"The Disappearance of Maura Murray" Finale Leaves Everyone Clueless

Maria and I recently watched "The Disappearance of Maura Murray," a six-part series that investigated a real-life unsolved crime from 2004. The show followed a journalist and a retired US Marshal as they sought to find the truth once and for all. Although the story itself was interesting, the finale failed so miserably that it should tarnish the careers of everyone involved.

The Mystery:

Maura Murray, a student at the University of Massachusetts, mysteriously disappeared on February 9, 2004. The backstory is complicated, but the Reader's Digest version goes like this: Maura e-mailed her professors to say she wouldn't be in class due to a death in the family (this was a lie - there wasn't a death in the family). She then took some money out of the ATM, packed up her car, and drove to New Hampshire. Later that evening, she was involved in a car accident. A motorist stopped to see if anyone needed help, and Maura claimed to have called for vehicle assistance already. When the police showed up a few minutes later, Maura was gone and has never been seen since.

There's all kinds of speculation as to what happened. Maura had a boyfriend (apparently the relationship was not going well), so like any episode of "Dateline," police looked at him first. Also, Maura had been fighting with her father, specifically over the fact that she had damaged his car in an unrelated accident a few days earlier. Based on Maura's odd behavior the day of her disappearance, however, it seemed unlikely that either the boyfriend or the father was involved.

Another rumor was that Maura had the accident and was then abducted by someone in another car. This seems improbable because of the tight time frame. There were only a few minutes between the time the passerby saw the car and the police arrived. It would have been an amazing coincidence for a person with bad intent to drive by right at that time.

Some people speculate that the police were involved in a cover-up of some sort. Others suggest Maura staged the accident and left with a tandem driver to start a new life in Canada. Both are doubtful. The most likely answer is that Maura either walked along the road (and got into a car) or walked into the woods. The police never found any bones, but a detective explained that it's very rare to find bones, even in the woods. In any case, it's a real mystery as to what actually happened to Maura Murray that night.

The TV series followed journalist Maggie Freleng and retired US Marshal Art Roderick as they investigated Maura's disappearance. They interviewed family members, law enforcement, and local journalists. They tracked down a person in Canada who thought she might have seen Maura (turned out to be a dead end). They used search dogs to cover large areas of mountainside. After the fifth episode, the show had disproved various theories but still didn't have an actual answer.

The Finale:

The penultimate episode introduced a new theory: Maura was taken to a house near the crash site and murdered. There are "rumors around town" that Maura died there, and the house has since been remodeled. However, Maggie and Art sent canines into the house and found what might be blood on a wood chip in an old closet. Is it blood? And if so, is it Maura's?

At the beginning of the finale, Dr. Max Noureddine, a molecular geneticist, is testing the wood chip. He rubs a Q-tip on the wood and notices a "faint color," which is a sign of blood. He recommends they send the wood chip to a lab for further testing. More on this later.

Maggie explains she and Art have "hit a roadblock" while waiting for the lab results to come back. Again, they have disproved a lot of theories, but they still haven't come to a conclusion as to what did happen. Because she has "nothing left to lose" at this point, she decides to take a risk.

The "Celebrity Medium"

Maggie and Art invite "celebrity medium" Allison DuBois to come to New Hampshire and meet with them. Yes, they are turning to a psychic! But rest assured: Allison isn't some scam artist. She's been "helping solve crimes for 20 years" and has worked with "police in Arizona and the Texas Rangers."

Great Texas Ranger Nolan Ryan did not work with Allison DuBois.

Allison arrives at Maggie and Art's cabin and assures them that she has not been told anything about the case. She only knows it's about a missing woman. "If I knew something about this case, I actually couldn't work it because otherwise it taints what I get when I go to a crime scene," she explains. A true professional!

Maggie shows Allison a photo of the victim and gives Maura's name and birthday. Allison starts sketching on a pad. After a few dramatic doodles, she's ready to share her thoughts. Highlights:

• Maura isn't willfully staying away from her family. She wouldn't just do something like this.
• Maura is probably not alive.
• Allison thinks that a car plays a key role somehow.
• Someone Maura knows is involved or at least knows the person she was last with.
• The person who took Maura has a "predatory element" to him.

Read that list again. Is that not the most VAGUE, UNHELPFUL drivel you've ever read?? I mean, of course if it was a crime, then someone knows something. And she hasn't been seen since 2004, so I would imagine she is probably dead. Like any good "medium," Allison gave a ton of filler that was so general it would apply to virtually any missing persons case.

Predatory elements? Does Harvey Weinstein have an alibi?!

Allison wants to visit the crash site. There, she starts getting "impressions" from Maura. Per Allison, Maura was a real salt-of-the-Earth person. Good to know! At the site, Allison says that Maura didn't get into a car willingly. She might have gotten into a car with a "charming man" who "turned on her." Or, it could be a friend or acquaintance. Or, a group of two or three men who "may have been brothers." So to summarize, she might have gotten into a car with a person, or it could have been multiple people, and they may or may not have been related. Got it!

The celebrity psychic then says that a bridge is somehow important to the story. Is there a bridge nearby? Yes, many. Ok, well it needs to be a bridge near "a street that is more of a dead end."

Art and Maggie pick out three local bridges that meet the criteria, then pick up Allison to visit the bridges. In the car, Allison is wearing a shirt with three stripes on it, as if she's in the military.

At the first bridge, Allison breathes deeply and says it "doesn't feel like murder here." At the second bridge, Allison says she is trying to visualize the bridge from Maura's point of view. No, this bridge is not what Maura saw. Per Allison, Maura was not directly under the bridge at any time. Way to add in a detail to give yourself faux credibility!

The group goes to the third bridge. Nah, sorry, this isn't it either. From her visions, Allison says that the bridge Maura saw was "not so rounded" at the top. False alarm. Although Allison has done nothing of value this entire time, Maggie ends the segment by saying that there are hundreds of bridges in New Hampshire, so Allison might be on the right track. That's the spirit!

The Hike

After the "celebrity medium" failed to crack the case, Maggie and Art turn to podcasters Lance Reenstierna and Tim Pilleri, both of whom have been researching Maura's disappearance for years.

Lance and Tim received an e-mail that says, "Maura's body is located at 44.1644 N, 71.4326 W." The coordinates are in the middle of a forest, and they would like to team up with Maggie and her crew to see if Maura's body is actually there. The podcasters explain that they once set off to find the coordinates on their own, but they backed off after receiving subsequent e-mails warning them to mind their own business.

The mysterious e-mails were from a person named "RAY RUMMAU," which - per Lance and Tim - is "MAURA MURRAY" rearranged. Actually, it's not! RAY RUMMAU only has nine letters, and if you double two of the letters, you can spell MAURA MURRAY. On the screen, they quickly shuffled the letters and gave the impression it was a perfect fit. Misleading!

(As a side note, I find it comical that the fake name looks like "Ray Romano," which means I am doing his voice in my head whenever they mention the e-mails).

"Debra, I killed someone in 2004!"

Tim, Lance, Maggie, and Art pack into a car and head off for the mountains.  Wait - another e-mail from Ray Romano! He says to "stop looking." Is Ray watching them? Is he a part of the camera crew? Art is worried that this is getting very dangerous.

The crew meets up with Dustin Cormier, a trail guide. Dustin says that it's going to be a 15-mile round trip to the coordinates and back. At this point, I have what should be an obvious question: Why don't they just fly a drone with a camera to the coordinates and check it out? I understand that they would need something more powerful than the drones people play with in their back yards, but can't the network afford to rent something to do the trick? At least they could fly the drone close enough to see if there are clothes or something suspicious there.

The crew has now been hiking into the woods for five hours. However, no one is sweating! Are the hair and makeup crews tagging along? This whole adventure seems to be a long shot, seeing as it would be nearly impossible to drag someone 7.5 miles into thick woods in the middle of winter.

They finally reach the coordinates and look around for evidence like disturbed soil. "What is that over there??" Art dramatically asks. Other people say they also see something! "There is a bright green something over there," Art says while pointing. Lance lets out an "Oh my God!" What is it?? It turns out "it was just a tree." A tree in the woods? Imagine that!

The group finds nothing, meaning the hike was a complete waste of time. I wish they cut to Ray Romano laughing maniacally from a chopper hovering above.

Lab Results 

With the hike turning out to be a dud, Maggie and Art circle back to something from earlier in the episode. Remember that they asked Dr. Max Noureddine to do a blood test on a wood chip from a house near the crash site? Dr. Noureddine thought it was blood and recommended they send the chip to a lab for further testing. Good news - the results are in! 

Dr. Lori Baker, a forensic scientist, meets Maggie and Art in her lab. She has some "interesting results." The wood chip contains blood from two individuals. "There is a possibility this could be Maura," Dr. Baker adds. Finally, an actual development. This is great! Let's go back to Dr. Baker for some details: The blood from the first person belongs to a male, and they can't tell the gender of the second person.

WAIT! Let me get this straight. There is blood from a male in that wood chip and perhaps blood from a woman as well? But it could be a second male? Dr. Baker says that the only way to tell if the second person was Maura (or any female) is to do a DNA test. Fortunately, Art knows a person in the cold case unit, and they have Maura's DNA on file, so it can be tested. 

Later, Maggie and Art meet up with Maura's father and other family members to share the results. In a voiceover narration, Maggie explains that the blood on the wood chip was so degraded that they couldn't tell whose blood it could possibly be. So...it could be a woman. Or a man. Really, anyone in the world who was alive when that house was standing. That's the big conclusion?!

The DNA results narrowed it down to about 7 billion people.

There is one piece of good news that Art wants to pass along. Law enforcement is going to go over the case again. They've created not one, not two, but THREE Task Forces! They even sent out an Interpol Yellow Notice that "blasts out to 190 countries...with all of the information on the case." So, the governments of Sudan and Estonia can look into it?

Finally, Maggie tells the family that law enforcement has "released a new piece of evidence." What is it? A never-before-seen video of Maura getting cash at the ATM minutes before she left Massachusetts. The video is shown and everyone agrees that Maura is at the ATM getting cash. Ok then!

The the final narration, Maggie says that "something bad" happened to Maura and "it's possible she is no longer alive." If anyone knows anything, please reach out to law enforcement.

Conclusion

"The Disappearance of Maura Murray" was an interesting series about a truly baffling case. The finale, however, was a massive disappointment. I thought the crew hit rock bottom when they brought in a "celebrity medium" and took a meaningless 15 mile hike, but the DNA test that literally eliminated NO ONE IN THE WORLD took the cake. Best wishes to police as they reopen their investigation and blessings to Ray Romano as he continues to escape capture for this crime!

Photo Credits:
Nolan Ryan: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/nolan-ryan/
Harvey Weinstein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Weinstein
Everybody Loves Raymond: http://www.everybodylovesray.com/galleries/gallery.php
Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth