The disappearance of Maura Murray in February 2004 is so long, complicated, and baffling, we couldn’t possibly cover all the details here, but the case has been covered in length by E! News as well as in a six-part documentary series and an ongoing podcast with over 60 episodes as of this writing. So there’s no shortage of information out there.
But here’s the short version: 21-year-old nursing student Maura Murray emailed her professors at the University of Massachusetts Amherst that she would be missing class due to a death in her family. This was a lie. She emailed her boyfriend, packed up a bag, took $280 out of an ATM, spent $40 of that at a liquor store and started driving.
Between 7 and 7:30 p.m., Murray skidded off the road into a snowbank where she got stuck, 140 miles north of Amherst in Haverhill, New Hampshire. A school bus driver stopped to ask if she needed help. She said no, but he called 911 anyway. The police arrived 10 minutes later, and in that 10-minute window, Maura Murray vanished from the face of the Earth.
The police found her textbooks in the car, together with a spilled bottle of wine and a printout of MapQuest directions to Burlington, Vermont. But there was no wallet, no keys, and no cell phone. Oh, and strangest of all: no footprints in the snow anywhere around the car. Is it aliens? This one might be aliens, to be honest.