Maura Murray, 21, of Hanson, Massachusetts, was a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst when she disappeared on February 9, 2004. That afternoon she emailed her professors and her work supervisor to say she would be away for about a week due to a death in the family — a death her relatives later said had not occurred — and left campus driving north in a black 1996 Saturn four-door sedan. At approximately 7:27–7:30 p.m., her car was involved in a single-vehicle crash on Route 112 (also known as Wild Ammonoosuc Road) in Haverhill, New Hampshire. A passing school-bus driver stopped and spoke briefly with Murray, who told him she was "just shook up," declined his offer to call police, and said she had already contacted AAA. A nearby resident called police; officers arrived at approximately 7:42–7:46 p.m. and found the crashed, locked vehicle with Murray's belongings, including her gloves, inside, but Murray herself was gone. She has not been seen or heard from since. Earlier that day she was recorded on ATM surveillance footage wearing a dark jacket and jeans.
The New Hampshire State Police, through its Cold Case Unit (the case was transferred to cold-case status in 2009), is the lead agency, with assistance from the FBI and North Haverhill Police, who were first on scene. The case is classified as a suspicious missing-person investigation. Multiple large-scale searches of the surrounding area — including a 2022 search focused on Landaff and Easton, New Hampshire, roughly five miles from the crash site, based on a witness report of a person seen moving quickly that night — have not located Murray or her remains. In 2024, the New Hampshire Attorney General's office released an FBI-produced age-progression image of Murray to generate new leads on the 20th anniversary of her disappearance. Bone fragments found at Loon Mountain, NH, in an unrelated search were tested and determined not to belong to Murray. No suspect has been identified and no arrests have been made. Anyone with information is encouraged to submit a tip through the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases.
Agency Case # 04-41-OF
