Police

Missing teen’s mom says daughter’s a ‘headstrong fighter’

JOE WERKMEISTER PHOTO | A Suffolk County Police Crime Lab van at the Murray family home on Spring Lane in Peconic Wednesday.

The mother of a missing Peconic teen said Thursday that she believes her daughter’s fighting spirit is keeping her alive 10 days after she disappeared.

In her first media interview in a week, Charlotte Murray said she doesn’t want to give up hope that her daughter will return.

“She’s headstrong,” Ms. Murray said of the missing 16-year-old Southold High School student. “She’s a fighter.”

Ashley Murray was last seen by her brother shortly after 7 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 25, police said. That morning she left a handwritten “suicide note” in her bedroom and sent text messages to several friends saying she might end her life, her mother said.

Southold Town police focused their initial investigation on searching Ashley’s neighborhood, using canine, marine and aviation resources from the Suffolk County Police Department. They later focused their efforts on interviewing friends and family members and examining phone and computer records, Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley said.

State police, the FBI, Shelter Island police and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have all aided in the investigation.

JOE WERKMEISTER PHOTO | A detective with a Suffolk Police Crime Lab officer, shown wearing rubber gloves and carrying a flashlight, on the scene Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday afternoon, a Southold Police detective returned to the Murray home on Spring Lane, bringing along the Suffolk Police Crime Lab unit. Emerging from the home wearing surgical masks and rubber gloves, crime lab officers were seen by reporters carrying a camera and flashlight and loading up a van before departing. It was unclear if they removed any items from the house.

Chief Flatley said there were “no dramatic finds” during the Crime Lab search and that it did not alter the investigation.

“In a case like this that would be a normal procedure because that’s where she lived and the last place she left that day,” Chief Flatley said of the search. “We do know she was in her house [the morning she disappeared].”

He called the Crime Lab search “standard for any missing persons investigation.”

“We have not changed the direction of our investigation, it’s the normal workup of the location,” he said, adding that Wednesday was the first time Crime Lab officers visited the house.

Ms. Murray spoke Thursday about rumors in comments on social networking sites and other media websites. Though she said she hasn’t seen them herself, she said she was made aware of some of the online remarks.

“I was told there is a lot of crazy stuff out there,” she said.

Ms. Murray utilized the Facebook page “Ashley Come Home” Thursday afternoon to make an appeal to her daughter to return home.

“I want to write something myself,” she told The Suffolk Times. “In case she is logging on under a fake name.”

Ms. Murray later posted the following message:

“My Dearest Ash, my li’l Ash, my shadow, my courageous one. You are far more braver than I ever was. I do however have only one request, that you somehow let someone know you are OK. You can write home or type away. Do you remember our secret password? The one word between us? Send a note without a return address. Email me. Remember I will never allow anyone to hurt you, however, I can’t protect you unless I know where you are. You will always have a place to come home to. Never in a million years will I ever turn my back on you. My every thought is with you, yet I feel so helpless and sad. I’ve talked to plenty of people in this similiar situation and time again have heard of happy endings. Very doable. No one makes me laugh quite the way you do and God only knows, I need to laugh. Please email the one word. I love you Ashley.”

Anyone with information should contact Southold police at (631) 765-2600. Information will remain confidential.

With Tim Kelly.

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