Boston Herald

March 2, 2004

Page 16

Missing woman's sister finds underwear near crash site

By Marie Szaniszlo

The sister of a University of Massachusetts nursing student who vanished three weeks ago after crashing her car on a New Hampshire road discovered a pair of women's underwear a few miles from the crash scene.

Kathleen Murray found the white panties lying on the snow Thursday near Fresh Pond Road in Haverhill, N.H. The spot was about four miles from the spot where her sister Maura skidded into a snowbank on Route 112, Sharon Rausch, the mother of the missing woman's boyfriend, said yesterday. Kathleen Murray turned the clothing over to Haverhill police for DNA testing.

Her sister, a 21-year-old former West Point cadet who transferred to UMass-Amherst, packed her room and e-mailed university staff Feb. 9 that she would be out for a week. As an excuse, she said there had been a death in her family.

Haverhill police waited 36 hours after the crash to begin a full-scale search, and waited more than a week to ask for the FBI's help on a limited basis. Frustrated by the delays in the investigation, the Hanson family has begun consulting with a private detective.