Human bone fragments were discovered in a construction site in the area of New Hampshire's Loon Mountain according to state police. The bone fragments were found while workers were digging at the site and diagnostic testing of the fragments is still underway.
The testing will determine the age and possible sex of the bone fragments, according to a statement released by New Hampshire State Police.
The family of a woman who went missing near the area of Loon Mountain in 2004 is hoping the test results will give them some answers. The woman, Maura Murray was 21 when she disappeared on February 9, 2004.
Authorities believed she hit a snowbank which ran her off the road, causing her car to hit a tree along Route 112 in North Haverhill, New Hampshire. She was last seen at 7:30 p.m. that evening by a passerby. Maura was never located.
"A little over a week ago during construction on the mountain, a team there digging some electrical wires came across what they believe to be human remains," Julie Murray, the missing sister's woman told WATD. "They called in the appropriate authorities and it was in fact a human skull."
The University of Massachusetts nursing student's car was found in 2004 about 25 miles away from where the bone fragments were discovered. Many leads into Maura's disappearance have been investigated over the years, but none have seemed as promising as the remains found near Loon Mountain.
"It feels different because it is so close to where her car was found. It's 25 miles away from where her car was found which is pretty damn close," Murray told Newsweek. "It's also in the direction she would have had to travel if she were going to the Bartlett area and she called that area earlier that day, she called a condo complex. We don't know where she was heading but we do know she called Bartlett and from where her car was found in North Haverhill to Bartlett you have to pass through Lincoln which is where Loon is."
Julie Murray said the investigation is still ongoing and the family does not have a lot of information at this time but is patiently awaiting the results of the diagnostic testing. Due to the small size of the fragments, testing could take several months, Murray said.
The family is urging the public to give the investigators space and not interfere with the investigation.
"I've just been urging people to be patient. If I can be patient and be responsible with this I think the public should as well, follow my lead," Murray told Newsweek. "Give the investigators the time and space that they need to do a proper investigation because the bottom line is these are human remains so it's somebody. If it's not Maura then it's somebody and whoever's family it deserves the respect for them to be notified appropriately and not read about it on social media."
The strange disappearance of Maura has been the topic of many true crime podcasts and documentaries. The case is also widely discussed by internet sleuths who research into the case from the comfort of their own homes which is helpful in keeping the cold case active, but often time leads to baseless claims and opinions.
"It's a double-edged sword because you've got these people filling in and making up a story based on very limited factual information and then what's happened over the years is that Maura's been turned into a character," Murray told Newsweek. "People lose sight that it's a real person and we're a real family and we're not characters in a story."
