All language subtitles for maura.murray.s01e04

Previously, on the disappearance of
Maura Murray, I've explored the theory

she may have intentionally run away to
start a new life.

If she was going to get to Canada that
night, how would she do it?

Searching for a motive, I spoke with her
friends and family.

Did you sexually assault Maura?

No, of course not.

How insidious can anything be?

And we followed up with a sighting in
Canada.

The eyes, the skin tone, everything on
the face doesn't correspond.

Now I don't believe Maura escaped to a
new life.

It seems the only way to find out what
happened to her after her crash is to

the people who were there that night.

Was anything about the scene unusual to
you?

Yes.

We were dispatched to that call. We
drove out. There was nobody at the site

the accident.

EMT Dick Guy was one of the first
responders to Maura Murray's crash site

February 9, 2004.

Was anything about the scene unusual to
you?

The part that was inexplicable to me
was, why would anybody shave off?

The inside of a corner, if you lose
control of a car, you generally would

proceed in the direction that inertia
would take you, as opposed to a tight

maneuver like that. If it were slippery,
you generally go off the outside of a

curve. You don't go through the inside
of it.

Didn't make sense.

And then we proceeded to look around the
car, and my partner says, what's with

the rag in the exhaust pipe?

I'm like...

Wow, what is that?

I wondered if she might have stopped at
the store maybe half a mile before and

somebody had sabotaged her car trying to
make it stop.

Do you ever hear things around town like
rumors or people talking about it?

Absolutely. There's lots of theories.
There was the story about some young men

who worked at the ski area over in Loon
that lived.

and would have driven by that site on
the way to work that didn't show up for

work that night.

That's the one that sticks in my mind as
being the worst possible scenario to

me, is that somebody would have abducted
her, taken advantage of her, done

something bad.

Dick Guy isn't the only person who has
speculated about the significance of the

rag. For years... Web sleuths have used
the rag as a basis for all kinds of

theories.

Once the rag was noticed at the scene,
it's obvious that there's something not

quite right.

So it should have been treated as
evidence.

You know, maybe she stopped somewhere,
which we think might fit into the

timeline, and then somebody put the rag
in the cell pipe to have the car stall

out and then kidnap her or something.
Follow her, right. Follow her, right.

If someone with bad intentions met Maura
on her drive, accounting for the

missing hour, and then shoved a cloth in
her car's exhaust, would that have even

worked? Could it have caused her to
stall out and lose control of her car?

To find out, we're meeting with a local
mechanic.

Hi Maggie, I'm Scott Fitzgerald. Nice to
meet you. Art. Art, nice to meet you.

Scott Fitzgerald has expert knowledge of
early model Saturns, just like Mora's.

And he's going to get this Saturn to run
just as poorly as Mora's ran in 2004.

The car she had, it ceased to be
drivable. It would smoke something

fierce. A cylinder was blown.

This should drop the cylinder down.

So if one was down, how would the engine
be running?

The engine would be running roughly.

They call it a skip.

It would be skipping. It would be
chugging.

Now that we've got it running like
Morris car, misfiring, running rough,

we'll put it up in the air and we'll try
that rag theory. That's what we're

talking about. Okay.

We're running the test at cruising speed
because we know the Saturn's airbag

deployed upon impact.

meaning the vehicle must have been going
at least 25 miles per hour.

You can see how badly it's shaking. You
can hear the skip coming out of the

exhaust system. So I will go ahead and
try to put this in.

So I've got somebody in the car, and
they can rev the engine up to a couple

thousand RPMs. It'll be about cruising
speed, say. Let's see what happens. Can

you bring the RPMs up to about 2 ,000,
please?

Wasn't long at all. Kill it.

So this would not make a car stall? I
don't care if you put that whole thing

there. It's still not going to stall.

The mechanics test clearly proved that
Morris' crash wasn't the result of

sabotage by a rag.

What do you think?

I'm thinking somebody put the rag in the
tailpipe after the accident.

Yeah.

Because we have the witness statement
that there's a flurry of... Activity

behind the car, was there somebody
putting it in the tailpipe?

Art's right.

Whoever put that rag in Maura's tailpipe
did it after she crashed.

But who would do that, and why?

Maura's dad, Fred, has thought about
these questions endlessly for the last

years.

Fred,

what do you think happened to Maura?

Somebody grabbed her. It was a bad guy.

Once you go around that corner, it's a
forest. There's no streetlights. Big

banks. You can't get away.

Obviously, the key part we want to do
here is find out what happened to Maura.

But the second thing, too, Fred, is
there's a lot of theories out there,

especially as it relates to the rag in
the tailpipe of Maura's vehicle. Do you

know why it was there?

Because that means tons of controversy.

Me, me, 100 % me.

Okay, explain that.

Here's exactly what I told him. I said,
if you had to drive, do not drive this

car. Do not drive it. You will get
pulled over.

You know, her car had lost a cylinder.
It was oil, smoke blowing out the back.

But if you see the police, you have to
get by them. This probably won't work.

But you could try this.

You could put a rag in your tailpipe,
might get you past the police parking

side of the road, looking at you going
by, you know. You might make it, you

might not, probably not.

Although it's some pretty unusual
advice, there's also a part of me that

understands why Fred would tell his
daughter this.

He simply wanted Maura to avoid being
pulled over.

Fred, what is one of the most
frustrating things about this for you?

You can't find out what went on without
constantly trying.

You know, you think you're on a hot
trail, but pretty soon you're looking at

kinds of dead ends.

In his pursuit of leads, Fred has bumped
up against New Hampshire law

enforcement. Whenever I suggest
something, you know, that may have

we'll look at that, we'll look at that.
But what does that mean? How do I know

they ever looked at it?

Fred felt like the police were not
pursuing Maura's case properly or

enough information with him. So he sued
the state of New Hampshire in 2006.

State investigators have amassed 2 ,500
documents in connection with Maura

Murray's case.

Fred Murray's attorney says keeping the
file secret is against the law.

His lawsuit went all the way to New
Hampshire's Supreme Court.

The state won.

It's incredibly hard and it's terribly
frustrating.

Fred believes he knows why law
enforcement has been so reluctant to

records.

Right down the street is the breadbasket
of northern New Hampshire, which is the

skiing industry and the camping in the
summer and the tourist industry. It's

lifeblood of the state's economy.

So nothing can go wrong with that. And
the surest way to mess that up would be

major crime.

The police have squashed it for years,
except they didn't gauge this one right.

This time the plan didn't work.

I haven't given up and gone away.

I've tried to take the lack of
cooperation and hold it up for everybody

This is your state police.

God helps if your daughter ever gets
lost up here, this is what you're going

get. See this big piece of nothing?

They got a hunk of that for you too.

Fred, why are you upset with the police?

General intransigence.

Lack of communication.

I think they're hiding something.

Fred Murray has been intensely critical
of New Hampshire law enforcement since

the day his daughter disappeared.

If they're not going to be part of the
solution, I don't want them to be part

the problem.

When I began looking into Maura's case a
few months ago, One of the first things

Art and I did was submit an official
interview request.

We asked to speak with the police
officers who first responded to Maura's

and others involved in her case.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's
office told us they would consider it.

But I'm not hopeful.

Nearly everyone I've spoken to, from
podcasters Tim and Lance to Maura's

has told me about the police
stonewalling them.

Who in law enforcement would you like to
speak with that you haven't been able

to or haven't gotten a response from?

Cecil Smith.

Cecil Smith, who was the first
responder, would be very interesting to

I think. Have you reached out?

We've reached out to all these people
and have not heard back.

Many people have said it feels as if New
Hampshire law enforcement has spent

over a decade concealing the findings of
their investigation.

Fred thinks the deafening silence is
covering up something sinister.

Everybody has kind of a basic innate
fear of the police.

And they don't question the police much.

But the police are like any other group.

Every group's got some good guys, some
bad guys.

Well, the police do too.

So there's nothing sacrosanct about the
police. They don't sit at the right hand

of God.

Some think.

the police may just be incompetent. What
we're saying isn't necessarily, oh,

well, the cops killed Maura and they're
covering up after one another.

I suppose it could be that, but I don't
believe so.

What I think is more likely is they're
covering up a botched investigation.

But I'm not so sure.

Could the police really have botched the
investigation and are engaging in a

cover -up?

If so, could their attempts to cover it
up have jeopardized their ability to

actually find Maura.

The police never contacted you? No.

No law enforcement person's ever talked
to you? No.

The cops didn't interview her?

I know. That is kind of shocking to me.
From a law enforcement perspective,

like, how much of a mess -up is that?

It's a mess -up. Even when I have to
testify, I always refer back to my notes

the report that I did at that particular
time because you're going to forget

those types of details.

Some of the police theories you read
about online feel plausible.

Was the search for Maura in the days
after her disappearance exhaustive?

Did police do all they could to find
her?

Or did they have enough resources?

Small towns usually don't.

Why won't law enforcement release the
case files, or at least share them with

Fred and ease his pain?

And some theories are pretty dark.

Could the cops have had a hand in
Maura's disappearance?

Did one of their own play a role in her
possible death?

I need to explore all of this for myself
in order to make my own decision.

Hi Maggie, how you doing?

Hey, Art. I'm good. How are you? Got an
interesting call back from the New

Hampshire Attorney General's office, and
it looks like Assistant Attorney

General Strelzin is going to go ahead
and give us an interview.

He wants to sit down with us first
before we talk to anybody else. Wow.

I mean, that's great. That's really
great.

Getting Jeff Strelzin is a big deal for
us.

He's been on Maura's case since day one.

He's one of the key reasons why law
enforcement has remained silent for so

years. He's also done very few
interviews with the media about Morris'

If we get him to open up, it will move
the needle forward in a way no one ever

has.

I really want to try and understand how
it was initially.

looked at and investigated.

I think there's a lot of questions about
that. How extensive was the

investigation from the beginning?

You've got to be mindful that we might
get a lot of, I can't comment on that.

Are you surprised at how much attention
this case has gotten over the... I'm not

because really over the last, you know,
10 or 15 years with the advent of the

internet. People really take an interest
in what we do. They take an interest in

police, prosecution, and people love a
mystery, and this is a mystery. And I

think people like the challenge, too.
They want to be the ones to solve it.

People have said that you guys know
where she is. We don't know where she

and we don't know where she was going,
and we don't know what happened to her.

We have done searches, interviews, grand
jury work, forensic testing.

We followed up on leads from Psychic.

I mean, we have done anything that there
is to follow up on it. We've done it.

What particular tests have you done?

I can't get into the specifics because
it's an open criminal case.

Now, there's been a lot of talk, and I
know we have tons of armchair

detectives out there.

Internet experts.

Yeah, internet experts.

And a lot of that stuff has been
critical of law enforcement. I mean,

your take on that?

People form opinions on...

Less than perfect information is what I
would say.

Throughout this investigation, there
hasn't been a person of interest or a

suspect. Have you ruled anybody out?

So it's our practice not to name
suspects in a case. We don't typically

that. But have people been ruled out
that you've looked at and said, okay,

definitely not?

I would tell you that it's difficult to
rule anyone out until you know what

happened. Butch Atwood is now dead. Have
you tried reaching out to his wife to

ask more questions?

I'm not going to give you any specifics
about who we've talked to or what we've

done in the case.

He was the last person to see her.

Maybe he was.

Maybe he wasn't.

We don't know that answer until we find
out what happened to Maura.

Strawson is notorious for keeping
details about Maura's case close to the

Sitting across from him right now, it
seems like he has a non -answer for

everything.

I know Fred Murray is frustrated that he
can't see the files.

Why can't Fred see the files?

We have shared more information with
Fred than anyone else, but we want to

protect any potential case. We've
explained that to Fred over and over

that that's why we're doing it. If it
turns out that Moore has been the victim

of a murder and we were able to find
that perpetrator and prosecute that

having information that's only known to
the investigators is critical.

Being able to say in a courtroom...

The reason that defendant knew that is
because he or she was the killer, not

because they read it on the news or read
it on the blog.

If there is a killer out there, the last
thing we want the killer to know is to

know what we have and don't have.

If there is a killer out there, the last
thing we want the killer to know is to

know what we have and don't have.

Lead prosecutor Jeff Strelzin is
defending his department's handling of

Murray's disappearance.

You have an adult, probably had been
drinking, gets in a relatively minor

accident, and decides they don't want to
be their way for the police. So that's

something fairly common for law
enforcement to have happen, which is why

initially nobody really thought this was
anything more than that.

So the woods area wasn't really searched
that night? No, nobody would have gone

out in the woods that night.

Because again, they're not thinking that
somebody is going to be out in the

woods. Do you find it strange that she
disappeared in such a short window of

time that every witness, and there was a
couple, happened to just all turn

around around the same time and not see
where she went?

No, I mean, it only takes a few seconds
to turn and walk away.

And if she doesn't want to draw
attention to herself, she could have

feet off the road behind a tree and no
one would have seen or heard her.

It's certainly possible she was right
there nearby watching everything and

waited until everybody left.

I get it.

That may be possible.

But the adult who was possibly drinking
was a young woman. And the senior

assistant attorney general has to know
that some 70 ,000 women in the U .S. are

currently missing, many under similar
circumstances.

So in this dark, cold, remote spot, it
just makes me wonder if Strelton's

is good enough.

What is your actual opinion?

About what happened to her? Yeah, about
what happened to her. I think there are

three things that could have happened to
Maura.

Number one is she decided on her own to
leave, voluntarily.

I think it's less probable, but it is
possible.

The second one is that Maura was injured
and wandered off into the woods

somewhere and likely died of
hypothermia, and her body is somewhere

woods.

People have said there's no way that
Moore could have just ended up in the

and just collapsed and died of
hypothermia.

And I'm like, that's absurd.

It's a very real possibility. It happens
all the time. But I think people say

that because the woods were searched.

It doesn't mean anything.

I say to people, how many dead animals
have you seen in the woods?

Zero is what most people will tell you.

It's an interesting point.

And in these woods especially, it would
be challenging to find anything.

They're so dense and vast.

The third one is that somebody took her
and hurt her and killed her. She was a

victim of foul play.

There's also the fourth option that some
people think.

The police had something to do with
Maura's disappearance.

You know, the idea that what the local
police... Did something to Maura Murray?

What is that based on?

People want answers. They don't like
loose ends, so they start to point

I get it, but that's not evidence.

My question for them is, well, what in
particular did they do wrong?

What law enforcement did and didn't do
is what Maura's family has been angry

about for years.

They can't answer why they didn't drive
two minutes down the road. They can't

answer why they took 38 hours to start
the investigation.

Adults can and sometimes do decide to
simply leave and take off for whatever

reason. They're allowed to do that.
There's nothing illegal about that.

After starting slowly, Strelzen finally
opened up to us, and I'm hopeful that

our request to interview more police
will be granted.

As we wait to hear, a sad yet important
day has arrived.

Good afternoon and thank you for joining
us on the 13th year since Maura Murray

mysteriously vanished from this exact
location.

Every year on the anniversary of Maura's
disappearance, people gather in New

Hampshire to discuss new leads,
theories, and rumors.

There's so much that surrounds the
accident scene that just does not make

The event is organized by local resident
John Smith.

The questions that surround that night
in that area are questions that need to

be answered. We should get answers.
They're simple answers that would not

interfere with the prosecution of this
case unless it is one of their own.

A former police officer, John wanted to
do everything he could to help.

It was 2004 in February. The news story
came on the local WMUR TV station.

She crashed her 1996 black Saturn sedan
here on Route 112 in Woodsville.

The case caught my eye because it was 17
miles from my house, and then I was

just like, well, you know, no big deal.
It's only a couple days.

Efforts to find Maura Murray continue.

And then when I saw the next report, she
had been gone now, whatever, almost two

weeks. I was like, well, where did she
go?

That was what really intrigued me, and
that was when I called Mr. Murray.

I wanted to help the family find their
way around and help them do any

interviews. And that was when two days
later, two New Hampshire State Police

detectives came to my work.

They said, look, you're interfering with
an investigation. If you continue, we

will arrest you. And what made you
change your mind? I mean, the police

telling you they were going to arrest
you.

I was a cop 30 years ago. I know enough
to know what interfering with an

investigation is.

So to me, that's telling.

There's something there that they didn't
want me to know, and that's what drove

me.

With Fred's blessing, John dug into the
police investigation.

I've gone down too many roads in the
past 13 years, literally and

I've looked at places that I believe
that, yeah, she could be being held

there. We have witness statements that
don't match narratives.

This catches my attention.

He's referring to all three neighbors
around the crash site.

Tell me a little bit about that. What
points you in that direction?

The Westmans have had different stories,
which Atwood had different stories.

I mean, you know, the Marat said they
saw somebody at the trunk, but none of

that was reported in the narrative.

It was only said in the papers later.

John has asked for reports and
clarification from the police.

His requests have been denied.

You're familiar with how the police
work. You don't think they're just doing

their job and holding some of this back
because they can't share it?

No. There's too many inaccuracies, the
lies.

Maybe they're just, you know, bad police
work, but I see them as lies.

So what would the police be lying about
or covering up?

The timeline. The timeline is just, it
does not make any sense, especially with

Witness A.

He is alluding to a theory that I've
read on blogs. A passing motorist,

to as Witness A, reported seeing a black
and white SUV number 001.

Nose to nose with Maura's car at the
accident site.

But neither an SUV nor a vehicle marked
001 is in the official police records

as being on the scene.

There's only one SUV in the town.

and says Haverhill on the side, and it's
SUV 001, black and white.

Who would have been driving 001?

The chief usually drives 001.

Haverhill's police chief at the time was
Jeff Williams, but he's never reported

to have been on site at Morris Craft.

What would be the one question you would
ask him if you had one question?

What did you do with Maura Murray?

There's only one SUV in the town, and it
says Haverhill on the side, and it's

SUV 001, black and white.

Who would have been driving 001?

The chief usually drives 001. What would
be the one question you would ask him

if you had one question?

What did you do with Maura Murray?

Murray family investigator John Smith
says former Haverhill police chief Jeff

Williams may have had a hand in Maura
Murray's disappearance.

His theory is a popular one.

It centers around someone called Witness
A, who says they saw his SUV parked

nose -to -nose with Morris Saturn after
she crashed.

But Chief Williams was not reported
present at the crash site that evening,

was his SUV 001.

So that makes someone lying about the
vehicle.

It's Witness A versus the police.

What do you make of that?

The only thing I can say is that Jeff
Williams in the town is known that he's

driven the cruiser drunk.

I've talked to plenty of locals that
have told me that. He had been stopped

before for DWI.

Could the chief have caused Maura's
accident?

Or did he stumble onto Maura in the
aftermath of her crash, playing some

her disappearance?

And you take witness A's account?

I take witness A's about 100%. Genuine.

John is saying that while other witness
accounts have changed over the years,

Witness A's story never has.

After concealing her identity for most
of the last 13 years, she's decided to

speak with us on camera.

You didn't want to have your name
attached to this?

It didn't feel like it would be safe for
me to do that because obviously

something bad happened. I don't know
what or who. Right.

Because I'm thinking if there's some
kind of wrongdoing with law enforcement,

was kind of scary to me. But they know
who I am because I called and told them

who I am. So then I thought it would be
safer if people knew who I am.

The official police report states that
at 7 .27 p .m., Faith Westman called 911

to report a car off the road outside of
her home.

Sergeant Cecil Smith arrives at the
crash site at 7 .46 p .m.

It's this official timeline that Karen
takes issue with.

It was dark when I left my office, and
from my office I made a phone call home.

To say I was on my way, which I always
do because it's a very long stretch of

road with no cell service and no houses
and no lights.

Do you remember what time you left work
that night?

Not exactly.

My guess is that I may have left the
office at 10 past 7, 15 past 7.

Depending on weather and road
conditions, it was roughly a 40 -minute

Karen's work to home. And where was
Maura in that? Maybe a quarter of the

Okay.

When I got to the corner by the
weathered barn, the police car was

there was another car facing it. They
were nose to nose on the right.

It didn't even look like an accident to
me. What it actually looked like is she

had driven her car onto the wrong side
of the road, and it was just up against

the snowbank.

I don't remember seeing any people
standing in the cars or whatever. I

remember seeing any.

Anybody there?

I pulled over to the left and turned and
looked.

And I said, no, there's not really
anything I can do. Please sit here.

It doesn't look like a bad accident, and
my cell phone won't even work here, so

what do I have to offer?

And this is where Karen's timing becomes
critical.

There's no cell service between the
accident site and Beaver Pond.

the first place she would regain cell
service, roughly a 14 -minute drive

When I got to the Beaver Pond, I made a
phone call to say I'm coming into town.

Karen's phone record confirmed that once
she had cell service, she placed two

calls in quick succession, the first at
7 .52 p .m.

If we take into account the one to two
minutes Karen estimates she stopped at

the accident scene and back timed the
drive, that puts Karen at the crash site

at approximately 7 .37 p .m., nine
minutes before Sergeant Smith arrived at

.46.

So if Sergeant Smith was nine minutes
behind her, who was driving the police

SUV?

But Karen knew none of these details at
the time.

She only knew that 21 -year -old Maura
Murray was missing.

Maura Murray's photo first appeared on
Missing. I remember seeing it on my TV

that she was missing.

And they said, you know, if anyone knows
anything, call us.

And I told them, I said, you know, car
01 passed me. And they went, wait, car

01?

Are you sure it was 001? And I said,
absolutely, without a doubt, I know it

001. A day or two later, I got a call
back from the police department, and

asked me, are you sure it was 001? And I
thought it was odd that they would call

back, and they didn't say, like, are you
sure you didn't see anybody?

They were like, are you sure it was 001?
And I said, yeah.

If Karen's account is accurate, what and
who did she see?

Could it have been Keith Williams?

who was known to have driven SUV 001.

Could he have been drinking and caused
the accident?

Or did he stumble into the accident and
then engage in some kind of foul play?

What about a possible third theory that
Karen may just not have had all the

information and Jeff Williams wasn't
involved at all?

No one knows because the police have
never spoken about it.

I think it's significant that what I saw
was before the police reported to have

arrived. And so that says something's
wrong.

Do you wish you had gone back and asked
if you could help?

Sometimes I do, and sometimes I think
that I may have disappeared too if I

I feel it's risky to say it on camera,
but I don't totally trust the police.

Did Witness A see something that could
implicate the police in Maura's

disappearance?

I have to interview former Chief Jeff
Williams and Cecil Smith, the police

officer who was supposedly first on the
scene at Maura's crash.

But we're still waiting for permission
from Prosecutor Jeff Straubin.

Fred Murray thinks the cops' code of
silence exists for an additional reason.

I think they're hiding their own lack of
performance, lack of proper

performance. The very first thing is the
fact that it's a state -patrolled

highway. The local police were there
too, but their jurisdiction ends 100

up the street. So we know that no search
happened beyond those 100 yards

by the local police.

The person that can search down there,
who is the state cop, who's there.

It's his beat.

Cecil Smith, the local Haverhill police
officer, couldn't search across his line

of jurisdiction.

But local police told Fred about another
officer on scene who could have.

A state trooper named John Monahan.

I met the commanding officer of the
state police, the lieutenant.

The New Hampshire State Police didn't
know that they had one of their own

officers there. They said, we didn't
hear about that.

My heart just absolutely sank right
through the floor.

If Trooper Monaghan was on site,
wouldn't he have told his supervisors or

his own report?

Could he have seen something he didn't
want to share?

Did it have something to do with what
Witness A saw?

Or did he neglect to search for Maura in
his jurisdiction and is covering up his

own actions?

Monaghan has never said in public why he
didn't alert his superiors.

My daughter has not been saved.

And they're not talking. And they
haven't talked since.

Their guy on the scene of a missing girl
that hasn't been seen in 13 years. What

did you do, mister?

Law enforcement's silence seems like why
the public thinks they really could be

hiding something.

So Art and I have placed an additional
request into the prosecutor, Jeff

Strelvin. We also want State Trooper
Monaghan to sit down with us.

Maybe, if they all talk, we can put this
theory to rest.

Maybe we'll all agree with Strelvin that
they're simply protecting an active

case.

Two weeks later, we get a breakthrough.

We can interview State Trooper Monahan
and local officer Cecil Smith.

There's only one condition.

Jeff Strelzin will be in the room during
both of our interviews.

How are you? Good. I'm John Monahan.

It's this kind of move that makes those
interested in this case suspicious of

the police.

There's been a lot of things said about
law enforcement and what they did and

didn't do.

Is there anything that you would like to
clear up or say to just any of those

people?

Sure. So this is really the first time
I've been able to openly talk about my

story.

I heard a call come in for a car crash
on Route 112.

So when I got to the scene, I pulled up
and Cecil Smith was already there.

And I rolled down my passenger side
window and said, hey, what's up?

Do you need me to do anything? And he
said, well, Butch, this bus driver, is

checking up in the Mountain Lakes area.

And I said, well, I'll look around and
I'll check some of the back roads. So I

did.

We know the neighbor, Butch Atwood, told
police he spoke to Maura after the

crash.

It's interesting to hear that Sergeant
Smith enlisted Butch's help and didn't

consider him suspicious, like so many
people do.

I turned around and I went back toward
Swiftwater.

It made sense that you would go back
toward where there's more civilization.

So I confined my search area to where I
knew there were people and stores

because it appeared that's where the car
must have come from.

and didn't see anyone, didn't see any
footprints. So about an hour later, I

left. You didn't get out and interview
any of the neighbors?

No, not that night, no. We did do a
bunch of follow -up investigation, but

evening, no.

So Monaghan searched, but only from his
car.

And he didn't go east, the direction
Fred was hoping for.

We know that no search happened
beyond...

Those hundred yards by the local police,
east in the direction she was headed.

The person that can search down there,
who is the state cop, who's there.

It's his beef.

And then a day or two after that is when
my lieutenant called me, and he's like,

hey, did you help Haverhill with a car
crash? And I said, yeah.

And he said, is there a report? And I
said, no, I did what we called a general

service report that just assisted other
departments.

And he said, well, I think we're going
to need to pull a report on it and write

a better narrative.

If this is true, this would explain why
when Fred met with Monaghan's superiors

two days after the accident, they didn't
know.

that monahan was actually on scene at
the crash site such a simple explanation

so why haven't they told fred this and
put an end to his speculation can you

tell me a little bit about what was done
in the follow -up investigation i think

i went to three places that had
surveillance cameras cumberland farms dp

stop and then shaw's in woodsville still
where it was

It's named Shaw's today, but back in
2004, it was called Butson's.

Crime writer James Renner told me an
eyewitness thought she saw Maura and two

women there just before the crash.

This sighting supports James' theory
that Maura ran away with help from

she knew.

I pulled the tapes just to see if
perhaps she had stopped there on her way

through and didn't find anything.

Maura was not in Butson's.

This important confirmation puts another
dent in the tandem driver theory.

Have you heard anything about, like,
this witness A?

Right. That was one of the things that
somebody said, hey, did you see that

there's this new theory?

It's not what I saw. I pulled up and
Cecil was there, and then I left.

Monaghan seems like a straight shooter,
and I feel he answered truthfully.

Could he have conducted a more thorough
search that evening?

Or searched in a different direction?

Probably. But I don't think he engaged
in any kind of a conspiracy.

Sergeant Cecil Smith, however, could be
a different story.

This is his first interview about Maura
Murray.

Hi, Maggie, nice to meet you. Thanks for
meeting us.

Hi, how are you?

Ever.

I was dispatched to the report of a car
accident and came around the corner and

there was a black vehicle in my lane
facing me and there was no one around

vehicle. Sergeant Cecil Smith was the
first law enforcement officer at Maura

Murray's crash site.

This is his first interview ever.

I could see something red had been
splashed on the driver's side door and I

saw Something splashed on the ceiling of
the vehicle. I could make an educated

guess that it was wine from the box of
wine that was sitting behind the

seat.

I went and talked to Mr. Atwood.

I said, did she look like she was hurt?
Because when I made a quick check of the

vehicle, both airbags were deployed, and
there was a crack on the windshield

driver's side.

He said, no, she looked shaken up, but
she didn't look hurt, but I think she'd

been drinking because she slurred her
speech and she had to lean on something

while she was standing there.

He said, I asked her if she wanted me to
call the police. No, please don't call

the police.

What did you make of Butch when you
spoke with him?

I didn't speak to him very long. I just
probably less than a minute, I would

say.

I didn't know him before, so... This
response is intriguing.

I didn't ask him if he knew him, so it's
an odd piece of information for

Sergeant Smith to offer up, unprompted.

It makes me wonder how he'll answer
another important question.

Have you heard the theory that there was
another officer on the scene before

you, the report by Witness A?

I've heard of that, but there was...

There was no one there when I got on
scene.

What vehicle were you in?

I was in the Explorer 4x4.

And the reason that would have been, it
was around this time of year, winter,

February, snow on the ground.

So, according to Officer Smith, he was
driving the SUV, not a sedan, as

everyone has speculated.

And according to this account, the
former chief, Jeff Williams, was not

involved. Were you at all concerned,
thinking that there was a girl who was

maybe drinking out in the cold? Yes.

I did check in the immediate area.

East, it would have been.

Checking both sides of the road.

Granted, I didn't get to go a great
distance, but I saw no indication that

somebody had gone through the snow.

Did you ever talk to the family, any of
the family members? I did.

Fred, I explained it to him, and he
said, well, you know, she had an

couple days ago.

She's all depressed.

You know, she might have done the old
squaw.

What's that?

Well, you know, you're depressed, and
you go out in the woods, you step off

trail, and you die.

Hello.

For more on this case, visit Oxygen
.com.