2004-07-13 - Search for Missing Girl Intensifies

Search for Missing Girl Intensifies
Woodsville, New Hampshire - July13, 2004

College student Maura Murray was last seen along Route 112 in February. Murray had just crashed her car on this corner in Haverhill, New Hampshire.

"What is clear it was her intention to leave school at the time she drove and ended up in Haverhill, New Hampshire. She had packed all her belongings, put them in boxes," said Lt. John Scarinza who is heading up the investigation for the New Hampshire State Police.

The rest is a real mystery.

Authorities are searching for any clues that may lead to Murray's whereabouts. Ninety people in five teams fanned out over a one mile radius from the crash site on Tuesday.

"We have them going through drainages..anything that encompasses within that one mile radius," said Lt. Todd Bogardus of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

Authorities say there is no one thing that led them to search the area again, but they are looking for items Murray had with her when she left Massachusetts that wintry night. One was a backpack.

"They were smaller type items that maybe if they got dropped on the side of the road or thrown over a snow bank, you could have missed them at the time of the searches when there was snow on the ground," Lt. Scarinza told reporters.

Murray's car was searched at the time of the crash. Police say they found alcohol inside and outside the vehicle.

"There were indications inside the vehicle, specifically we found what we believe to be red wine, spilt on the driver's door, on the headliner and front seat of the vehicle and we found a container that we believe was holding red wine immediately outside the vehicle on the ground," said Haverhill Police Chief Jeff Williams.

Relations between the Murray family and authorities have been tense at times. Relatives have questioned whether police have done enough to find her.

"I understand that it has to be very frustrating for the family and we are doing everything we can to bring this to a conclusion for them," said Lt. Scarinza.

Tuesday's search did not turn up anything substantial. For now there is no closure, just a mystery.