NEW YORK ( CNN ) -- Every weekend for more than four years , Fred Murray has walked the road where his daughter , Maura , vanished . Family , friends and volunteers help him look in the woods and mountains near Haverhill , New Hampshire , for clues to what happened to her . Maura Murray , 21 , disappeared while driving in the New Hampshire woods on a snowy night in 2004 . Maura Murray , a 21-year-old nursing student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst , disappeared on a cold and snowy night in February 2004 . She was last known to be driving from Massachusetts through New Hampshire . It is still unclear where she was heading in her black 1996 Saturn . The car was found abandoned , its front end crashed against a tree . It apparently had skidded off a road at a sharp curve . Shortly after the accident , a passing bus driver stopped and asked Murray if she needed help . She said no . Ten minutes later , police arrived . Inside the crumpled Saturn , they found some of Murray 's belongings -- school books , running gear , snack foods and alcohol -- police wo n't say what kind . But Murray was gone , along with her car keys and a backpack she always carried . There was nothing to hint she 'd be motivated to run away , according to her fiancé , William Rausch , and her father , Fred Murray . Watch why this cold case is a true mystery » . Maura Murray had just gotten engaged to Rausch , her college sweetheart and an Army lieutenant stationed in Oklahoma . They planned to marry after she graduated from nursing school in June 2005 . She 'd found a summer nursing job in Oklahoma . She had everything to look forward to . `` She was in good spirits and had no worries or reason to run away from her life , '' Fred Murray said . Investigators initially operated under the theory that the dean 's list student was troubled and had decided to escape from the demands of her life for a while . As a result , they did not immediately begin to look for her . The search did not begin until 39 hours after her crashed car was found . When it finally got under way , helicopters , search dogs and ground teams covered the area near where Murray 's car was found . The dogs picked up her scent for about 100 yards , leading investigators along the road to an area between two homes . There , the dogs lost the trail . Murray 's credit cards and cell phone have not registered any activity since the night she disappeared , February 9 , 2004 . Tom Shamshak , a private investigator hired by the Murray family to continue the search , said police and volunteers looked for her for two days . `` No footprints were even found in the snow , '' he said . `` Luckily there had n't been any fresh snowfall in those two days . '' Shamshak has concluded that only two scenarios could explain what happened to Murray . Either she was picked up by someone driving on the road , or she walked to a nearby house to ask for help . Police say they did not treat Murray 's case as an abduction because they saw no signs of a struggle at the scene . Before she left campus , police learned , Murray had e-mailed her professors and informed them she 'd be absent for a few days because of a death in the family . Murray 's family and friends said no one in the family had died . Police also noted that Murray had enough food and other items in her car to suggest she might be taking a short getaway vacation . Murray is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall , 120 pounds , with brown hair and blue-green eyes . She was last seen wearing a dark coat and jeans and carrying a black backpack and Samsung cell phone . A $ 40,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to her whereabouts or the arrest of the person responsible for her disappearance . The tip line is 603-271-2663 , New Hampshire State Police .
Maura Murray told her professors there had been a death in the family . There was no death , relatives say . Car was found crashed into a tree along snowy New Hampshire roadway . A $ 40,000 reward is offered . Tips ? Call 603-271-2663 .