2004-02-21 - Father of missing woman frustrated with search

Father of missing woman frustrated with search

By KATE McCANN | Associated Press Writer

CONCORD, N.H.- The father of a missing Massachusetts woman said he wants police to start treating the search like a criminal investigation.

Since 21-year-old Maura Murray vanished after a car accident in northern New Hampshire two weeks ago, police have repeatedly said they do not suspect foul play.

Searchers found no signs of struggle at the scene, and it appears Murray was planning a getaway. She lied to professors about a death in the family, and said she would be gone from class for the week and then packed her belongings as if she was moving out.

New Hampshire investigators have been working with Massachusetts law enforcement, including campus police at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where Murray is a nursing student.

Police said it appears she was leaving Massachusetts without telling anyone and wanted to get away on her own, and she may not know about the search if she's not in New England.

But her family is starting to suspect otherwise.

Her father, Frederick Murray, believes his daughter was given a ride from a person who won't come forward since he helped her leave the scene of an accident, or a person who gave her a ride and then abducted her.

"To take a break or start a new life, she would need money," Murray said in a telephone interview. "She hasn't used her ATM card, she hasn't used her cell phone, she hasn't spent a dime."

Searches, including a renewed search Thursday with dogs and a helicopter in northern New Hampshire, turned up no sign that the woman wandered into the snow-covered woods. Police called off the ground search in that area.

Frederick Murray said he is afraid the search is slowly grinding to a halt.

"We should think of it in terms of a criminal investigation," Murray said. "It sounds like it would be the key to expanding it. Let's grab the bull by the horns and call it foul play."

Vermont State Police, Burlington police and other local agencies were combing area motels on Saturday, after a check of Murray's computer found she had looked up directions to Burlington the day she disappeared

"Still nothing," South Burlington Police Sergeant James Snyder said of the search on Saturday. "We've already given out flyers and we've checked the hotels. All the hotels are full this weekend because we have Mardi Gras. All of the hotels are aware of it."

Police and family members are also trying to gauge the significance of a phone call that reduced Murray to tears while working her campus job at UMass-Amherst on Feb. 5. She was so disturbed by the call her supervisor had to take her home.

Police are also investigating a message on Maura's phone from a friend she talked to the day before she disappeared.

Authorities said Murray withdrew $280 from an ATM on Feb. 9. Around 7 o'clock that evening she crashed her car into a snow bank several miles from the Vermont border.

A witness, who told police Murray appeared intoxicated but uninjured, called authorities against Murray's wishes. By the time emergency workers arrived, Murray had gone, leaving most of her belongings in the car.

Maura's father and his 33-year-old son were searching along the Kancamagus highway in northern New Hampshire on Saturday, where the family goes camping every summer.

"Time's running out. Somebody must have seen something, somewhere," Fredrick Murray said. "One tip from anybody, you could be the person who saves this girl's life."

An award fund for any information about Murray is now more than $20,000.

Sharon Rausch, the mother of Maura's boyfriend, said Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has donated an undisclosed amount to the fund. Rausch said the coach met Maura at Madison Square Garden over the holidays. Krzyzewski's daughter is friends with Maura and her boyfriend, Army Lt. Bill Rausch.