Episode 1: The Disappearance of Maura Murray
Growing up surrounded by siblings, Maura Murray was an extraordinary athlete who not only excelled at running, but academics as well. With a big family to support her, Maura followed in her older sister’s footsteps and attended West Point Military Academy in New York, using her knowledge and skills to land a spot on the track team while majoring in chemical engineering. Despite being a great athlete and student, and meeting her long term boyfriend, Billy, Maura started to find herself getting into a bit of trouble. After being caught shoplifting, Maura is moments away from being expelled from West Point when she makes the quick move to transfer to University of Massachusetts Amherst, which was closer to home.
When Maura gets to UMass Amherst, she switches her major to nursing, and begins the long and difficult journey to becoming a nurse. She does well here, but trouble follows her as she is caught using stolen credit cards to purchase pizza. This ultimately leads to her being placed on probation, which makes her family concerned about what was really going on with their loved one’s private life.
In the cold days of February, 2004, Maura’s dad, Fred, pays a visit to campus with the intention of spending time with his daughter and helping her pick out a used car- one that was much more suitable for her clinical sessions than the one she was driving at the time. After picking out a car, Fred, Maura, and a friend of hers went to dinner and a liquor store, getting some alcohol for a party that the girls would be attending that night. Fred was generous, allowing for Maura to use his brand new car to take to the party while he stayed back at his hotel room and rested. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Maura returned- she had gotten into a single car accident and completely busted her father’s brand new car. Luckily, Fred was calm and reassured her that insurance would cover the costs. With that, Fred left to return home in a rented car, instructing Maura to pick up some insurance papers so they could sort out the details.
On the morning of February 9th, 2004, Maura emailed her professors and her boss and claimed she had experienced a loss in the family, and that she was going to be gone for the week. It was later discovered that this was not true; there had not been a loss in the family, or even an emergency. After searching on MapQuest for some directions, and calling several hotels, Maura packed up some things in her car and left. She stopped at an ATM, took out all her savings, and then went to a liquor store to purchase $40 worth of alcohol before starting north to New Hampshire. It wasn’t until around 7pm that night that Maura was seen again, and this would be the last time she was ever seen.
Maura had been driving through New Hampshire to an uncertain location, when she crashed her car in a dark, wooded area along the road. She was physically fine, as a bus driver saw the accident and stopped to help her. Although she clearly needed help, she refused to let the man call the police. The bus driver then left to his house to call for help, as there was no cell phone service in this rural area. When the police arrived to the scene of the crash, Maura was gone. All of her possessions were still in her car.
To this day, no one is sure what happened to Maura Murray. There have been many theories as to where she went, what she did, and even the reason she suddenly up and left her school. In addition to some interesting leads that were investigated by the police, there have been plenty of social media forums and podcasts made in Maura’s honor, hoping to find the answer as to where this smart, talented, athletic girl has disappeared to.
Image sources:
mauramurraymissing.com
wickedlocal.com -“Basement search turns up nothing in case of missing Hanson woman”