New search finds no evidence of Maura Murray at home near crash site

Hopes for answers in a 15-year mystery came up empty Wednesday. Maura Murray is still missing.

Her family believed her remains were buried in a New Hampshire farmhouse and they convinced authorities to focus the search there.

But authorities revealed Wednesday afternoon that they did not find Maura or any evidence related to the case.

"This one hurts because I thought we finally had it," said Fred Murray, Maura's father.

There was noticeable pain in Fred Murray's voice as he addressed members of the media from across New England regarding the latest twist in the disappearance of his daughter.

Maura Murray vanished 15 years ago after crashing her car on a rural road in North Haverhill, New Hampshire.

"This one is worse than the other false alarms or dead ends," Fred Murray said. "I was pretty sure, you know."

Wednesday, state and federal authorities scoured a home just a few hundred yards from where Maura was last seen. They were there because private investigators had recently brought cadaver dogs into the home, which alerted them to a spot in the basement where there could be human remains buried.

The cement was cut out Wednesday but police say no evidence was found in connection with the case.

"She wants to come home and be buried in her hometown. And she can't. She's buried up here," Fred Murray said. "And I need help."

The FBI assisted in Wednesday's search. Authorities say they will continue to work the case, which is currently classified as a missing persons investigation.

Reporter Adam Sullivan: Jeff, what is the message to the Murray family?

Jeff Strelzin/N.H. Associate Attorney General: The message is the same which is everybody involved remains committed to following every lead that is out there to try to get answers to what happened to Maura.

Police ask that anyone with any information about the case to contact them.

As for the Murrays, they say the will never stop searching until they bring Maura home.

"Maura was an amazing human being and there is a reason why we have been fighting so hard for her over the last 15 years. Couldn't give up the search; we never will," said Kurtis Murray, Maura's brother.

HOW THE MYSTERY BEGAN

"For her not to call, means to me she is not able to call, and that frightens me," Fred Murray said in 2004.

The nightmare for Murray's family began Feb. 9, 2004, when Maura Murray disappeared.

The UMass nursing student crashed on Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire. Police found her car but she had vanished.

Murray had looked online for hotels in the Burlington area just before the minor accident. There was no sign of her there either.

Initially, police found no evidence of foul play. But time passed and police began to suspect something went wrong. But what? They uncovered very few clues at the scene.

And ongoing searches by authorities, family and friends turned up nothing over the last 15 years.

Her family thought this latest search would be the closure they so desperately wanted. But the mystery into Murray's disappearance continues.

Murray went missing around the same time as another young woman, Brianna Maitland of Franklin County. But police never connected the two disappearances.