In April and again in June, New Hampshire and Vermont police dismissed any connection between Murray's case and Maitland's. In a press release, they stated they believed, "Maura was headed for an unknown destination and may have accepted a ride in order to continue to that location", adding that they had discovered no evidence that a crime had been committed. They dismissed the possibility of a serial killer being involved.
On July 1, police retrieved the items found in Murray's vehicle from her family for forensic analysis. On July 13, a one-mile radius search was performed by nearly 100 searchers, including state troopers, rescue personnel, and volunteers. It was the fourth search around the crash area and the first search performed without snow on the ground. Authorities were most interested in locating the black backpack Murray had in her possession but not found in her car. Police stated the search discovered "nothing conclusive".
In late 2004, a man allegedly gave Murray's father a rusty, stained knife that belonged to the man's brother, who had a criminal past and lived less than a mile from where the car was discovered. His brother and his brother's girlfriend were said to have acted strangely after the disappearance, and the man's brother claimed he believed the knife had been used to kill Murray. Several days after the knife was given to Murray's father, the man's brother allegedly scrapped his Volvo. Family members of the man who turned in the knife claimed he had made up the story in order to obtain reward money in the investigation, and that he had a history of drug use.
In 2005, Fred Murray petitioned New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson for help in the search, and appeared on The Montel Williams Show in November 2004 to publicize the case. On February 9, 2005, the one-year anniversary of Murray's disappearance, a service was held where the car was found, and her father met briefly with New Hampshire Governor John Lynch.
In late 2005, Fred Murray filed suit against several law enforcement agencies, with the aim of seeing files on the case. On November 1, 2005, a user named "Tom Davies" logged into a message board called "Not Without Peril," which was dedicated to discussion of Murray's disappearance, and claimed to have seen a black backpack behind a restroom at Pemigewasset Overlook, around 30 miles from Woodsville. Murray had owned a black backpack. Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin stated that law enforcement "was aware of the backpack," but did not disclose whether it had been taken for forensic testing.
[LATER INVESTIGATIONS]
The New Hampshire League of Investigators, ten retired police officers and detectives, and the Molly Bish Foundation started working on the case in 2006.Tom Shamshak, a former police chief and a member of the Licensed Private Detectives Association of Massachusetts, said, "It appears...that this is something beyond a mere missing persons case. Something ominous could have happened here." The Arkansas group Let's Bring Them Home offered a $75,000 reward in 2007 for information that could solve her disappearance.
In October 2006, volunteers led a two-day search within a few miles of where Murray's car was found. In the closet of an A-frame house approximately 1 mile from the crash site, cadaver dogs allegedly went "bonkers," possibly identifying the presence of human remains. The house had formerly been the residence of the man implicated by his brother, who had given Fred Murray the rusty knife in 2004. A sample of carpet from the home was sent to the New Hampshire State Police, but the results were never released to the public. In July 2008, volunteers led another two-day search through wooded areas in Haverhill. The group consisted of dog teams and licensed private investigators.
In early 2012, observers of the Murray case began taking note of a YouTube user named "Mr112dirtbag", who posted a series of online videos that some believed contained cryptic clues to Murray's disappearance. Both Murray's family and professional criminologists dismissed the videos as a "cruel and hideous" ploy for attention.
In 2014, on the tenth anniversary of Murray's disappearance, Strelzin stated that "We haven't had any credible sightings of Maura since the night she disappeared."In an article published in the New York Daily News, on the tenth anniversary of his daughter's disappearance, it was reported that Fred Murray believed she was dead, and had been abducted the night of her disappearance.
On February 9, 2017, the thirteenth anniversary of Murray's disappearance, Strelzin wrote in an email to The Boston Globe: "It's still an open case with periods of activity and [at] times it goes dormant. There are no new updates to share at this time."
In February 2019, the fifteenth anniversary of Murray's disappearance, Fred Murray reiterated his belief that his daughter is dead, as well as his suspicions about the nearby house that cadaver dogs responded to, stating, "That's my daughter, I do believe."
In early April 2019, excavation was done within the basem*nt of the house near the crash site. Fred Murray had previously wanted to search the home, but the owners did not cooperate. Following sale of the property, its new owners allowed several searches of the property since February 2019. The excavation conducted in early April found "absolutely nothing, other than what appears to be a piece of pottery or old piping."
