No New Leads As Missing UMass-Amherst Student Case In New Hampshire Turns 20

CONCORD, NH — Mere hours before the 20th anniversary of a Massachusetts college student missing in New Hampshire’s North Country, state investigators released an age progression from the FBI of what she might look like today.

Maura Murray, 21 at the time, has been missing since Feb. 9, 2004, after a car crash on Route 112-Wild Ammonoosuc Road in Haverhill around 7:30 p.m. She was an avid hiker and runner and frequented the White Mountains, but it was unknown what she was doing in the Granite State that evening. Investigators said she had not informed family or friends she would be in New Hampshire.

After the crash of her Saturn sedan, a private citizen spoke to a woman, believed to be Murray, at the scene. However, when police arrived later, the woman was not there.

Murray was last seen officially on surveillance video footage from an automatic teller machine earlier in the day.

On Thursday, the attorney general’s office released a photo showing what Murray might look like today. Attorney General John Formella said investigators were still working on the case, hoping the renewed attention, at the 20th anniversary, “might ultimately lead to justice and closure for the Murray family.”

Michael Garrity, a public information officer for the office, said there were no new developments in the case at this point, but officials were continuing to investigate and were identifying resources to try and advance the case.

Myles Matteson, a deputy general counsel who shifted from elections investigations to the cold case unit recently, noted that anniversaries were often beneficial, jogging people’s memories. Sometimes, too, people no longer fear sharing information they may know as time passes.

“You never know when someone may associate with information they have about a case and be willing to share information,” he said. “(As) a long time passes, there are opportunities, such as this, to bring attention to our cold cases.”

The department was also working with federal partners and using “national best practices” by the FBI and the US DOJ, as well as resources like a grant for advanced scientific DNA evidentiary study. The Stella Bolton case was recently solved due to the study of additional touch DNA evidence.

“We’re looking to apply those techniques and give the cases fresh perspective,” he said, “to narrow down where and what we are searching for.”

Matteson called it a humility of how they approach the cases. The cold case unit has also made new hires, including a long-time career cold case investigator from Maricopa County in Arizona who was giving New Hampshire’s cases a fresh set of eyes, Garrity said. Matteson said it should be a good mix of having investigators who had worked through all the cases, working with someone entirely new to them, to, “Let’s see what else we can do now.”

The cold case unit in New Hampshire has had some successes, along with the Bolton case, including identifying three of the four people found dead inside barrels in Bear Brook Park in Allenstown, after working to find Denise Beaudin. Officials also identified the body of a woman found in Bedford in 1971 to be Katherine Ann Alston, a Boston resident, about a year ago.

At the same time, the team has been under scrutiny, too, for a lack of communication with victims and their families about cases as well as crimes. Dozens of activists and advocates protested outside the NH DOJ’s former downtown office in August 2023, calling for more transparency about the more than 130 cases. Many family members and victims stated they had not heard from officials about their cases for years.

Due to the ongoing investigation, Garrity said, no additional information would be released.

Anyone with information about Maura Murray was asked to call the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit at 603-271-2663 or at ColdCaseUnit@dos.nh.gov. To view the victim list of the Cold Case Unit, visit this link.

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