Maura Murray

The papers today reported there was a copy of "Not Without Peril," the White Mountain hiking-disaster book, in the car of Maura Murray, the UMASS student who disappeared after a one-car accident on Route 112 in Haverhill, N.H., on Feb. 9.
A few people spoke to her after the accident and called police but left before they arrived. She was gone when police got there. She was supposedly en route from Amherst, MA, to Burlington, VT., but overshot I-89 and was on the wrong side of the Connecticut River. Lot of mystery to this. Her backpack was missing. She also had a string of things upsetting her before she left, including an accident with her father's car.
With the revelation she was familiar with Not Without Peril, I'm more inclined to think she may have gone into the woods to die -- a suicide.
The family has complained about police inaction. Has anyone thought of organizing a hike-search in that area? If she went into the woods, she couldn't have gotten very far in those conditions with no gear.

I have been following this case since it occured. The police did search the area and highly trained search dogs were used. The trail ran cold near the vehicle.
One of the locals did witness a young woman running on RT 112 approx five miles from the scene of the accident later that day. He stated that when she saw him she turned down a side road. Unfortunately some time elapsed from the time he saw this and when he notified police. They were supposed to have searched this area also. Maura was a very strong runner.
Maura's dad was going up north every weekend searching for his daughter. Some family and friends had joined him in his searches.
It seems that this case was treated as a probable suicide from the very beginning. If this is true why didn't the dogs track Maura walking from her vehicle into the woods and why were there no footprints in the snow. If indeed it was Maura who was seen running on RT 112, the dogs should have been able to track her course.
If you go into "mollybish.org" and scan down the first page you will eventually come to info on Maura. Click "in the news" and all the significant news updates will come up.
Maura and her dad were avid hikers in the White Mountains. I can understand why Not Without Peril was one of her favorite books. It's one of mine but this doesn't mean I'm going out to commit suicide in the north country. I could buy the suicide theory much more if those search dogs had come up with something. One doesn't just disappear into thin air on Rt. 112 in the dead of winter.The police are just now getting around to recalling all the items that Maura had in her vehicle at the time of the accident. None of this makes a lot of sense.
I would think Maura's dad would be very interested in getting any help he can from hikers who would be interested in doing a more extensive search for his daughter.
Maddy