[Justice]

It certainly says in the scriptures that Mormon was the one who buried them at Cumorah, and it also says that Mormon only "gave" Moroni the Small Plates of Nephi and the abridgement he made of King Benjamin to 4th Nephi. Moroni finished the record of his father, abridged the Jaredite record (which means he unearthed the plates at a later date), and then he wrote his own book, Moroni.

For the hill Mormon buried the record in not to be in New York means that Moroni took (presumably) everything his father buried, without those things being given to him by his father, and moved them a long distance by himself to New York.

Let's also remember that the land changed greatly after the time of Nephi, son of Nephi, when Christ came. And, that the last "struggle" happened over the course of many years. During that time the Nephites were "fleeing" from the Lamanites with great haste.

Mormon 5:
7 And it came to pass that we did again take to flight, and those whose flight was swifter than the Lamanites’ did escape, and those whose flight did not exceed the Lamanites’ were swept down and destroyed.

They had time to travel across this land many times over. At this last battle at Cumorah they still had 230,000 men in the Nephite army with their wives and children.

Mormon 6:
6 ...therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni.
7 And it came to pass that my people, with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to receive them.

"Hid" is past tense.

It just doesn't seem logical to me, nor does the spirit seem to whisper, that Moroni would take the chance and unearth the records his father made, seeing he never knew if he was going to be caught from day to day, and move them across the country.

Moroni 1:
1 Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me.
2 For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ.
3 And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life.
4 Wherefore, I write a few more things, contrary to that which I had supposed; for I had supposed not to have written any more; but I write a few more things, that perhaps they may be of worth unto my brethren, the Lamanites, in some future day, according to the will of the Lord.

To "wander withersoever" is very different than "take to flight." If it was between the army led by Mormon or Moroni by himself, it seems more logical that Mormon and the army under "flight" would move the record that great of distance. There was no way for one person to carry everything that was buried in the box. It seems Joseph, being large in stature, had difficulty even getting just the plates around under much the same "protect them" mode that Mormon or Moroni would have been under.

Again, it will not shake my testimony no matter where the true location of the Cumorah of the Nephites was. But, just looking at the text within the Book of Mormon and the situation of the Nephites, it makes much more sense that Mormon buried them in New York after "taking flight" from where he lived, and Moroni "wandered" around that area and returned to that location only when it was safe, never intending to unearth all the items in the box.

Sometimes the answer is right under our noses and we look for harder answers. Evidence outside the Book of Mormon has never proven anything contained within. I see this as no different. If the text gives clues as to what happened, that's the first and best evidence we have.