**he wanted to make sure it looked like she was going someplace, but why El Paso, who does Maria know in El Paso?*
If Laurean bought the ticket to El Paso - we could assume he planned to use it himself and left it in the car by mistake. If he bought a ticket for Maria to throw off any search for her - certainly he knew she was from Ohio and would have bought a ticket for her home area.
If Maria bought the ticket to El Paso - she must have had a reason. I suggested one reason - there may have been others - like an old boyfriend or girlfriend.
wouldn't Maria have notified this person beforehand, even to make sure they were there?