
Massachusetts, she has been a successful student in the nursing
program, said dean Eileen Breslin.

"Nursing students are very responsible. That's part of her character,"
said Breslin.

If Murray was troubled by something, family and friends said, it might
have been a small car accident she got into last Saturday night, when
she damaged her father's new Toyota.

The day after the accident, she called her boyfriend, Army Lieutenant
Bill Rausch, who is stationed in Oklahoma, in tears. A day later, on
Monday, she got into her Saturn and headed north.

Rausch, who got a leave of absence from the Army, arrived in New
Hampshire on Thursday. Joined by his parents, who drove from Ohio, and
by Murray's father and some of her siblings, Rausch has spent the past
few days driving across both New Hampshire and Vermont, stopping at
local gas stations, bus stations, and police headquarters, asking
whether anyone has seen Murray.

Yesterday morning, Rausch and his father were told that Murray might
have been at a McDonald's in St. Johnsbury, Vt. They drove there, but
no one had seen her.

"Obviously, we're hoping for the best. If I just got some news,
although I guess no news is good news," Rausch said.

Rausch said Murray fled with a backpack, but left many of the other
items she'd packed, including the stuffed monkey he gave her and her
favorite book, "Without Peril," behind in her car.

A witness told local police Murray appeared to have been intoxicated
at the time of the crash, and Rausch said that there was an open
bottle of alcohol in the car. However, he said he'd never known Murray
to drink and drive, and guessed she might have fled out of fear she'd
broken the law.

Breslin, UMass's nursing dean, said Murray had e-mailed a professor on
Monday indicating she needed to take time off because of a "family
problem" and will return to class this week.

Her family and friends, have since spend hours plastering missing
posters and calling news agencies to get her picture and story out.

"I'm hoping someone will see her and call someone to let us know she's
all right. We're just sitting on eggshells waiting for that," said
Laurie Murray, Murray's mother, a nurse at the Samuel Marcus Nursing
Home in Weymouth.

New Hampshire State Police have posted her photo on national missing
persons databases, and have promised to follow any leads. So far, they
have none.

"It's a difficult one," said Sgt. Robert Bruno, detective supervisor.
"I wish I has more to tell you."

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.