Massachusetts

20 years after disappearing, Maura Murray's family continues to push for answers

The family will be holding vigil from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for Murray in New Hampshire near where she was last seen, with a candle lighting at 7:30 p.m.

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A woman from Hanson, Massachusetts, went missing 20 years ago and was never to be seen again.

Maura Murray, 21, crashed her car in northern New Hampshire on Feb. 9, 2004, and hasn't been seen since. Her sister, Julie, said her family continues to actively search for her — even 20 years later.

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"I do believe the case in solvable," said Julie. "We just need the few puzzle pieces that are missing."

Newly released age-progressed image of Murray, created by the FBI, showed what she might look like now.

The 21-year-old University of Massachusetts Amherst nursing student crashed her car on Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire, in 2004. She suffered minor injuries but by the time police arrived on scene, her car was there but Murray had vanished.

The family of Maura Murray, who has been missing for nearly two decades, hopes new billboards in Massachusetts and New Hampshire will help lead to answers.

Murray left the UMass Amherst after lying to professors about a death in the family. Her family and some investigators believe she just wanted to get away for a few days.

She had recently resolved a criminal matter involving the use of a stolen credit card and caused extensive damage to her father's car during a crash. A few days before her disappearance, she was working her security job at UMass Amherst when the phone rang and she burst into tears.

The caller and the subject of the call remain unknown.

A home in Haverhill near the site of the crash was searched five years ago, but Murray's family was heartbroken to learn that nothing was turned up.

Police in New Hampshire took part in another search in the case in the summer of 2022.

Courtesy/New Hampshire Attorney General's Office

Now, Julie has started a podcast that debuted this week called, "Media Pressure: The Untold Story of Maura Murray," where she takes control of the narrative, breaking down the details of her sister's case from a perspective only she has.

The intro on the podcast explains, "The mysterious disappearance of Maura Murray is a story that's been told hundreds of times by strangers. But absent in the story you’ve heard are the voices of those who knew Maura.”

"The goal is to reach somebody who might come forward with information, to maybe jog someone's memory, to get the public talking about this missing woman," said Julie.

Murray's family hopes this podcast could be the catalyst to solving this case — even if that means sharing their visceral insights and the emotional roller coaster they've been on for 20 years.

"There were many times where I was interviewing my dad and my brothers and we were just breaking down in tears, and it was very emotional," said Julie. "But at the end of that, it was this collective sigh of relief, you know, thinking we finally did it, we gave Maura a voice in her own story."

In honor of the anniversary, Murray's family will also be holding vigil from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, near where she was last seen in New Hampshire, with a candle lighting at 7:30 p.m.

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