The Patriot Ledger

February 9, 2008

A sense of loss always there; Weymouth father of missing woman will again comb New Hampshire woods where his daughter disappeared four years ago

Hanson - Fred Murray will be up in New Hampshire this Saturday, making a trip that any parent would dread.

Murray, of Weymouth, is looking for his daughter, Maura, who was 21 on Feb. 9, 2004, the night her car skidded off Route 112 in Haverhill, N.H. It was the last reported sighting of the young woman.

I want to think she is still alive. I have to think that," Murray said of his daughter. "Until I know otherwise, I have to think that."

Maura Murray, a Hanson native and University of Massachusetts student, apparently struck a snowbank and some trees with her car that night four years ago.

Police have long treated her disappearance as a missing person case, while family members have been steadfast in their belief that Maura was the victim of foul play.

Fred Murray and Maura's mother, Laurie Murray of Hanson, both said that there are no new leads in the case.

"Four years, and not a trace of her. No clue," Laurie Murray said.

Maura Murray left her dormitory at the UMass-Amherst campus on Feb. 9 and drove to New Hampshire for reasons that are still unclear.

By the time police arrived at the accident scene, there was no trace of her. One witness said that he had seen her, but only for a moment.

Fred Murray is still trying to get the New Hampshire State Police to release their records in the case.

One, in particular, is the report of the State Police officer who was at the crash scene that evening," Murray said. "He was riding around that area, and there is no accounting for what he saw, what he didn't see, or where he went."

Murray said it is important for him to see that report because we are trying to recreate the timeline, of what may have happened to Maura that night.

Murray added that he would still like the FBI to get involved in the case, because I want someone to get a fresh look at it. But that agency won't join the investigation, he said, unless the New Hampshire authorities ask them to.

The FBI offered to come in, but they were rebuffed, Murray said.

Attempts to reach New Hampshire State Police Lt. John Scarinza, the investigator in charge of the case, were unsuccessful.

Laurie Murray said that her daughter's disappearance is still painful. It is mental torture, every day.

She is convinced Maura was abducted. That is my personal feeling. And I do believe she is alive - and I do believe that she will come home.

Fred Murray said the pain of wondering about a missing child is constant.

The sense of loss is always there, always with you, he said. When you wake up in the morning, within 10 seconds you are aware of it.

So he will drive around Haverhill, N.H., today and once again head into the woods to look for any signs of Maura.

When I come out of the woods and I have not found anything, there is a sense of relief, Murray said. It keeps alive that slim flicker. I don't want to find her dead.