A PRIVATE investigator has shared what he thought could have happened to Maura Murray 20 years after she vanished.

Lou Barry has worked with the Murray family to help get answers as to what happened to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst student who disappeared in 2004.

Maura was 21 years old when she was last seen following a car crash on Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire, about 78 miles northwest of Concord.

She was officially seen for the last time on February 9 when she vanished from the scene of the crash, as she was nowhere to be seen when police arrived shortly afterward.

The road Maura was last seen on ran through the woods in New Hampshire and some theories about her disappearance have suggested she may have disappeared into the woods.

Lou Barry exclusively told The U.S. Sun why he initially believed this could have been the case but shared why he has since changed his mind.

Barry explained that the investigations into the surrounding area by police and investigators had been extensive.

“I think that the area has been searched over and over and over again and I believe if she was anywhere near there she would have been located,” he said.

Barry added that he did not believe Maura was still alive and he explained why.

“I think it’s a combination of a number of factors,” he said.

Firstly, Barry explained his thoughts on what scenario Maura could be alive and why he thought it would not have happened the night she went missing.

“The only way I think she would possibly still be alive is if she had been kidnapped and trafficked,” he said.

“You know we are talking about Woodsville, New Hampshire, in the middle of February.

“It’s not a place where traffickers go looking for victims.”

Secondly, Barry also believed she couldn’t have run into the woods and possibly still be here due to how close Maura was with her family.

“I can’t believe that all this time would go by and she would not have contacted them somehow,” he said.

Barry’s final reason was the “situation at the scene.”

The private investigator explained it could have been possible that Muara ran on the road rather than into the woods and in the snow but he was not convinced she wouldn’t have been spotted in that time.

“The chances of her being a voluntary disappearance are negligible,” he said.

“The fact that she would have been kidnapped and trafficked are just as negligible so that leaves one answer and that’s something happened to her that night up there.”

Maura’s sister Julie also previously spoke to The U.S. Sun and shared that she also thought Maura may not be alive today.

“I believe that my sister was met with foul play and I believe that she’s most likely no longer with us,” Julie said.

Julie explained that the absence of sightings and evidence in the snow-covered woods at the time led to her disbelief.

“My reasoning behind that is number one there were no footprints into the snow,” she said.

“There was a helicopter search with heat sensing radar technology, there were a ton of people in and around the scene, there were a ton of searches in that immediate area and nothing has ever been found. 

“That coupled with the fact that after 20 years there have been no credible sightings.”

Investigators released an age progression image of Maura a day before the 20th anniversary of her disappearance.

Maura’s family has continued to put her name out in the search for answers to the case.

Julie has created a TikTok page and she has worked on a podcast series called Media Pressure.