“Hundreds of people disappear every year. All you do is to cut all your ties to your old self by telling no one about your plans, fabricate a new name and history, and pay for everything with cash. It’s fairly easy if you just take on the identity of a dead person.”
–Secret Justice, Chapter 28
Could that be what happened to Maura Murray? The 21-year-old college student disappeared ten years ago, on February 9, 2004, in New England after a series of one-car crashes and strange behaviors. To review the facts of the case I set out last week, CLICK HERE.
From Lynn Murray’s Photobucket
Many of the facts investigators uncovered at the time of her disappearance suggest a planned departure:
- Her dorm room was packed up
- Friends say she was bulimic, which suggests internal conflict in her life
- A book on surviving in the White Mountains was found in her car
- She emailed her professors saying she would be gone for a few days
- She withdrew cash from an ATM before her disappearance
Like Jack Reacher, Lee Child, and me, Maura was an introvert, a person more comfortable with solitude and naturally less effusive about sharing her plans. She’d probably make new friends after a while, and she wouldn’t be lonely until she found companionship like extroverts might. Certainly she was smart enough to figure out how to take on a new identity.
Maura’s friend from West Point (where Maura started college but got kicked out…) recently made the following comments* regarding the possibility of a planned disappearance:
“If she wanted to make up another life, she could do it. If she wanted to disappear, she could. She never wanted to look bad in front of people. After she crashed her father’s car, and this trouble with the credit cards, I think she probably thought, if I just disappeared, they wouldn’t think badly of me. I believe she’s alive. It’s just a feeling I’ve always had.”
*Thanks to James Renner for obtaining this quote.
Yes, I think she could have simply run away, don’t you? I think Maura’s personality would have enabled her to cut ties to everyone she knew initially. But could she have stayed away all these years? Reacher lives off the grid, but could a college girl do that?
“The most difficult aspects of changing one’s identity were not the initial strategies, such as acquiring foreign passports under assumed names. Instead, the hardest thing to do… was to cut all ties to your old self. Most people can’t manage it and eventually return to their old lives in some fashion.”
–Secret Justice, Chapter 34
One person Maura might feel compelled to contact could be her father. They were close. He claims he hasn’t heard from Maura.
If FBI Special Agents Otto and Gaspar were hunting Maura Murray, where would they start? Like Reacher, there’s no trace of her present whereabouts.
“Americans attempt to reinvent themselves all the time, without hiding their assets and disappearing.”
–Secret Justice, Chapter 34
The more compelling question is why would Maura do it? Her circumstances weren’t serious enough to chase her away as far as we know. What was so devastating about Maura’s life that she felt she had to completely start over without a trace?
Yes, Maura was facing charges of credit card fraud.
But the charges were about to be dismissed at the time of her disappearance.
I wonder if Maura Murray hit Petrit Vasi with her car and thought she killed him. He was in a coma for two months after the apparent hit-and-run. He survived, but at the time, Maura would not have known that. The upsetting call Maura received at work Thursday night could have been someone falsely informing her that Vasi was killed.
Looming manslaughter charges could be motive to run away.
It’s possible Maura was running away from someone dangerous. What if she fell victim to a “dirtbag”, as her father suggested, and is being held captive somewhere? Improbable, perhaps, but possible.
We could speculate for hours about her motive. But the reality remains that a young girl alone in the north winter woods does not have the same resources as a giant ex-Army policeman. Who helped Maura get away? Who knows where she is now? Both of these questions have answers. What are they?
“People had trouble remembering names, but faces were imprinted in a different area of the brain, more easily recalled.”
–Don’t Know Jack, Chapter 3
Take a good look at Maura’s face. If you think you may know where she is, please email New Hampshire State Police at coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov.
What do you think? Where is Maura Murray?
