CONCORD, NH – A “large-scale” search related to the case of missing Massachusetts woman Maura Murray Wednesday concluded with no findings publicly announced.
The ground search in the Easton and Landaff areas off Route 112 in western New Hampshire by New Hampshire State Police and the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department “was the largest of its kind in recent years,” according to Julie Murray, Maura Murray’s sister.
“The large-scale effort gives my family renewed hope that a resolution is within reach,” Julie Murray said in a blog post on mauramurraymissing.org.
Murray said that she is in close contact with law enforcement and spoke to them Thursday morning. “However, due to the ongoing nature of the investigation I cannot provide further details at this time,” she said. “I encourage people to allow the investigators the time and space to continue the important work they are doing.”
She added, “On behalf of my family, we extend our sincere thanks for the love and support shown to Maura and our family, especially now.”
Associate Attorney General Jeffrey Strelzin told WMUR-TV that searches like Wednesday’s are usually not announced to the public, but law enforcement officials were concerned that it was large enough that it would raise curiosity or alarm. Murray’s family was notified before the public announcement was made, Strelzin said.
Murray, 21, a student at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass., disappeared Feb. 9, 2004, after her car crashed into a snowbank on Route 112 in North Haverhill. Searches by law enforcement have revealed little about her fate, and her disappearance was eventually added to the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit.
Wednesday, Attorney General John M. Formella announced that the ground search that day near where her accident occurred “is not the result of new information in the case,” but part of “an ongoing investigative process.”
Formella said the areas were previously searched in a limited fashion, but this is a more extensive search of those areas. Route 112 in that area is also Wild Ammonoosuc Road, and follows the Ammonoosuc River past the southwest corner of White Mountains National Forest.
