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 #7

[Whatson]

Long stretch but...

We live in a day and age where we install apps on our phones without reading the TOS that we sign up to.

Perhaps LE have a list of apps we give microphone permissions to. And perhaps they are able to reach out to app companies when a crime is committed to retrieve recordings from a person's phone that have then been stored on the app companies storage.

A little "black mirror" but that's the age we are moving into. And rapidly.

 

[SleutherGirl]

Long stretch but...

We live in a day and age where we install apps on our phones without reading the TOS that we sign up to.

Perhaps LE have a list of apps we give microphone permissions to. And perhaps they are able to reach out to app companies when a crime is committed to retrieve recordings from a person's phone that have then been stored on the app companies storage.

A little "black mirror" but that's the age we are moving into. And rapidly.

Just spitballing. She clearly liked to run, perhaps it wouldn't be strange if she had some sort of fitness app on her phone. One maybe even connected to the watch.

 

[Rocket333]

My apologies,, I thought I had clarified it.

You did. That seems huge to me and is sinking in. What could that indisputable evidence, that does not rely on his personal belongings, be?

 

[SleutherGirl]

I wonder, awful thought, but Iwonder if there's some sort of digital trace of the murder. Audio, video, etc. It feels like this may be heading to some dark places.

 

[SouthAussie]

Exactly, and that begs the question, without a body, without the watch, without a suspect, how could they possibly know this?

I think there are at least several ways they could know this. We just don't know which way they found out in this instance.

Eg:
- the police have someone who believably informed on the accused
- they have covert recordings of the accused muttering to himself about the murder
- they discovered evidence of Sam's integral-to-life body matter somewhere

imo

 

[Bogbacal2]

That is what will be made plain and clear, at the summary hearing. I don't know how, but I want to know, very much how VICPOL came to their conclusions. I do not doubt the conclusions they reached, and I just have to wait to find out.....

Being a member of the public , unfortunately, does not give me a front row seat at the police discussions..

Yes, I can’t wait to find out how VICPOL reached their conclusion. Would it be a possibility that the murder was caught on cctv? Perhaps the whole incident was not caught on cam. Perhaps with the angle of the camera and the position of the suspect and SM, only a snippet of what occurred appeared on cam but what did appear clearly showed SM was murdered.
May not make sense, just throwing another scenario out there.

 

[Trooper]

I wonder, awful thought, but Iwonder if there's some sort of digital trace of the murder. Audio, video, etc. It feels like this may be heading to some dark places.

Whatever they have, it points unequivocally to these things...

That Mrs Murphy is dead.

That she died on that Sunday morning.

She died at Mt Clear.

She died at the hands of Mr. Stephenson.


To reverse empahsis this..

She did not die at any other time , it was that Sunday morning.

She is definitely deceased.

Her murder was committed at Mt. Clear, and no where else.

ONly Mr. Stephenson has been accused, and charged with her murder. VICPOL say no one else is involved. The evidence apparently points to no one else EXCEPT Mr. Stephenson. No other evidence has been collected that indicates anyone else being associated with this hideous crime.

 

[Rocket333]

I think there are at least several ways they could know this. We just don't know which way they found out in this instance.

Eg:
- the police have someone who believably informed on the accused
- they have covert recordings of the accused muttering to himself about the murder
- they discovered evidence of Sam's integral-to-life body matter somewhere

imo

- the police have someone who believably informed on the accused
And maybe knows something only the police and the accused know.
- they discovered evidence of Sam's integral-to-life body matter somewhere
That would prove loss of life. How long would it take though to be tested?

 

[jjleroche]

The only thing therefore I can think of that would provide that colossal iron clad evidence is if it was filmed, and/or vital body matter/tissue that you can’t live without was found on something of his.
If they got something from his car or home after his arrest, it wouldn’t be included as it wouldn’t be tested in time for the charge the next day, surely?

I've been pondering the possibility of the alleged perpetrator either following/chasing Samantha on foot,
OR
the alleged perpetrator playing "chicken" with her whilst riding a track bike.

If this were occurring, Samantha MAY HAVE quickly videoed and "audio'd" this via her iPhone, then sending it to one of her contacts (likely husband Mick IMO). Even a snippet would result in immediate action being taken by the receiver, and a few seconds of such an event may have been sufficient to provide strong clues to the assailant's identity, and possibly more.

 

[SouthAussie]

That would prove loss of life. How long would it take though to be tested?

I think pathology and DNA testing can be prioritised in an active case. The presence of Comm Patton in this case points to the high priority police were placing on this disappearance and alleged murder.

imo

 

[Rocket333]

Does anyone know of any signs of a murder scene at the Mt Clear site? Blood, belongings, litter, obvious environmental disturbance etc?
How could that event happen at a roughly specific spot so seemingly cleanly?

 

[Whatson]

I've been pondering the possibility of the alleged perpetrator either following/chasing Samantha on foot,
OR
the alleged perpetrator playing "chicken" with her whilst riding a track bike.

If this were occurring, Samantha MAY HAVE quickly videoed and "audio'd" this via her iPhone, then sending it to one of her contacts (likely husband Mick IMO). Even a snippet would result in immediate action being taken by the receiver, and a few seconds of such an event may have been sufficient to provide strong clues to the assailant's identity. JMO

It wouldn't even need to be sent to anyone if she had an automatic cloud storage service set up.

"Record.. Stop... Automatically uploaded..."

It may take LE some time to access her cloud storage though, particularly if she was not logged in at home and none of the family had her password.

 

[Neet_Mc]

Surely via their governing regulatory authority they have to have cctv.

I didn’t think I would find my self looking up crematoria legislation on a Sunday morning in my pjs, but here we are.
As expected, crematoria for human remains have significant legislation associated with their operation including licensing of the crematoria operator CEMETERIES AND CREMATORIA ACT 2003
I could not find similar regulations for animal crematoria, other than that surrounding it’s their planning, but there were EPA regulations regarding the operation of the crematoria available.
I would think, similar to PS potentially disposing of remains at a pig farm, suggestion of using a pet crematorium is quite an overreach - even for someone who may potentially (unlikely?) have been involved in attack on SA and planned out an anniversary attack in his mind. Im not convinced. I’m leaning more towards a more local mineshaft disposal or a bush / waterbody location at a somewhat distant location yet to be explored.

 

[Deleted member 293720]

I am quite curious about the fact that the public have not been asked for sightings or footage of the suspect’s vehicle with a specific description of the make and model now that he has been arrested.

As far as I am aware, all that has been sought so far are reports of vehicles with damage in the area.

Knowing the colour, make, model and specific features of a vehicle might really help jog someone’s memory.

Could it be that police already have enough information? And if so, they might be narrowing down the suspect’s movements to specific search locations?
I feel like I am missing something.
Is there a reason the vehicle wouldn’t be described?

I think the police had him as a strong suspect from the beginning and didn't need to inform the public too much

Another reason why the police said there is no concern to the public as this was a deliberate attack on SM

I wonder if the accused vehicle is actually damaged ?

As it could have been a tactic from the police, so the alleged does not catch on

 

[SouthAussie]

Does anyone know of any signs of a murder scene at the Mt Clear site? Blood, belongings, litter, obvious environmental disturbance etc?
How could that event happen at a roughly specific spot so seemingly cleanly?

"Seemingly clean" is a good description.
Maybe it wasn't so clean, once the police zeroed in on where they think Sam's alleged murder happened.
Maybe just beneath some kicked-over dirt there was significant fluid.

imo


It may even be that the police covertly searched the area BEFORE they made this announcement.

Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad will lead a targeted search of the Mount Clear area on Friday
Police say the extensive search will focus on an area “highlighted by intelligence derived from phone data”.
Police investigating disappearance of Samantha Murphy to undertake targeted search of Mount Clear area after receiving phone data ‘intelligence’

 

[Voluspa]

"Seemingly clean" is a good description.
Maybe it wasn't so clean, once the police zeroed in on where they think Sam's murder happened.
Maybe just beneath some kicked-over dirt there was significant fluid.

imo


It may even be that the police covertly searched the area BEFORE they made this announcement.

Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad will lead a targeted search of the Mount Clear area on Friday
Police say the extensive search will focus on an area “highlighted by intelligence derived from phone data”.
Police investigating disappearance of Samantha Murphy to undertake targeted search of Mount Clear area after receiving phone data ‘intelligence’

Could even be a suffocation or knock to the head, these mightn't leave much evidence behind IMO.

 

[Rocket333]

I think the police had him as a strong suspect from the beginning and didn't need to inform the public too much

Another reason why the police said there is no concern to the public as this was a deliberate attack on SM

I wonder if the accused vehicle is actually damaged ?

As it could have been a tactic from the police, so the alleged does not catch on

Remember all that reporting about the police looking into the family body works business? It drew a lot of public attention & speculation. I now wonder if PS had been a client OR the attention to the business and “looking out for damaged cars” was a deliberate tactic to spook him. PS would’ve been watching & reading everything at that stage.

 

[SouthAussie]

Could even be a suffocation or knock to the head, these mightn't leave much evidence behind IMO.

Absolutely, but we are speculating on how the police know that Sam is deceased. So my post was a speculation. Just one possible scenario.

 

[Voluspa]

I think in a heightened state of rage once coming to the realisation of his actions he may have done something so stupid as to text or phone someone, send a photo even and after LE got through all the red tape surrounding the release of tech data, painstaking hours of investigating pings at the time... There it was in plain sight. Further to this, I think if he told someone then they have come forward. And finally, I think LE have pieced together CCTV footage of him in the area.

Whatever they have is enough to arrest him for murder before the search warrants were done, anything else is additional evidence.

 

[SouthAussie]

.
@Dr Samoht .... with reference to your post about CCTV at the phone tower on Boak Road, I was just wondering if you could see the camera and which way it is pointed? Or is it one of those dome cameras that get a 360 degree view?

I have been looking at the tower area on Google streetview, but I can't find the CCTV camera. Streetview is from 2008, so the CCTV could have been added since then.