2004-02-28 - Relatives May Have Found A Clue

Relatives May Have Found A Clue

BY GARY E. LINDSLEY, Staff Writer

Saturday February 28, 2004

HAVERHILL NEW HAMPSHIRE Relatives of Maura Murray have found what may be a clue in her disappearance.

Kathleen Murray found a pair of white, women's underwear lying on the snow near French Pond Road in Haverhill, Thursday.

Murray said she does not know if they are connected to the disappearance of her sister, who has not been seen since the night of her car accident on Route 112, about a mile east of Swiftwater.

Maura was driving a black 1996 Saturn Feb. 9 when her car failed to negotiate a sharp, left curve past The Weathered Barn and went off the road.

Maura is a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Kathleen and her brother, Freddy, have been scouring the area around the accident site every day.

"I have been making my way down (toward the French Pond Road area)," Kathleen said. "We have been tracking through quite a bit of snow."

She turned the underwear over to Haverhill Police and said it will be about two weeks before DNA results come back.

"Hopefully, they will turn out not to be hers," Kathleen said. "Maybe it was just teenagers having fun. The area is pretty secluded."

Kathleen does not believe Maura has just taken off and doesn't want to be found.

"I know my sister," she said. "We were really close. If she were in trouble, she would have called me. I am extremely worried."

Kathleen is hoping to hold some type of fund-raiser to help boost the pledge reward fund established to help find Maura. It currently stands at about $30,000.

Family and friends have sought the assistance of a private investigator.

R.C. Stevens of PSII Inc., a Northampton, Mass., private investigation agency, is looking into the disappearance.

Anyone who has seen Maura or may have information, is asked to contact the New Hampshire State Police at 603-846-3333 or 603-271-1170; or the Haverhill Police Department at 603-787-2222.

She is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighs about 120 pounds, has brown hair and blue eyes, and was last seen wearing a dark coat and jeans.