aura Murray

Well this is interesting. The father of Maura Murray has filed for, and been denied access to information concerning his daughter's missing persons investigation by the New Hampshire State police.It's horrific enough when a parent has to cope with the disappearance of a family member. But when you have to go to such lengths because you don't trust the investigative process? 

That sucks.
  

Father Denied Access

State, Haverhill Police Won't Release Murray Information

By GARY E. LINDSLEY
Saturday July 24, 2004
   
HAVERHILL NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshire State Police and Haverhill police are refusing to release information regarding a February accident involving a Massachusetts woman and her subsequent disappearance.

Maura Murray, a 22-year-old University of Massachusetts at Amherst nursing student, was involved in a minor one-car accident on Route 112 in Haverhill, N.H., the night of Feb. 9.

Her father, Fred, filed Freedom of Information Act requests with state police and Haverhill police to obtain information about the accident and the investigation into Maura's disappearance.

His requests were denied by both state police and Haverhill police.

Murray received a letter dated June 29 from Brian Hester, a lieutenant with the state police Special Investigation Unit.

In the letter, Hester said, "A determination has been made these files are investigative in nature, the release of requested reports, logs and data information would be a disclosure constituting an unwarranted invasion of privacy under RSA 91-A:5 IV."

"The release and disclosure at this time could interfere with an ongoing investigation," Hester continued in his letter. "See Lodge v. Knowlton, 118 NH 574 (1978). Therefore, your request at this time is denied."

Gary J. Wood, an attorney representing the Haverhill Police Department, used the same reasoning and court case to decline providing Murray with the information surrounding his daughter's accident and subsequent disappearance.

The Lodge vs. Knowlton case involved a case filed in New Hampshire Supreme Court by Bruce Lodge against Col. Harold Knowlton of the New Hampshire State Police.

Lodge had attempted to obtain an accident report regarding an accident involving a police chief while operating his cruiser.

In conclusion, the court determined the six-prong test of 5 U.S.C. 552 (b) (7) provided a good standard to effectuate the balance of interests required by RSA CH. 91-A with regard to police investigatory files.

One of the elements of the six-prong test involves invasion of privacy.

The court also suggested a new hearing be held.

Hester, when contacted Friday morning, declined to comment and referred questions to David Ruhoff of the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office.

Ruhoff at first said he could not make any comments in any official capacity.

He then relented when told state police said he would be the one to discuss the freedom of information act request refusal.

Ruhoff did say because it's an ongoing investigation, even the accident report cannot be released.

Wood was not available for comment.

As for Murray, he does not understand why authorities won't release any information about his daughter, if her case is not being investigated as a criminal case.

State police have continually stated they consider it a missing person's case.

So, Murray does not understand why they won't release information about her case as well as the police reports regarding her accident.

He wonders whose privacy state police and police are worried about violating.

"What's so criminal about an accident report, if it's (being classified as) a missing person's case?" Murray asked. "They are denying me information which may help me."

FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2004

Psst! It's Julie Bureau!

The girl, who can't be named by order of the Youth Protection Service in Quebec...

Oh please! As if we don't know who you're talking about.

Found Quebec girl reunites with family

MONTREAL - A teenage girl who had been missing until last weekend reunited with her parents and younger brother for the first time in three years on Thursday. 

The 17-year-old girl who was found on Sunday, spent six hours with her family in the presence of her lawyer. 

The girl, who can't be named by order of the Youth Protection Service in Quebec, will remain in the service's care until a hearing is held to appoint a legal guardian. 

The girl's father said the reunion was emotional. 

She was spotted Sunday at a flea market in a town about an hour's drive from her home. She had been living with a 38-year-old man since shortly after running away in September 2001. 

The man said he thought the girl was older than 14 when he met her, and said they had not been romantically involved. 

The girl didn't resist police when they approached her, but waited for four days before initiating the family reunion. 

Most missing children are runaways, but few go so long without contacting friends or family.

Ya' know, I'm gonna' engage in a little idle gossip here. It just so happens that the Surete du Quebec investigator in charge of the Bureau investigation is also the lead investigator in my sister's case. So, just last month we were talking about the Bureau case. Said Investigator told me that the Bureau family was holding out hope that after Julie's 18th birthday she would reveal herself and return to the community. Sounds like the family had an inkling all along that her disappearance had less to do with an abduction, and was more in line with a family conflict.

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ncredible and Disturbing 

Teen found three years after disappearance

Challenge ahead for teen re-united with family 

MONTREAL - Canada's Missing Children's Network says it's a great relief that Julie Bureau has been found safe and sound.The return of the child could just be the beginning of a lot of work for the Bureau family—Missing Children's Network

The teenager disappeared three years ago while away at boarding school. There had been no trace of her until police found her on the weekend.

When Julie Bureau disappeared in September of 2001, nobody thought that she'd be away for so long.

The teen was away at boarding school in the town of Coaticook. She was last seen going for dinner with some friends at a McDonalds restaurant.

She was spotted this weekend in the town of Beauceville, Que.

Kathy Asimakopoulos of the Missing Children's Network says most runaways just do not stay away this long. 

"A lot of times they'll call home, they'll check in. If they don't call the parents they'll check in with their friends. It was different because she had not had that contact with her family," Asimakopoulos says.

Pina Arcamone, the director-general of the Missing Children's Network says 86 percent of runaways between 12 and 17 will come home after the first week.

Arcamone says they usually realize that their problems at home are not that bad once they've spent some time on the street.

In a case as peculiar as Bureau's, it may take some time for the family to re-acquaint, Arcamone suspects. 

"Sometimes the entire family needs to be referred for counselling so that they can learn to get re-acquainted, and this is the challenge now awaiting Julie's family as well," Arcamone says.

She says there are five teens in Quebec who have been missing for two and a half years. Arcamone says Julie's return is giving hope to these parents and others whose children are missing.

SATURDAY, JULY 10, 2004

Hello? FBI? Three women have disappeared in a 100 mile radius... Can we get some help up here in New England?

Ligia Rae Collins - Woman Missing Since July 5th

Maura Murray - "there is no evidence to link two women in New Hampshire and Vermont."

Brianna Maitland- "This is pretty sloppy. For them to have told me they were treating this as a criminal investigation is a bunch of shit."


You know, in the case of Maura Murray, the Police - under the direction of State police commander Lt. John Scarinza - have called Maura everything except the sad victim she most certainly is. Maura was "depressed", she was "suicidal", she had "problems at home", she was a "runaway", she was involved in the world of "illegal drugs". Pathetic.

In a show of sad support, allow me to offer the family this comfort. 25-years ago the police blamed my sister for going awol. She was "depressed", she went off to "find herself", she was a "hitchhiker", she was involved in the world of "illegal drugs", She was "pregnant and ashamed", "a runaway", a "lesbian and ashamed".

In actual fact, she turned out to be a murder victim. Her body was found five months later, less than a mile from where she lived.

Common, law enforcement, do your job and find Maura Murray.

Maura Murray Disappearance

"If he goes with the suicide theory, that means nothing happened on his turf and during his watch," Murray said. "However, when you have a bad guy (involved), it's in (Scarinza's) back yard and he can't solve it."

All too familiar and really quite pathetic...

Maura Murray Family, Friends Say State Police Lied

Saturday July 3, 2004

Family and friends of a missing 22-year-old University of Massachusetts at Amherst nursing student say New Hampshire State Police are misinforming the public.

"You don't try to provide spin unless you are trying to cover something up," said Sharon Rausch, mother of Maura Murray's boyfriend, Billy Rausch of Fort Sill, Okla.

Murray has not been seen since she was involved in a minor one-car accident Feb. 9 on dark, and curvy Route 112 in Haverhill, N.H.

"They are a bunch of liars," Rausch said. "I am at the point the only people I am worried about offending are Billy and Fred."

Fred is Fred Murray, Maura's father.

Murray and Rausch are upset about comments made this week by New Hampshire State Police Troop F commander Lt. John Scarinza.

Scarinza pointed to a book by Nicholas Howe, "Not Without Peril," as a possible source of why Maura disappeared. The book was among items found in her car.

In the book, there are stories about tragedies and rescues in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, areas in which Maura and her father had hiked.

Scarinza has said Murray told police his daughter was suicidal.

However, the first mention of Maura being suicidal was in a press release issued by Haverhill Police Chief Jeff Williams two days after Maura's car accident and disappearance.

Murray says he never told police his daughter was suicidal.

"I want to set the record straight," he said. "Scarinza is using (Howe's book) to reinforce his suicide theory. It's nothing like that.

"Maura liked the book," he said. "She was making her way through it. The reason she liked the book was because she likes several different areas in the White Mountains. There are all kinds of landmarks. That's all it was."

Although he is upset about Scarinza's comments, Murray isn't surprised.

"If he goes with the suicide theory, that means nothing happened on his turf and during his watch," Murray said. "However, when you have a bad guy (involved), it's in (Scarinza's) back yard and he can't solve it."

"He's pushing it hard," he continued. "He's to the point he's making things up."

Rausch, equally upset with Scarinza's comments, says, "It's pretty pathetic that 41/2 months later, the state police want to secure the evidence."

She says it's comparable to the state police not searching for Maura until 36 hours after she disappeared.

"They never did a forensics study," Rausch said. "And Lt. Scarinza is providing a lot of misinformation to the public - including that she ran away to a new life; she froze to death; she committed suicide."

"When I lay awake at night," she continued, "I wonder how well Lt. Scarinza is sleeping."

And Rausch is adamant when she says she never told Scarinza about "Not Without Peril."

"That angers me because this is just another thing that is a lie," she said. "Why didn't he ask me what that meant?"

Rausch was referring to Maura saying the book was her favorite.

"She told me (the White Mountains are) a favorite place she likes to go," she said, adding Maura told her, ÔAnd most of all it's my favorite place on earth.'"

Scarinza could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

THURSDAY, JULY 01, 2004

The Honourable Irwin Cotler
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8

July 1, 2004

Dear Minister Cotler:

I am writing to you to seek clarification on the issue of the retention of evidence in criminal cases in Canada. Specifically, I would like to know what the laws, policies, or procedures are for safely retaining physical evidence in Canada at the Federal, Provincial, regional and municipal level. Are these standards (if they even exist) set by individual police units, or are they mandated by law at a higher authority?

This is an issue that is very personal to me. Allow me to share a story. Recently I was speaking with an investigator with the Surete du Quebec. This investigator is currently in charge of the investigation into the murder of my sister, Theresa Allore; a case that has long gone cold, her death occurred over 25-years ago. The investigator is a very good man, and he was relating to me what a shame it was that physical evidence from my sister’s case had been discarded less than five years after she died. Without that evidence, it was making it very difficult for the Surete to build a case against the individual we both believe was the offender in this crime. Again, this investigator related to me that the disposal of evidence was unfortunate, but we must move on and not dwell on that. We must find another approach, no matter how difficult, to catch the offender.

Minister Cotler, I agree with this investigator. I am not going to dwell on past mistakes. However, I would find it easier to move on if I had some assurance that such an unfortunate oversight could not possibly happen again. Unfortunately, in the past two years I have looked into the matter of evidence retention and nothing gives me confidence that there are today uniform procedures for keeping evidence.

On two occasions I have contacted the R.C.M.P. and asked them what their policy was. On both occasions the R.C.M.P. chose to ignore my request; they never returned my emails or phone calls. I have put the question to officers at the Surete du Quebec – good officers; they assured me that they would never dispose of evidence, but when pressed to come up with some documentation they were unable to do so. A matter as important as evidence retention should not be left to the quality of the individual; yes, they might be good officers, but the public has no assurance that the next person in charge of the file will be equally dedicated. These cold cases have a way of outlasting administrative staff, it is great to have police officers with character, but have their actions backed up with policy – as the old Russian proverb goes, Trust, But Verify.

This has not been the extent of my research. I have put the question of evidence retention to Vancouver’s Police Victim Services, Ontario’s Office for Victims of Crime, Manitoba’s Organization of Victim Advocates, the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime; no one has a clear idea what the laws, policies, procedures, rules are for properly keeping evidence in Canada. In the U.S. it seems that not a day passes that a cold case is solved because of a piece of evidence that was kept around for 30 to 40 years. Contrast this with the experience last year in Montreal where the urban police force threw away thousands of pieces of cold case evidence because the Montreal City Council claimed they didn’t have the storage space necessary to retain it.

So now I come to you Minister Colter. I call upon you to use your powers as both Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General to tell me in plain language; what are the laws, policies, or procedures for safely retaining physical evidence in Canada at the Federal, Provincial, regional and municipal level? Let me forewarn you; I will not appreciate it if I receive a list of names from you with instructions to hunt down this information for myself at all the various government levels. I consider that research your job, and the responsibility of your office. If I am stalled by such a maneuver, I will be forced to conclude that Canada’s Minister of Justice doesn’t know the laws, policies, and procedures governing evidence retention – a conclusion I am prepared to voice quite publicly. It may not be within your job description to keep track of such information, but I am asking you to help me and all victims to clarify these matters.

Thank you for the time and attention I know you will dedicate to this important issue.

I await your reply.

Sincerely,


John Allore
www.whokilledtheresa.blogspot.com