James Renner's Blog, page 33

Banker says Maura has open, active account.

I don't know what to make of this. On the surface, it seems very exciting. It suggests Maura may still be alive and laying low (everyone's secret wish, I believe). Or, perhaps there is a simple explanation.
If she did just start a new life, law enforcement are under no obligation to tell anyone they found her. She's an adult, after all. But they certainly seem to still be searching for her, too.
In light of this tidbit and this news about a secret suitor at UMass, I'll have to check in with police in the next couple days. I'll update here.
So here it is. This came in via email today. I've been able to tentatively verify the identity of the person who sent it and it seems to check out. For obvious reasons, this source will remain confidential.

This probably doesnt mean anything, I don't know. I was always terrified to post on websleuths, topix, or the MM forum because everyone who doesn't agree with the official party line gets attacked. Anyway, I have always been kind of weirdo and looked at the Doe Network, then the Charley Project, etc. In 2007 I worked as a bank teller at a "chain" bank that has branches in NY, PA, and New England. It would get pretty boring sometimes, and I am nosy, so during lulls I would go through the database and search for people I knew, famous people, random missing people, etc. One time I searched "Maura Murray". As of the end of 2006/early 2007, there was a Maura Murray, born May 4, 1982 with an active account opened in New Hampshire. If I recall correctly, it was attached to a car loan, and the account was active in that it was collecting payments. I remember the information looked pretty familiar, so I wrote it down and checked it against the Charley Project profile when I got home. I was always afraid to say anything, maybe it is a coincidence and I'll look stupid, and at the time I didn't want to get in trouble at my job. I saw this blog and figured what the hell.thanks and best of luckid prefer to remain somewhat anonymous

Editor's note: It was a Citizens Bank.

BREAKING: Maura's secret suitor.

Some info came in from a reliable source last night that kind of rewrites the narrative we've been given about Maura by her family and Billy Rausch.
It turns out Maura was considering ending things with Billy. Seems she had gotten very close to a nice, ambitious young man at UMass and her friends were pushing her to drop Rausch for this new guy. It was a relationship she had to keep secret at the time for a good reason.
I have the man's name but I'm waiting for him to respond before I go into it too much.
I would very much like to speak to anyone who knew Maura at UMass. Please contact me at becarriedaway@hotmail.com

Haverhill Police Chief Who Worked on Maura's Case is a Troubled Man

When I visited Haverhill earlier this year to speak to people familiar with the investigation into Maura's disappearance, several sources pointed me toward former Haverhill police chief Jeffrey Williams. In 2004, when Maura vanished, Williams was chief. He's not anymore. We'll get to that in a second.

It didn't take long to track him down. Haverhill, Bath, and Woodsville are small towns. Everyone knows everybody. I was directed to a property on Bradley Hill Road, about a mile from where Maura got into her accident. Williams' house is a mansion, with a gigantic barn/garage he built himself, topped with an ornamental golden cow. Not bad digs for a former public servant.

When I knocked, Williams opened the door only a little but it was enough for me to get a sense of his size. He's a big man. Intimidating. Ruggedly handsome. And pissed off. When I told him I was a reporter, he slammed the door in my face. I went to his car and began to write a note, so that I could leave my contact information. At that point, he opened the door and shouted at me to leave his property before he "kicked my ass." I obliged.

It was an odd response from a former chief of police. But after speaking to neighbors, I learned that Williams has gone through a bit of a rough patch over the last couple years and has reason to fear the media.

His troubles began in April of 2009, when he wrecked his Harley when he collided with a pick up truck in Woodsville. And then, on July 24, a Haverhill cop spotted a car speeding along Rt. 10. The car tried to get away. The cop gave chase. Eventually, the car pulled over near the Bath line on Swiftwater Rd. The driver was Jeff Williams. He was charged with DWI and disobeying a police officer and that was the end of his career.

The car he was driving was not his own. There's been a lot of talk about who it belonged to. A woman who was not his wife. But let's not get into gossip.

Fred Murray was perhaps the first one to call out Williams' character. He believed Williams' intentionally mislead newspaper reporters about how intoxicated Maura appeared after the crash.

Why did Maura leave the party?

Saturday, Feb. 7, two nights before she went missing, Maura was having drinks with friends in the dorms at UMass. At around 2:30 am, she told friends she was going to bed but, instead, left the dorms, got into the car she had borrowed from her father, Fred Murray, earlier that night, and drove it toward the motel he was staying at in nearby Hadley. On the way, she ran into a guardrail and caused $8,000 in damage to the vehicle, causing Fred to get a rental to drive home the next day.

I thought the accident happened some distance from UMass, but you can see from these pictures it was relatively nearby. That is the guardrail, and the other is pointed the other way. You can clearly see UMass from the scene of the accident.



Why in the world was Maura going to her father's hotel room at 2:30 in the morning?

-A special thank to Clint for sharing these photos.

Is it a clue?

I've been trying to verify this tip with limited success so I'm putting it out there to see if anyone knows more. This one comes from a source close to the crime scene.

Word is police were once interested in a pair of brothers who made snow out at Loon Mountain in Feb. 2004. They drove to work every evening along Rt. 112 and would have passed the scene of Maura's disappearance. My source was told by police that the night Maura disappeared, the brothers did not show up for work.

If you know who these brothers were, please email the info to me so I can attempt to rule in/rule out this pair.

Blackberry not Jigger Johnson

Turns out some websites related to Jigger Johnson have some erroneous info. Jigger Johnson is, in fact, closed for the winter months and would have been closed when Maura disappeared. However, Blackberry Crossing Campground, in Conway, is open year-round. It's a little closer to Haverhill than Jigger Johnson, on Rt 112.

Thanks to those who found the mistake. Another reason for this blog is to suss out the facts before publication.

*Clarification*Again, I'm not saying she went there, only that she was very familiar with the campgrounds around Jigger Johnson and may have had that area in mind before and after the accident. There are hotels in and around Loon Mountain and also Woodstock that may have been her destination. I'm even open to the possibility that she had made plans to meet someone over there. Point is, she knew that heading East would have taken her to an area with lodging that she was familiar with.

New Section Added

Check the pages above this post. You will see I've added an "Evidence" section where I'll be linking to documents related to this case which you can read through/download for further study. Many documents, including the accident reports, can be viewed right now.

A couple things I found interesting. Check out Fred Murray's FOIA request. I've never seen anything like it from the parent of a missing family member. I've seen requests like that before, but usually from defense attorneys seeking discovery before a trial. Also, the lawyers Murray used to file his appeal when the records were denied appear to be copyright/trademark attorneys.

Let me know if you find anything of particular interest.

Donating Money in Memory of Maura

Normally, when I write these true crime books, I donate 10% of anything I make to a charity in memory of the person at the center of the mystery. I got burned the last time around (the charity I donated to in memory of Amy Mihaljevic may have hidden/destroyed records related to the case) but I'm willing to try it again, with Maura's books and what little might be generated by these web ads.
So, let's come up with some ideas. Where do you think the money should be donated?

Lavoie Says Fred Murray Explained Mystery Rag

While in Haverhill last week, I caught up with Mike Lavoie, the man who towed Maura's car from the scene of the accident the night she disappeared. His first reaction when I asked about Maura and that night was anger. "Can't you see I'm working? I'm busy. And I'm tired of talking about it."
Eventually, he calmed down, though and shared some details about that night 7 years ago.
"I was laying on the couch when I got the call. I got the truck, got out there pretty quick."
He noticed the rag and asked Fred Murray about it later. "He said he told her to put it there to keep it from smoking. The car was not running well."
It was an odd thing to say to anyone who knows cars. A rag in a tailpipe is a good way to stall a car.
Okay, here's my problem. I have a kid. I try putting myself in Fred's shoes to understand where he's coming from. Think about finding yourself in this situation. Your kid's gone. Missing. And there's this weird detail about a rag in a tailpipe. Even if he really did tell her something so incredibly wrong as "stuff a rag in the tailpipe if your exhaust is smoking"--and we're talking about a guy who understands nuclear medicine, here--would you try to explain that detail away if you didn't know for sure? If there was a possibility that some bad guy had stuffed the rag in there to stall her car? Why would you give a defense as to why the rag was there? Why was it important for police to know that he, Fred, had given Maura that rag in the first place? The whole thing is hinky.

In her brother's words

Kurt is the youngest of the Murray siblings, but shared a special bond with Maura. She was the one who played catch with him in the cul-de-sac outside their house on Joanne Drive in Hanson. Ground-ball drills. If he botched a play, she'd make him run laps.
"We went on adventures in the woods, too. She'd take me to the river tucked in back there. We used to go on camping trips every year. Jigger Johnson was our favorite spot. Sometimes she'd go with her father and I'd come along. Sometimes they just went themselves."
When he'd travel there with Maura, they would jump off bridges into the river together. There was a rope swing for a while, at the Jigger Johnson campground, too. Maura was fearless, he says. "She'd always put on a show. She'd jump off that rope swing and do these all twists in the air before falling into the water."
The routine of running the home eventually fell to Maura when the older kids moved out or got jobs and she would shop for the family's groceries, taking Kurt along with her to the local Shaws. She turned it into a game, leaving items at the end of isles for Kurt to race to and then return to the cart. She taught him to bargain shop.
"I hated running, so when she'd go running, I'd ride my bike along with her."
Kurt came home from school one day and the whole family was there. Maura was missing, they told him. Everyone packed up and drove to New Hampshire. They stayed at the Wells River Motel for a bit and then at a condo in Lincoln owned by Fred Jr's boss. The siblings searched for Maura, or her body, in the woods, though Kurt once told his aunt it would crush him if he ever were to actually find her remains.
It makes sense that she would have gone up there with the intention of clearing her mind, he says. "I think she needed a break. All this talk of suicide...why would she drive all the way up there to do it? Doesn't make sense. That place was special for us. I think she went up there to take a breather and then something happened."
When their mother, Laurie, got sick, Kurt moved back home and took care of her until the end, dropping out of school so he could work to help with living expenses. The kid's been through a lot more than most, but he still has a quick smile and a laid back disposition. He's more than a little inspiring to tell the truth.