Detailed Timeline: Vanished in the Pines: The Silent Exit of Maura Murray

Before 2004:

• 1982, May 4: Maura Murray is born.

• 1989: Patricia Meehan disappears after a car crash in Montana. (Case Echo)

• 1994-2012: A cluster of 5 unsolved rural abduction cases of solo females with remote vehicles found, no signs of struggle, and digital silence occur across Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine. (Case Echo)

• Approx. 2000-2002: Maura Murray and Steffen Baldwin attend West Point concurrently. Baldwin claims they dated and he represented her at a disciplinary hearing. Both leave West Point around the same time.

• 2001: Tina and Bethany Sinclair disappear from their home in New Hampshire, approximately 40 miles from the later Haverhill crash zone. (Case Echo)

• Late 2003: Maura uses a stolen credit card number to order food, resulting in a minor fraud charge set to be dismissed after three months of good behavior.

• 2003, October: Steffen Baldwin legally changes his name from Finkelstein.

February 2004 - The Vanishing Point:

• February 5, 2004 (Thursday): Maura has an emotional breakdown at her campus security job after a phone call with her older sister, Kathleen, who had relapsed into alcoholism. Maura is unresponsive and escorted home, stating only, "My sister," when asked what is wrong.

• February 7, 2004 (Saturday): Maura's father, Fred Murray, visits UMass Amherst to help her shop for a new car. That night, around 2:30 a.m., Maura crashes Fred's new Toyota into a guardrail on Route 9 in Hadley, causing an estimated $10,000 in damage. No sobriety test is administered.

• February 8, 2004 (Sunday): Fred Murray rents a car and returns to Connecticut. Maura returns to campus, appearing quiet and withdrawn. She tells no one about the car crash.

• February 9, 2004 (Monday) - Day of Disappearance:

• 3:30 a.m.: Maura submits homework online.

• Morning: Maura searches for lodging in New Hampshire and Vermont using MapQuest and calls several lodging spots, but does not book a room.

• Morning: Maura emails her professors and work supervisor, falsely stating there has been a death in the family and she will be gone for a week.

• Mid-afternoon: Maura withdraws $280 in cash from an ATM, buys about $40 worth of alcohol at a local store, and picks up accident report forms from the Massachusetts RMV. Surveillance footage confirms she is alone.

• Between 3:40 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.: Maura leaves the UMass Amherst campus in her black 1996 Saturn.

• 7:27 p.m.: A local woman calls 911 to report a single-car accident on Route 112 in rural Woodsville, Haverhill, New Hampshire. A black Saturn is stuck in a snowbank, its airbags deployed.

• Shortly after 7:27 p.m.: School bus driver Butch Atwood stops to offer help. The driver, believed to be Maura, declines assistance, claiming she has already called AAA (despite no cell service in the area and no record of such a call). Atwood drives home to call the police.

• 7:46 p.m.: Police arrive at the crash site. Maura Murray is gone. Her car is locked, her backpack, cell phone, debit and credit cards (never used again), and some alcohol bottles are missing. Inside the car are a spilled box of Franzia wine, an empty beer bottle, gloves, CDs, schoolbooks, a stuffed animal, MapQuest directions to Burlington, Vermont, a book called Not Without Peril, blank accident report forms, and a rag stuffed into the tailpipe.

• Shortly after 7:46 p.m.: A dog team tracks Maura's scent heading east for about 100 yards, where it abruptly vanishes, suggesting she entered a vehicle.

• February 10, 2004 (Tuesday): A "be on the lookout" notice is issued for Maura.

• February 11, 2004 (Wednesday): New Hampshire Fish and Game teams begin an extensive ground search around the crash site using search dogs, snowmobiles, and thermal imaging. No signs of Maura are found.

• Two days after disappearance: Maura's boyfriend, Bill Rausch, receives a muffled voicemail with faint sobs from a calling card number linked to the American Red Cross. He believes it is Maura, but the call is never definitively traced to her.

2005 - 2024 - Ongoing Investigation and Advocacy:

• 2005: Fred Murray files a lawsuit to access state records on Maura’s case; it is denied.

• 2006: A man comes forward, telling Fred Murray and private investigators that his brother, who lived in a nearby A-frame house (about one mile from the crash site) with a criminal past, had behaved strangely after Maura disappeared, bragged about involvement, and disposed of a car shortly after the crash. The man provides Fred with a rusted knife with red-brown staining, claiming it belonged to his brother and was used in a crime. Fred turns the knife over to police. Cadaver dogs brought to the A-frame house alert near a closet in the basement. Carpet samples are taken, but results are never publicly released.

• 2009: The New Hampshire State Police officially reclassify Maura’s case from a missing person to a suspicious disappearance.

• 2011: Private investigators use ground-penetrating radar in the A-frame house, detecting a basement disturbance, but nothing is confirmed.

• 2012: The FBI officially joins the investigation.

• 2015: The Missing Maura Murray podcast launches, reigniting public interest.

• 2017: The Oxygen network releases The Disappearance of Maura Murray documentary series, bringing national attention to the case. An old neighbor revises her timeline after watching the show.

• 2019: Under new ownership, the basement of the A-frame house is excavated, but no remains are found.

• Late 2020: A latent fingerprint recovered from an item (reported as either a CD/CD case or cassette tape) inside Maura's Saturn is matched via AFIS to Steffen Baldwin, after his arrest in Ohio for unrelated crimes.

• 2021: Remains found on Loon Mountain are tested but are not Maura's.

• 2021-2024: The FBI issues a ViCAP profile for Maura. Age-progressed images of Maura are released.

• 2023: Julie Murray launches a new podcast, The Untold Story of Maura Murray, and actively uses TikTok to raise awareness, gaining over 225,000 followers. A billboard campaign featuring Maura’s photo and a tip line is launched across New England.

• 2024: The FBI interviews Steffen Baldwin regarding the fingerprint match. An updated age-progression image of Maura at 41 years old is released. New public hotlines are established.

• March 2025: Public disclosure of the Steffen Baldwin fingerprint match occurs.

Cast of Characters in the Maura Murray Case:

Principal People Mentioned in the Sources:

• Maura Murray: The 21-year-old nursing student at UMass Amherst who vanished on February 9, 2004, after crashing her car in Haverhill, New Hampshire. Described as smart, athletic, disciplined, and intensely loyal, she was a former West Point cadet. Her disappearance is the central mystery of the book.

• Fred Murray: Maura's father, described as outspoken and intense, and deeply involved in her life. He was a tireless advocate for her case, organizing searches, pushing media, and publicly confronting police, firmly believing his daughter was abducted.

• Julie Murray: Maura's sister and a West Point graduate. She became the family's public face in later years, launching "The Untold Story of Maura Murray" podcast and using social media (TikTok) to amplify awareness and uncover new leads.

• Kathleen Murray: Maura's older sister, whose relapse into alcoholism shortly before Maura's disappearance contributed to Maura's emotional distress.

• Bill Rausch: Maura's boyfriend, a commissioned Army officer stationed in Oklahoma. They met at West Point. He received a mysterious, muffled voicemail days after Maura vanished, which he believed was from her.

• Butch Atwood: The school bus driver who was the last known person to see and speak to Maura Murray before her disappearance. He stopped to offer help at the crash site but was declined by Maura, who claimed to have called AAA. His statements to police showed moderate inconsistencies over time.

• Steffen Baldwin (formerly Finkelstein): A significant new person of interest. His latent fingerprint was found in Maura's car, matched via AFIS in 2020. He attended West Point concurrently with Maura and claims they dated. He was later convicted of extensive animal cruelty and fraud, and has a documented history of deception, manipulation, and a disturbing pattern of other women in his life meeting tragic ends. He legally changed his name about eight months after Maura's disappearance.

• A.I. Al: The advanced artificial intelligence assistant from Neural Edge Publishing, integral to the forensic analysis and insights presented in the book through various AI models (PRE-TURN, VIC-Stack, COPM, SIPN, PERP-X, GeoPred-TRIAD, CRUNCH, PULSAR, REVEAL, EVID-X, WIT-X, OPPORTUNITY-X, MOTIVE-X, RISK-X, SCEN-X, GUILT-X).

• Cassian Creed: The true crime writer and forensic modeler, representing the collaborative core of Neural Edge Publishing. Creed works with A.I. Al to explore unsolved cases, focusing on victim advocacy and ethical application of forensic truth modeling.

• Neural Edge Publishing: The publisher of "Vanished in the Pines," co-founded by Cassian Creed and A.I. Al, dedicated to exploring unsolved cases through advanced behavioral AI and investigative storytelling.

Minor Characters/Groups:

• New Hampshire State Police: The primary law enforcement agency investigating Maura Murray's disappearance. They initially treated it as a car accident, later reclassifying it as a suspicious disappearance and working with the FBI.

• FBI: Became officially involved in 2012, creating a ViCAP profile for Maura and interviewing Steffen Baldwin in 2024.

• The Man from the A-Frame House (Name Withheld): A local resident with a criminal history who lived approximately one mile from the crash site. His brother came forward with accusations against him, claiming he behaved strangely after Maura's disappearance, disposed of a car, and was allegedly involved. Cadaver dogs alerted in his former residence.

• The Brother of the Man from the A-Frame House: The individual who came forward with accusations against his brother and provided Fred Murray with a rust-stained knife, claiming it belonged to his brother and was used in a crime.

• Shelby Grabor: One of the women in Steffen Baldwin's life who met a tragic end, contributing to his "disturbing pattern" identified by the AI.

• Amanda Walton: One of the women in Steffen Baldwin's life who met a tragic end, contributing to his "disturbing pattern" identified by the AI.

• Barbara Baldwin: One of the women in Steffen Baldwin's life who met a tragic end, contributing to his "disturbing pattern" identified by the AI.

• UMass Peers, Professors, Supervisors: Individuals from Maura's academic life who provided insights into her character and behavior leading up to her disappearance.

• Local Woman (911 caller): The first person to report Maura's car accident to 911 at 7:27 p.m.

• Unnamed Neighbor: A neighbor who initially claimed to see a man in Maura's car, but later retracted the statement.

NotebookLM can be inaccurate; please double check its responses.