It has been a long time since anything in the way of a new clue has surfaced in Maura Murray’s disappearance. But today, a Redditor known as AncientExplorer1989 discovered an interesting connection between UMass Amherst and the White Mountains.
Turns out UMass students could reserve stays at a cabin located in the White Mountains, not far from where Maura disappeared. We’ve never known Maura’s destination that night. Could this have been where she was heading?
The question is whether or not Maura knew about this. I think there’s a very strong possibility she – and the friends she hung out with – did. After all, Maura enjoyed the outdoors, and particularly enjoyed hiking the White Mountains.
The cabin was in the news today, because police were called out to it on May 10 when a girl overdosed on LSD. Police found several intoxicated, under-aged students when they arrived. Was this area ever searched? I doubt it.
This is the best lead I’ve seen in a couple years.
Now, who can find some posts of pics of people there in February, 2004?
Wow, one potential route goes through North Haverhill… But why, then, the mapquest directions to Burlington/Stowe (unless they were old), and the call to the other cabin?
This is incredibly interesting when you pull up her route and the town which this cabin was located, certainly could have been her destination.
Wow, that's… that's a terrible club motto considering this case…
I've considered a bit that her trip to NH or VT ultimately entailed a destination to party for a few days. It seems more likely she had plans to meet people at some point, as most females her age would do that, rather than be alone. Maybe she did in fact do that, perhaps losing her phone on her way there.
Surely a few days of partying in a cabin would put a whole new spin on things.
Poor motto is right … then again, West Point attendees probably have their own:
"Be Prepared … to Defend Yourself"
Good lead … let's see where it takes the case. Of course LE didn't check this. If they didn't call that condo for months, why on earth this?
Again … missing persons need the strongest most aggressive effort conducted within MINUTES of them disappearing. Otherwise … this.
Huh, those cabin trips seem popular. Yup, even in February. Check out the video on their FB page from 2/8…
Someone check the UMASS yearbook to see who was involved in the club in 04!
Interesting clue. The route to the cabin more or less fits with the location of the accident, doesn't it? But the club's slogan is so unfortunate it's funny.
Is there any way to get records of who stayed in this cabin on the date of her disappearance? If a person or persons from her school was actually there at this time in 2004 then that could very well be who she was going to meet and that person or persons should definitely be talked to!!
That was my exact thought. Minus this inquiries, I'd say this could be a great lead. With them, it seems like just a strange coincidence.
FACT: That is an *incredible* motto that was laughed about + loved at UMass. It was like instant publicity for the group + would make people remember them. They were like little Bear-Grylls-in-training, but more sport-focused – hiking + skiiing + stuff like that.
James, while I believe that Maura did not find her way to that particular cabin that fateful night, it gladdens my Minutewoman heart that you posted this, motto + all, here.
– Marie Helena
P.S. The university debate team's motto at the time was "UMass Debate: It's our policy." Yup.
Honestly, people looking to get away go somewhere they know. What are the odds she would've known about this? Would her mind think "gee, let me check to see if my college has any getaway opportunities?" Because that's not a natural thought process.
It's far easier to think about the place she went as a kid. People, when feeling out of sorts, go where theyre comfortable.
NOW, if she was with fellow classmates, it could be feasible. But where'd those people end up?
There is so much shadiness in the eyewitness accounts from the houses by her car crash. 7 minutes yet NO ONE saw her leave?? Yet they saw her in the car?
At night? Yeah, no. If i lived there, I never would've left my window until the driver in the crashed car left.
Wow…that is a great find, James! I was reading the article, however, and it said that there is no electricity and only has running water in the fall and spring. They described it as a "rough construction"…would Maura have been going there in the New England winter, at night? I think the fact that she was calling for rental properties shows she wasn't considering this place, unless she was trying to create a trail. I just don't believe this would be a suitable destination in the New Hampshire winter with no electricity or running water. And whom would she have had to go through to obtain access? I think the fact that she told UMass professors that she was leaving and missing class leads me to personally believe she wouldn't be headed to a campus related property. I'm a college student now, and when I miss class, I won't go anywhere near University property! Lol. I just wonder if she would have risked her lie to Professors being exposed by telling them about a death in the family while getting access from this University club, especially if she intended to return. And if a student gave her the keys, perhaps rented it in their name (although it doesn't seem from the University Profile and the article that it's accessible in February or accessible without a club activity occuring), I would hope that they would have come forward back in 2004 when she went missing. But this case is so strange, after all. It just leads me to believe she had no intention of returning to Massachusetts, and this is just an amazing coincidence. But keep up the great work, James! Just wanted to throw some personal thoughts out there!
Turning onto Route 112 doesn't make sense if Maura was headed to this cabin. She would have stayed on Route 302 toward Littleton.
Peter
Hmm. How come not a single UMass student has come forward in the last 12 years to report the connection between the student outing club and the White Mountains? Given the amount of publicity Maura's case has had, wouldn't someone have said something? Only reason I can think of is because the cabin might have been a traditional hangout for underage drinking, drugs, and other activities that students wanted to keep secret from the police…but then why advertise on a web site like that?
I don't know. It sounds like an interesting possible lead but I would think someone would have mentioned the outing club long ago.
Very interesting. I have had many dreams from the beginning that Maura had gone to a place where there were cabins….. I am amazed.
I wonder if, because it's been said she was with friends, if she didn't get involved with people from school and she ended up fleeing in fear. Why did Sara say "I don't want to get my friend in trouble?" Up until Feb 9, nothing Maura did would've sent her to jail. There are plea deals and community service. Then again, Sara allegedly told Fred the truth and he said not to repeat it and we've seen him finger the NH cops as culprits.
Personally, I think anything sara might be referring to centers around youthful antics and possibly petty theft.I think the bizarre evidence from NH indicates foul play and bad luck on her part. 7 minutes (right?) is such a short time it is suspicious that all eyewitnesses turned their heads at the moment she left. REALLY? No one heard a second care pull up and drive away, leaving a stalled car with no occupants? REALLY? People heard Maura's car and NOT an alleged tandem driver pull up? REALLLLLLLY?
Cops with know who did it and are 1.scared of that person 2. have little in the way of real evidence and don't want to lose the case.
Or the perp is a cop. (stretch, but there are shitty people of all sorts.)
I still cannot forget that Conrad guy. What would the motivation be for him to lie about the NH police knowing who did it but have no evidence? Rings true to me.
I want to say it's almost comical, but I'm not sure if that would be inappropriate.
That's just a terrible club motto.
112 to 116 through Easton/Franconia to 18 to 142, 142 is the road the cabins on. Much faster than going through Littleton.
…it really is supposed to be funny, guys. Please see my post below – I went to UMass from 2003-2007 + was active with a group on campus that did a lot of camping, volunteer work, + work with the local Scouts in the Amherst/Hadley area.
For whatever possible lead or not that this cabin offers, please know that the Outing Club's motto was purposefully simple, silly, and tongue-in-cheek and always has been.
Hi Anon,
I've thought about some of this, too – I think Conrad's postings + his reputation walk a fine line and it makes people hesitate. On the one hand, I can read his postings in context + think, "this guy seems a bit of a loose cannon" yet also, "but why is he saying what he's saying?"
That said, his postings do jive with some of the quieter chatter about this case from at least a few years ago. The basic idea is that there is indeed a person of interest known to the police there, and some consistent hearsay about his involvement, but that there just isn't enough evidence to move forward. Another possible factor is that this person is part of a well-established, connected family local to the area, which could politically really help him.
I think that if this person was indeed involved in any way, his initial intentions were not to cause Maura fatal harm. He almost certainly had a gun, hunting license, or access to firearms. If something awful happened, it seems more like a case of things escalating than someone scoping out a woman to abduct.
It's possible Conrad knows something, but it's equally possible that he's simply repeating rumors he heard. Or both! So frustrating.
– Marie Helena
What town in the White Mountains are we talking that this cabin is located in? Thanks…
Considering UMass is a party school, the admin really seems to rely on students gaining maturity from high school to college to let a club promote the idea of going to a cabin with that motto. LOL
But it is a very typical thing a college student would be interested in.
I still think given a possible emotional mindset she would've gone somewhere she KNEW.
But cannot get my mind off the fact that no one saw a second car that would've picked her up.
Even if she was abducted before that crash and a stranger was driving her car, the driver disappeared quickly.
After sending her teachers and work supervisors an e-mail saying she would be out of town for a week due to a death in the family, it is hard to fathom that she would then use a school owned property for her get away.
Why do you assume she didn't know about this cabin? I doubt UMass tried to hide the fact that their athletic dept(which she was a part of) had this cabin. Was probably common knowledge.
I believe the Poadcasters have a site where you can call and report / record your dreams concerning this case? I don't know the reason for this and I would not do it but I am really bothered that I had many images of the scene and (?possible scene) being discussed here. I am definitely writing them down for the record . I had the images right from the beginning and just now they are being confirmed. I should have tried to get to that area long long ago… Oh my God.
I never known a school that wasn't a Party School. Amherst is a good damn school,academically. We payed a lo of money at a small well ranked private university and as a good student athlete as she was , all she did was party the first semester. So diid almost all her soccer team. That's what young ppl do. And that was a damn expensive party she,participated in the whole semester and that's considering that the students athletes HAD very strict curfews. But these kids all manage.
Why do you doubt that Umass tried to hide the fact that their athletic department had this cabin and assume that it was common knowledge? It's also common knowledge that Maura went to the White Mountains, all those years ago. Yet, only NOW are we hearing about this cabin.
THIS. This is exactly what I thought while reading about this new information. It's absurd that people have had so many theories and come forward with them in all this time but not one person thought to mention the connection between the White Mountains and Maura…..it's maddening how much sense it doesn't make.
You hit the nail on the head, dynoguy88.
I think having a public website with all the information about the cabin, that also includes a forum where students have been posting for years, points pretty clearly that they're not trying to hide this cabin. It's just that no one put it together until James saw it.
What anon May 16 11:52 said about the cops being afraid reminded me of something I heard about police in another New England state. It was in a remote, economically depressed, low populated area. Locals basically stated that the local LE was afraid to give out traffic tickets, bust the pot dealers because anyone they try to arrest knows where the cops live! And they do not want them to retaliate. I'm sure this goes on elsewhere in the US. But in more populated suburban/urban areas in the US it is more common for LE officers to reside maybe an hour's commute away from their jurisdiction. Just common sense. Exotic dancers do the same thing haha but I digress. The point being cops in a small town might not poke around and mess w/the local crime bully/mob/dealers/crime family etc. And crimes might go unsolved because of this effect.
That the cabin was available to students in general didn't guarantee that it would be available when she wanted it. Maybe she was investigating options in case she couldn't get the cabin, or maybe she was planning on staying there one night & somewhere else another night. This is really interesting!
If the cabin was not occupied that weekend how would anyone know?
I don't understand why lying to her teachers has anything to do with using a cabin owned by the School.
Honestly, while there's some detractors out there- it does totally make sense as a university club motto. That was my first thought. At that stage in life you're generally either in the "everything is fun, and everything can be funny" group or the "ugh, how pedestrian" group. It's nice that the outing group seemed to fall into the first category.
I've only just started reading this blog, and I'll already very intrigued. Reading all these possibilities has truly sparked my interest. But surely by now people have thought of the fact that's it's just as likely that she found herself lost in the woods, scared, hungry, and dehydrated. Which lead her to being attacked by hungry wild animals who probably weren't having much luck finding anything else you eat in a harsh winter? Or even that she had to finally succumb to hypothermia and exhaustion. In which case that found her corpse and had a decent 120 lbs meal for a few days. I know that's grim, but they would scatter her remains out over the course of a few meals, also from possibly fighting over rights to it and dragging off what they could. I truly do hope that by some miracle she's found alive one day. But the cold harsh wilderness has claimed way more people that were more equipped to deal with it than she was. Either way, great blog. Look forward to reading more!
I've only just started reading this blog, and I'll already very intrigued. Reading all these possibilities has truly sparked my interest. But surely by now people have thought of the fact that's it's just as likely that she found herself lost in the woods, scared, hungry, and dehydrated. Which lead her to being attacked by hungry wild animals who probably weren't having much luck finding anything else you eat in a harsh winter? Or even that she had to finally succumb to hypothermia and exhaustion. In which case that found her corpse and had a decent 120 lbs meal for a few days. I know that's grim, but they would scatter her remains out over the course of a few meals, also from possibly fighting over rights to it and dragging off what they could. I truly do hope that by some miracle she's found alive one day. But the cold harsh wilderness has claimed way more people that were more equipped to deal with it than she was. Either way, great blog. Look forward to reading more!
Have found a picture of the cabin on the UMass Outing Facebook page – creepy stuff… facebook.com/162160992931/photos/pb.162160992931.-2207520000.1464174938./10153313896127932/?type=3&theater
Also another pic on this petition site: change.org/p/university-of-massachusetts-amherst-help-the-umass-outing-club-preserve-the-umoc-cabin
umoc.stuaf.umass.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/cabin_information.pdf