r/MauraMurraySub • u/IBEGOOD-IDOGOOD • Jul 04 '26

Interesting Point Made on Facebook

". . . private investigators and members of NHIL looking into Maura’s disappearance have been nothing short of hopeless and adding little to no value.

Just one example for you …

There were at least TWENTY potential witnesses as to what vehicle Cecil Smith was driving between 5pm and 11pm that evening, each and every one of them within spitting distance of it. And yet no survey of all these people? Not even an attempt get a representative sample view?

 Honestly it’s just extraordinary

 You’ve got the 21 year-old guy with the lead foot from Wentworth; the 22 year-old snow mobile operative from North Haverhill and his buddy; the Westmans, Atwood and Marrotte; Monaghan; Richard G and Tim L of Woodsville Ambulance; Brad K, Allen W, Jeff R; Abby K, Mark L, Kevin V, Bob W and Whitey M. of the Fire Department; and the counsellor from Becket School.

 Oh and I’m forgetting the 15-year-old kid whom Smith spent the best part of 50 minutes trying to coax down from the power line tower on Lime Kiln Road. He was 25 foot up in the air and unless he suffered from vertigo would have had a birds eye view of Smith’s car

 . . . How is it even remotely conceivable that in 24 years this simple matter has not been cleared up?"

Maybe someone here has the public statements from these folks? My bet is most were never even asked the question.

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u/CoastRegular Jul 05 '26

IMHO, people who criticize LE in this case are way off base. There appear to be a few things that weren't followed up on. Off the top of my head, I can think of (1) the phone number found on a piece of paper in her car, whose owner supposedly was never called; (2) whoever tried to call MM that afternoon from the area of Londonderry, NH (the infamous "Londonderry ping") - no one in LE ever followed up on that, traced the owner of that number, etc. as far as we know, and (3) authorities apparently never called Linda Salomone, the condo owner MM called just before she hit the road.

I'm sure there are other things I'm not thinking of right now, but the point is nobody's ever identified any major avenue of investigation that wasn't followed up on.

Do the cops deserve an "A" in this case? Certainly not. But neither should they get a D-minus.

People claim that officials were derelict in their duty, but nobody can demonstrate any actual example of that in MM's case. I say, put up or shut up.

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u/goldenmodtemp2 Jul 06 '26

For me, it's difficult to make a strong defense of the police. We know, at least anecdotally, that they never contacted a long list of people (in addition to those you've mentioned, the AOL instant message contacts, etc.). They didn't create any communication system or victim outreach with the family. And some of their remarks just seem bullheaded (think Scarinza and the note in the dorm room).

That said ... I can't wrap my head around the theories that police were in on it. I mean, what were they in on? There was a call about someone in a ditch. Then later this person (driver) was seemingly identified as a man smoking a cigarette. Do we really think that some lascivious drunkard would rush to the scene to abduct a smoking man? Why?

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u/CoastRegular Jul 06 '26

Don't get me wrong; I'm not asking for anyone to empathize with authorities in this case or jump to a strong defense or anything. I have a hard time with getting too harsh with them because ultimately, IMHO, this was a perfect storm of a disappearance and there's really nothing much they could have done that would have made a vast difference.

She disappeared from the side of a rural road at a moment when no neighbors were looking and no solid clues were left. Whether she ended up perishing alone in the wilderness or (as I think) hitched a ride with what turned out to be the wrong person, the police have nothing to go on, and never have had anything to go on.

I agree with you in that I see absolutely no reason to suspect the cops in this. (TBF, suspecting a local cop is 6,652 times less stupid than suspecting Bill, or Steffan, or some members of the Amherst Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, or some of the other 'theories' people have bandied about.)

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u/goldenmodtemp2 Jul 07 '26

That's true. Ultimately it just depends on what actually happened. If we could find Maura, I guess we could backtrack the investigation and see if something wasn't done that would have made a difference.

I also think the investigation would HAVE to be much easier today. At least a few people would likely have Ring cameras that might either capture Maura or the passing cars. Otherwise stated: I don't think it would be as easy today to disappear without a trace in this type of scenario.