Boston Herald

May 6, 2004

Page 27

Families of missing women want cops to search for link

By Jessica Heslam

Despite police saying there's nothing to link them, the cases of two women who vanished from two different states are hauntingly similar, say their parents, who plan to meet Saturday to compare notes.

"We think maybe they've come in contact with the same person or groups of people. Maybe there is a real nutcase out there somewhere that committed both these acts," said Bruce Maitland, whose 17-year-old daughter, Brianna, vanished from Vermont March 19.

"We would like someone to look at both these cases," Maitland said yesterday. "It at least ought to be looked at."

Brianna Maitland vanished after her shift at the Black Lantern Inn restaurant in Montgomery, Vt. Her car was found a mile away the next day, its rear end rammed into the side of an abandoned house.

On Feb. 9, University of Massachusetts nursing student Maura Murray vanished after her car hit a snowbank on Route 112 in Haverhill, N.H. When police showed up, the car was locked and the 21-year-old Hanson, Mass., native was gone.

Maitland said both are beautiful women who disappeared without a trace after some sort of automobile mishap. They vanished about 60 miles apart.

Vermont State Police Lt. Thomas Nelson said there's no concrete connection.