James Renner's Blog, page 31

Fred Tells Maura's Friends to Keep Quiet.

When Maura lived in Hanson, she was part of a popular group of girls that stuck together through thick and thin. Katie Jones. Carly Muise. Erin Devine. Andrea Connelly. Laura Rideout. Leader of the gang was Liz Drewniak, who ran with Maura and would later go on to become valedictorian.
About a year ago, I started reaching out to these women but got no response. When I visited Hanson earlier this year, I spoke to Drewniak's mother at length, who provided me with a lot of background on Maura. Connelly's mother, as well, was much help. But the women, themselves, still did not return messages. I later found out why.
Turns out Fred Murray spoke to Liz Drewniak and said they should not talk to me. He, again, reiterated that he did not want a book or more publicity about his daughter's disappearance. For misguided, though understandable, reasons Liz then told her friends to keep quiet.
Hopefully they change their mind before the book goes to print.

Where Fred lived.

Fred Murray is still listed in the phone book as living at 22 Walker St. in Weymouth, Mass, but he hasn't lived there in some years. According to family, he lives on the Cape now, in Falmouth, though attempts to find him have not panned out (though I have left messages on his cell phone, asking for comment).
The house on Walker is vacant, now, and, apparently condemned. But his cousins still live across the street and his neighbor, Becky, says she remembers Maura visiting him there shortly before her disappearance. Records indicate the Murray family owes back taxes on the property.
For a time, Fred did live here while Maura and his other children lived with their mother, Laurie, at the house in Hanson. Fred's brother, Danny, and his sister, Rita, also lived at this house on occasion. I mention the house for a couple reasons.
Whoever lived there has issues. Serious psychological issues. I was able to get a good look inside through the many windows and what you can see is like an episode of Hoarders. Except, the only thing they are hoarding is garbage. There are piles of frozen dinners and beer boxes literally five feet high. In the kitchen, there is a pile of dog food cans stretching almost to the ceiling. This isn't a place to bring your kid.
Also, in the back I found some adult magazines among strewn junk and old mail addressed to Fred. Stuck in the pages of the magazine were xeroxed copies of girls from old high school yearbooks (maybe from the 50's/60's?). Specifically photos of Barb and Patricia Curran. I haven't been able to locate these women to figure out an explanation for this. Anyone know who these women are?

Probability

Let's be clear. I'm not suggesting Fred Murray had anything to do with his daughter's disappearance. I don't know what the hell happened in those 5 minutes she was alone.
However, considering the details of the days leading up to Maura's vanishing act, I believe there is a strong probability that suggests Fred may be the one other person who knows why Maura went to New Hampshire in the first place.
Consider: The accident reports.Maura picks up the reports related to the Saturday night accident. She is supposed to give them to her father, Fred. They are found in the car she was driving when she disappeared.
Consider: The location.Many early reports of Maura's disappearance treated Haverhill as this weird out-of-the-way place Maura would never go to. But she had been on that very road dozens of times. She camped with her father at Jigger-Johnson, down the road, every summer. When she traveled to that area, it was always with Fred.
Consider: The alcohol.Maura bought more booze than any one person could drink.
Consider: The Londonderry ping.I believe this search warrant. And if its real, than someone near Rt. 93 called Maura earlier in the afternoon the day of her disappearance. That is the route one would take if you're driving up to the Lincoln/Jigger-Johnson area from the eastern region of Massachusetts. I believe whoever placed this call was the person she was meeting up there.
Consider: The rag in the tailpipe. I spoke to Mike Lavoie again. He says the rag was stuffed way up in there. The only reason you would stick a rag into a tail pipe like that would be some strange attempt to keep it from running. The only person who has given an explanation for the rag is Fred Murray, when he stopped by Lavoie's home, where his car was being impounded in the days after the crash. He said he'd told her that placing a rag in there would keep it from smoking. What. Utter. Bull. Shit. If I'm looking for a missing family member and I hear that someone has placed a rag in her tailpipe some time before she crashed and disappeared, I'm going to be all over that. Even if I suggested something so stupid as that it might keep smoke down, I wouldn't admit it. It's a clue. And a clue that would keep police interested in finding her. The ONLY reason I can see mentioning it is if you know your fingerprints are gonna be all over it. We don't know where that rag came from or who put it there. But Fred wants you to know that he's touched it at some point in the past.
Consider: Fred was unreachable after Maura's disappearance. Police tried to call him at home and only got a message. He didn't call them back until much later.
Consider: Fred's vehement aversion to anything that happened to Maura in the days leading up to her disappearance or why she was up there. "It's not important," he said over and over and over again. Again, as a parent who supposedly doesn't know why Maura went up there, I'm going to assume everything could be a clue.
Consider: Fred's reluctance to sit down with detectives. He refused to be formally interviewed, on record, by police for 2 YEARS. 2 Years, his daughter was missing and he wouldn't meet with police. And when he does, he brings lawyers. What was said in that interview will remain secret until this case is solved. But more than one source has told me off the record that some of the questions pertained to the nature of his relationship with Maura and why on earth she came to his single-bed motel room at 2:30 in the morning and stayed through the night.
Fred's a master manipulator. Good at spin.
But if you look at the probability, you come to the conclusion that the most likely scenario, in fact the only one that explains the evidence, strongly suggests Maura was driving up to New Hampshire to meet her father and, perhaps, even did meet with him somewhere before she vanished or ran away or was killed.

Is Maura Alive?

That was the question that led to this latest adventure into the North Country.
Several weeks ago, I received what I believe to be a credible tip from one of the three main people who have reached out to police believing they have seen Maura Murray alive after her disappearance. This person told me that she was sure she saw Maura with a child at a house on Firefly Lane in Hillsborough, NH.
Coming as this did at around the same time I learned of this mysterious "Londonderry ping," I was very interested-- Hillsborough is within 20 miles of Londonderry and the call to Maura's phone the day of her disappearance could have originated from that area.
I'm sorry to say, Maura was not there. I spoke to two women living in the houses around there that looked kinda sorta like her. They both had young children. And could have been mistaken, I guess, by someone driving down the road, but, no doubt about it, neither one was Maura Murray.
That left me with some time to track down some other leads. I spoke with the tow truck driver again and visited a very frightening house connected to Fred. Lots to talk about in the coming days. I'm still not sure what Maura's ultimate fate was, but I believe I have a much clearer idea of why she drove to New Hampshire in the first place. And I think I understand the rag in the tailpipe.

Open question.

A couple people have mentioned an "ad" that Fred Murray or the family took out in a local newspaper just after Maura's disappearance. The ad asked Maura to come home.
Does anyone have the name of the paper and the date that it ran?

Back in the North Country

Stay tuned for updates...

Some sightings tracked down...

Spoke to a source close to the investigation today. One topic of conversation was the alleged sightings of Maura Murray after her disappearance.
Police responded quickly to one sighting, driving to a home, only to discover Julie Murray at the door. Seems the sisters are so similar in appearance they often still get mistaken for each other. It's happened a couple times since the disappearance.

Official Response

Because there has been so much conflicting information given to journalists who have reported on Maura's disappearance over the years, I am trying to get some definitive answers. Easier said than done.
Earlier this week, I sent the following questions to Lt. Todd Landry, the lead investigator in the case.

1. Is this search warrant a hoax? It appears on this website, with your name. If it is an actual document, the fact that it has been released by a state organization makes it public record now by default: http://christopher-king.blogspot.com/2008/10/kingcast-and-trooper-todd-landry-take.html

2. What items were taken from Maura's vehicle? Several state police reps have commented on the record about this, which allows you to offer comment as well. Unfortunately, each time they were quoted, the info was slightly different.

3. Who was first on scene? Some reports have trooper John Kapp-Monagham as first on scene, some have Cecil Smith.

Here is Landry's response:

Mr. Renner, In response to your questions I offer the following:

The investigation is and has been on-going since the night Maura Murray went missing. In order to protect the integrity of the investigation I am limited to what can be released. In conferring with the lead prosecutor that is overseeing the case I can only confirm that the first responding police officer that was on the scene was Sgt. Cecil Smith of the Haverhill Police Department.

For reasons explained above, I would not be able to meet with you as no other information will be provided to you. Thank You for your understanding in this matter. Respectfully, Lt. Todd Landry

In any event, I think it says a lot that police are still treating this like an open and active case. The only reason to play that close to the vest would be if they believe there's a possibility of some sort of criminal charges at some point in the future.

Sightings

I'm very interested in taking a fresh look at the reports of Maura Murray sightings since her disappearance.
If you think you saw Maura, or know someone who has, please contact me at becarriedaway@hotmail.com

More thoughts on the "Londonderry Ping"

So I guess we're calling this clue the "Londonderry ping." Sounds good to me.
Some people have been wondering if this call that came into Maura's cell phone the afternoon she went missing, the call that "pinged" the Londonderry tower, could have been Maura checking her cell phone. When you check voicemail on some cell phones, the phone literally calls itself. Mine is like that.
However, the way I read the search warrant, it appears they were trying to identify the person who owned the number that called Maura. Obviously, they would have recognized Maura's cell phone number. It seems it was either logged on her bill (that would be the bill that goes to her boyfriend Billy Rausch's mother) as a number that they could not put to a name or an "unlisted" number that could be provided by the cell phone company logs.
BUT
If it was merely Maura checking her cell phone, this is still significant information. The phone could only have pinged the tower if it was within 22 miles. There's a photo above, showing the area. If it was Maura, she wasn't traveling up 91 N like we've assumed. She would have likely been traveling up 93 N, which begs more questions, like, could she have swung by Hanson or Weymouth before heading into the North Country?
My hunch is it was not Maura checking her phone. I think it came from the person she was meeting up there.