Mysterious Disappearances: What Happened to Maura Murray?

The 2004 disappearance of 21 year old Maura Murray is widely recognised as one of the most well-known, mysterious, and debated disappearances in history.

Maura was involved in a car crash, and disappeared in the aftermath. There were various strange circumstances leading up to her disappearance, while what happened straight after the crash is hotly debated.

This article reviews this mysterious disappearance. There is a reader’s poll at the end of the article which asks you what you believe happened – we would love you to vote on this.

Background

Maura Murray was born in 1982 in Massachusetts, United States. She lived in the country right up until her disappearance. Maura studied at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In November 2003, Maura was caught using a stolen credit card. She used the credit card to order food from various eating outlets. This hinted at some financial problems.

Just four days prior to her disappearance (5th February), a noticeable development happened. Maura was working at her campus security job when she spoke to an older sibling – Kathleen.

The duo had a discussion regarding Kathleen’s relationship problems. Maura was seen crying at around 10.30pm in the evening – following the call.

The exact content of the call was unknown until 2017, when Kathleen discussed the call. Kathleen was an alcoholic at the time and had been discharged from a rehab facility that evening. However, she relapsed on the same night, which is what led to Maura’s sadness.

Two days before her disappearance (7th February), Maura’s father Fred came to visit her. The duo went car shopping and had dinner. Following dinner, Maura dropped her father off at his motel room and used his car to return to campus to attend a party.

Maura attended the party as planned and left at 2.30am. She was seen at 3.30am driving back to the motel, and was seen striking a rail. This damaged Fred’s car and led to her being pulled over.

Maura was dropped off at the motel soon after. Phone records show that on the same morning at 4.49am, her father’s phone was used to place a call to her boyfriend. However, little is known about this call, including who was in the call.

In the morning (8th February), Fred found out that his insurance would cover the damage to the vehicle. He rented a new car and dropped Maura off at the campus. He then left for his home back in Connecticut.

In the evening, Fred spoke to Maura to tell her to get accident forms for the car crash. They decided that they would talk again on the evening of the 9th. However, this didn’t happen.

The Disappearance

Maura had experienced an eventful few days. In the early hours of February 9th, Maura searched for directions to areas in Vermont – a nearby state.

After presumably sleeping, Maura is known to have emailed her boyfriend at 1pm. In this email she said:

Following the email, Maura is known to have called a company regarding renting an apartment in New Hampshire. The call lasted three minutes, but no booking was made.

At 1.13pm, Maura called a friend. Then at 1.24pm, Maura emailed her professors and work supervisor to say that she would be out of town for a week due to a family death. She said that she would contact them upon her return.

This was strange though, as Maura’s family later confirmed that no death had taken place. At this point, she may have been using this as an excuse to leave university.

At 2.05pm, Maura called an automated number regarding booking a hotel in the small town of Stowe in Vermont. The call lasted around 5 minutes.

At 2.18pm, Maura called her boyfriend again and left a voice message for him, saying that they would talk later.

At this point, Maura packed some belongings into her car. She left the campus at 3.30pm in her car. At 3.40pm, she withdrew $280 from a cash machine.

She then went to a liquor store and purchased around $40 worth of alcohol. Maura left the area around this time. Her last confirmed use of her phone came at 4.37pm, when she checked her voicemail.

The next development came in Woodsville, New Hampshire, which is about a 2 hour drive from the campus. At 7.27pm, a woman called the local Sheriff’s Department to report a car accident, after going to investigate following the sound of a loud thump outside her house.

The 9-1-1 log reported that the woman saw a man smoking a cigarette inside the car. However, she later said that she had not actually seen a man, nor anyone smoking a cigarette, inside the car. She mentioned that she did see a red light glowing inside the car, which she believed could be from a cell phone.

Within minutes, a bus driver named Butch Atwood drove past the scene. Atwood said that he saw a young woman by the crashed car. He asked if she needed help, though he said that the woman was not bleeding or seemingly injured.

The woman had allegedly pleaded with Atwood to not call the Police, and that she had already called AAA – though AAA later confirmed that no call ever happened.

Atwood left the scene, but at 7.43pm, he called the Sheriff’s Department anyway. At 7.46pm – just three minutes later – a police officer arrived at the scene. However, there was no sign of the woman. No one was found in the car.

The car had clearly been involved in a crash, with its windshield being smashed on one side and both airbags had deployed. The car had hit a tree.

Inside the car, an empty beer bottle was found, along with red stains which were believed to be wine. The car was traced to Maura Murray.

It was therefore surmised that the young woman seen by the car was indeed Maura. However, she had vanished by the time of the Police’s arrival.

The Investigation

The Police were quick to launch an investigation. The officers who arrived on scene drove around the local area in an effort to find Maura. Unfortunately, there was no sign of her.

Searchers struggled with visibility due to the snowstorm that was occurring. The roads around the area were covered in snow.

The next day following the disappearance – February 10th, a bulletin was circulated for residents to look out for Maura. A description of Maura was provided.

The police searched her dormitory at university. They found that the majority of her possessions were packed into boxes and that art had been taken down from the walls.

An email had been printed and placed on top of the boxes. The email was between Maura and her boyfriend, and seemed to hint at issues with their relationship.

The Police left a voicemail on Fred’s phone, but unfortunately he was out of the state at the time. Maura’s older sister made him aware of her disappearance.

Fred arrived the next morning (February 11th) to take part in a search. Many local residents assisted law enforcement officials in the search. A tracking dog was used, but lost Maura’s scent 100 yards east from the vehicle’s location.

It turned out that a further potential sighting happened on the night. A worker reported seeing a young woman walking quickly on a road around 5 miles east of where the car crash happened. This would fit with Maura’s scent being tracked eastwards.

It isn’t known if this person was indeed Maura, but the Police believe it is a strong possibility, given the timings. Unfortunately, this alleged sighting was only reported three months later, when the worker realised he had seen the woman on the night that Maura disappeared.

Also on 11th February, Maura’s boyfriend was interviewed by the Police. His parents soon joined too. The Police were satisfied that he was not involved in her disappearance.

The boyfriend held a joint press conference alongside Maura’s father Fred, where they appealed for Maura’s safe return.

Searches continued, but unfortunately there continued to be no sign of Maura. The FBI joined the investigation 10 days following her disappearance.

Further searches took place, including using a helicopter with thermal imaging tracking, cadaver dogs, and more tracking dogs. Again, these searches didn’t yield any findings.

As the weeks and then months went by, there was no sign of Maura, nor any of her belongings. It was as if she had completely vanished.

The Police voiced their belief that Maura had come to the area in an effort to take her own life, or to run away. However, Maura’s family disagreed with this conclusion. Maura’s family continued to search for her.

Some suspicion fell upon bus driver Butch Atwood. Some have theorised that he may have abducted Maura and hid her in his bus. One peculiar action that led to some suspicion involved Butch parking his bus in a different area to normal. This involved him parking next to an outbuilding.

Butch was known to have physical health problems, so some have questioned if he was capable of carrying out an abduction.

One strange aspect of the case came when a local resident said that on the night of Maura’s disappearance, upon driving home from work, she saw a police van parked face-to-face with Maura’s car. After pulling over quickly, the woman said she didn’t see anyone.

The woman said this happened at 7.37pm, which is strange, due to the Police report stating they first arrived at 7.46pm. It isn’t known how accurate this account is, with the Police confirming their first arrival was at 7.46pm.

The investigation was scaled down. Unfortunately, the investigation had thrown up little to no evidence. It was as if Maura had totally vanished without a trace.

Later Developments

In the intervening years, interest in the disappearance has not waned. Similarly, searches and investigations have continued.

One intriguing development began in late 2004, when a man approached Fred to give him a rusty and stained knife. This knife belonged to this man’s brother, who had lived less than a mile from where Maura’s car was discovered. Moreover, the man’s brother had a past history of criminal behaviour.

While family members of the man who handed Fred the knife said that he had made the story up to try and get reward money, what happened two years later added credence to the man’s theory.

In October 2006, a group of volunteers held a two-day search within a few miles of where Murray’s car was found. They reported that upon searching, cadaver dogs went “bonkers” – which is often a sign of human remains being found – near a specific house.

What made this interesting is that this house belonged to the man whose brother had approached Fred with the knife. A carpet sample was taken for testing, though the results were never made public. We can only presume that this failed to bring any new evidence.

Periodic searches continued, but failed to make progress. Private investigators were also hired, but once again, there was never any sign of Maura.

In 2009, six years following her disappearance, the case was passed to New Hampshire state police’s cold case division.

In April 2019, an excavation was carried out in the basement of the house that had led to the cadaver dogs going “bonkers”. But the excavation failed to find anything.

In July 2022, New Hampshire Police visited two towns in the state to carry out an extensive search related to Maura’s case. Unfortunately, nothing was found.

Fred has consistently criticised the investigation by the Police in recent years. He has gone on record to state that he believes Maura was abducted on the night of her disappearance, and later killed.

Fred wrote to the state governor and attorney general and has spoken about spending time in local bars in an effort to overhear conversations about Maura. He says that he has been investigating the case himself, going on record to say “these guys can’t catch a cold” – referring to the Police.

Maura’s family member Julie has said about how the searches for Maura have been “an emotional rollercoaster”.

Maura’s family continue to operate a website (https://www.mauramurraymissing.org/) to raise awareness of the case. They also have a TikTok account which has over 300k followers at the time of writing.

The bus driver Butch Atwood often aroused suspicion, although there was no evidence of any involvement. He left New Hampshire for Florida soon after Maura’s disappearance. He has since passed away.

The disappearance of Maura Murry has attracted significant interest from around the world. Podcasts, websites, TV shows and other content have been dedicated to the case.

Unfortunately, despite all of the efforts and interest in this case, Maura Murray has never been found. Her whereabouts remain unknown.

Theories

There have been a range of theories put forward to explain Maura’s disappearance. Discussions and debate over these theories have been extensive.

We take a look at the evidence for each theory:

Theory One: Maura Murray was the victim of foul play and died

Logically, many would suspect that Maura fell victim to foul play. This could have happened in so many ways.

She is believed to have been walking alone in the snow in the darkness. She may have hitch-hiked, only to unfortunately fall victim to a predator. Or perhaps someone saw a vulnerable woman in woodland and took advantage of her.

It is also possible that she was struck by a car accidentally. In any of these scenarios, her body would surely have been taken away from the area and disposed of – which would explain why she has never been found.

There was also the strange report about the man who approached Fred with the rusty knife. The fact that sniffer dogs reacted strongly to the house where the man lived also raises questions.

Some have proposed that her boyfriend Billy may have been involved. However, the Police have seemingly cleared him from any wrongdoing.

Similarly, there have been suggestions that the bus driver Butch Atwood may have had some involvement. But again, there is no evidence to support this.

It seems that there are numerous ways that Maura could have fallen victim to foul play. If this is the case – like Fred believes – she likely died on the night she vanished.

Theory Two: Maura Murray intentionally disappeared

Maura was seemingly going through a rough patch in her life. She had the criminal case hanging over her and seemed to be having relationship problems too. Moreover, she may have had concerns over damage to Fred’s car.

Therefore, it is possible that she took the opportunity to intentionally disappear. She may have hitch-hiked somewhere. While difficult, it is plausible that she could have started a fresh life elsewhere.

The Police believed that this was a likely scenario. It may also explain why she made up a relative passing away – as this would give her a chance to get away.

There was also the report that Maura had searched the internet for information on the effects of drinking alcohol on an unborn child. She may have been pregnant, but ashamed to admit it.

If this theory is accurate, she may still be alive to this day. However, due to her closeness with her family, it would be bizarre for Maura to never make contact with them.

Furthermore, her face is very recognisable, so it seems unlikely that she would be able to navigate through life without someone spotting her. This makes this theory difficult to believe.

Theory Three: Maura Murray took her own life

There is also the possibility that Maura took her own life. Maura was potentially quite troubled, she seemingly had relationship problems and making up the death of a family member is typically not something associated with someone being entirely stable mentally.

It is possible that Maura did this to give herself some time to make a decision on what to do with her life. Sadly, she may have concluded that she no longer wished to live.

It is even possible that the car crash was a suicide attempt. If this failed, she may have decided to go off into the dense woodland to take her own life.

However, there no suicide note was found, and her family said that Maura wouldn’t do this. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that her body wouldn’t be found – if she had gone down this route.

But we never quite know what is going through someone’s mind. This theory is definitely feasible.

Theory Four: Maura Murray succumbed to the elements/died from exposure

A very popular theory is that Maura unfortunately succumbed to the elements after her crash. It is presumed that she walked off after the crash.

In doing so, she would have been walking in cold and thick snow. She may have been under the influence of alcohol too. In this situation, Maura would have become very cold, very quickly.

She may have eventually developed hypothermia and later died. This is rather common, with the bitterly cold weather causing many to succumb to the elements down the years.

But similar to the theory above, it is unlikely that her body would have not been found. If she died on the night, it would be strange for her to not be found in all of the time since.

Reader Vote

With the above theories now explained, feel free to vote for the theory that you believe is most likely in the poll below.

Summary

The disappearance of Maura Murray is widely known and is considered one of the most notorious disappearances in history. Unfortunately, there seems to be no sign of progress in the case.

There is a chance that Maura remains alive. For her family and friends, not knowing the truth, nor her whereabouts, is agonising.