Australia Samantha Murphy, 51, last seen leaving her property to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest, Ballarat 100km NW of Melbourne, 4 Feb 2024

[Lemony]

The VicPol site says that Missing Persons investigate suspicious disappearances.


Victoria Police Missing Persons Squad investigate missing persons who have disappeared under suspicious circumstances.

The squad responds where:

• the body of a deceased person has not been located
• there are unidentified human remains (for more than three days) in a suspected homicide
• the case is long-term (more than 30 days).

To join the squad, you must be a qualified detective and have experience in another detective role.

Specialist roles and areas for police officers

Victoria Police specialist roles, major units, specialised areas, how to apply and your career options after a general duties police officer role.

www.police.vic.gov.au

Jumping off your post...
Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad have been involved since the early stages, which is good to know.

"Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad will today assume primacy of the investigation into the disappearance of Ballarat east woman Samantha Murphy.

They will continue to work in conjunction with local police, as they have done since the early stages of her disappearance, as part of the effort to locate Samantha."

Investigation continues into disappearance of Samantha Murphy - Ballarat East

Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad will today assume primacy of the investigation into the disappearance of…

www.police.vic.gov.au

 

[Bats]

Maybe a small thing, but I want to know who “flipped the bird” to media waiting outside the Murphy house, one may dislike the media, but if a relation of mine was missing, I’d be very grateful for any help the media would give me, and probably beg them to keep telling our story.
Why would you not want them on your side?

MOO. You don't need to look far to see the media doing the exact opposite of helping. Certain media outlets will sensationalise anything. Today, i noticed one media outlet headline negatively highlighting that Samantha's husband was smiling. If it were me, i definitely wouldn't be begging for media assistance. I would let the Police handle the media liaising.

 

[SouthAussie]

There is another article that relates more of what Inspector Bob Heaney said today.

I will paraphrase a little ...

He said the alarm was raised almost immediately when Samantha didn't show up for the family brunch
No suspicious or sinister circumstances have been identified
Six days missing is especially concerning
They will be probing Samantha's computer history and associates, working out what she was doing on the days leading up to her disappearance, and the people who know her
They are working with telecomms techs to get more data from Samantha's phone and watch
The local police are running the physical search, the Missing Persons squad is now running the investigation and Ballarat will see more detectives around the place
They haven't ruled anything out, the focus is on finding Samantha.

Fears mount for missing mum as police probe her computer, associates

Specialist detectives from the missing person’s squad have taken over the investigation into 51-year-old Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy’s disappearance.

www.theage.com.au

 

[tiff]

The Courier Mail has a map of all the known disused mineshafts across the Victorian goldfields, including over 2000 in Ballarat alone. It’s behind a paywall, but if you google ‘disused mineshafts map Ballarat’, it comes up. Must be worth starting to search around her home, looking out for ones that have been disturbed recently.

 

[Black-Cat]

Interesting the police are asking neighbours to review the cctv footage, is this another line of inquiry ?

Yes, did she actually go for a run?

IMO

 

[Notascreenname]

EXCLUSIVESamantha Murphy missing: Husband pictured smiling outside police station

 

[BGirl88]

Is there any details about the family brunch that SM failed to turn up to? Like who was attending the family brunch? Was she meant to be meeting her husband and daughters there or would they normally travel together there in the same car…

Reason I’m asking is if they were all meeting there, did they all not live together in the first place? Did SM and her husband live in the same home? IMO

 

[Monsoon]

Has there been any search of the Lal Lal Reservoir.

 

[Bethan]

DBM

 

[BreakingNews]

Odd… where do they draw the line?

I'm confused. This has not been reported in Australia. As of tonight they are scaling back the search. The Missing Persons detectives from Melbourne have taken over.

 

[Skyboy90]

If she was out for a run, I fail to see how she ended up in a mine shaft, possible of course, but very unlikely. I’ve been cycling for many years, in all sorts of places, I can’t say I’ve seen many runners who go off track, they stick to the main tracks. Those who go walking tend to divert off track a bit, not the runners. Generally those who wonder off a bit are with someone else, ‘let’s go see what’s up there’ sort of thing.

 

[BreakingNews]

EXCLUSIVESamantha Murphy missing: Husband pictured smiling outside police station

That is very disturbing! But the officer is also laughing, so maybe he made a light-hearted comment. Doubt I would be smiling in his situation.

 

[Black-Cat]

Sky news article quotes a friend of Samantha’s, saying that Samantha only recently got back into running. I wonder if there was some kind of medical problem?

https://www.skynews.com.au/australi...ws-story/2522a985fa51f503d373c6ba90812373[/UR

http://

Im assuming (because it makes sense) that the police would’ve called in the dog squad to possibly track her, since she appears to have left on foot, in which case if she had gone off track to sit down and maybe had a medical emergency, they would’ve easily located her.

The police have said there are no suspicious circumstances they have uncovered as yet.
Odd?
Doubly odd, if there are no suspicious circumstances that they do a press release with the hubby and daughter…unless the police suspect she has left of her own voilition and may see the distress she’s caused and contact someone.

Yes, excellent point! No dog squad!! No CCTV vision of her anywhere, when everyone has cameras these days!

 

[Black-Cat]

Date missing mum Samantha Murphy would NOT have missed

Missing mum Samantha Murphy was notably absent from her family's traditional summer holiday along Victoria's surf coast in the weeks before she vanished.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Missing mum Samantha Murphy was notably absent from her family's traditional summer holiday on Victoria's surf coast in the weeks before she vanished.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal Ms Murphy and her family had holidayed together at a Torquay caravan park - the gateway to Victoria's iconic Great Ocean Road - for almost a decade.

But this year park dwellers noticed only her husband Mick and their children attended the park, where they stay in a luxury cabin.

While Mr Murphy did not take any questions from the media, his wife's childhood friend Virginia O'Loughlan told Daily Mail Australia that Ms Murphy missed the traditional family holiday after becoming sick with Covid-19.

'There was nothing suspicious about it. There was no family feud. I can understand why people can start to think that, but she definitely had Covid. Another friend of ours had Covid too and they were both talking about it and when they get better they were going to catch up,' she said.

'She would have definitely been down there but she didn't want anyone to get Covid.'

I wonder why she has just 'taken up running' recently?

 

[tiff]

Is there any details about the family brunch that SM failed to turn up to? Like who was attending the family brunch? Was she meant to be meeting her husband and daughters there or would they normally travel together there in the same car…

Reason I’m asking is if they were all meeting there, did they all not live together in the first place? Did SM and her husband live in the same home? IMO

Daily mail Uk says her friend Virginia O’Loughlin said she was meeting friends for brunch at 11.

 

[Liadan]

I don't know this seems hinky to me - "people don't just vanish into thin air" (distancing?) and the jig-saw puzzle of information being released.
The photo of SM allegedly b4 her run. Maybe she aborted it that day and her phone and watch pings are furfies.

 

[tiff]

If she was out for a run, I fail to see how she ended up in a mine shaft, possible of course, but very unlikely. I’ve been cycling for many years, in all sorts of places, I can’t say I’ve seen many runners who go off track, they stick to the main tracks. Those who go walking tend to divert off track a bit, not the runners. Generally those who wonder off a bit are with someone else, ‘let’s go see what’s up there’ sort of thing.

She might have seen a cat or dog and decided to follow it.

 

[JLZ]

I wonder why she has just 'taken up running' recently?

"She recently got back into her running. I was only speaking to Mick the week before last. He was just so proud of her, just telling me Sam's back running again and other friends were telling me that apparently she was getting ready to Run the Gap.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/crime/samantha-murphys-iphone-and-whether-she-wore-apple-watch-crucial-to-find-missing-mum-says-retired-homicide-detective-as-longtime-friend-speak-out/news-story/2522a985fa51f503d373c6ba90812373

 

[LuluCherry]

She might have seen a cat or dog and decided to follow it.

I often walk long distances in bushland and I often stop to take photos with my phone and will venture off the track (being very careful) if I see something interesting (animal, etc), so if she is anything like me, I can see it being quite normal/reasonable ‍

 

[Bats]

Posting this for people who are looking for the latest info today. It is a Police presser.

Police Update Search for Missing Woman Samantha Murphy

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