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 #6

[Bogbacal2]

Hi Karin1974,
In the past, we have closed threads overnight because members could not adhere to our rules. It is rare, but it does happen.
I understand the frustration since our overnights are prime time in Australia.
Without the moderators, Websleuths would not exist. It is rare that our mods ever complain about a discussion. They work their rear ends off, giving us their time to make sure Websleuths runs smoothly.
In all the years I have worked on Websleuths, I have never seen a thread go off track like Samatha's. Our mods were finally able to clean up the thread, but it took up so much time that the other discussion threads could not be properly moderated.
It is not the mods fault that I made the decision to close the thread. It was the members who refused to follow our rules.
However, we have discussed it and decided to try again to leave the thread open tonight.
The number 1 rule on Websleuths is "Don't Be A Jerk!"
Please do not name people who are not named in the media, and do not post addresses of people's homes. and use common sense.
I love Australia and its people. I really do. I've had the pleasure of visiting Australia and working with Australians all these years on Websleuths. Most of you are fantastic!
Thank you,
Tricia Griffith
Manager/Websleuths.com

Thanks Tricia!
I am a night owl and will keep throw in a “reminder” on the thread every once in a while and I’m sure others will follow as well. Fellow WS we can do this! Let’s not disappoint Tricia and the mods.

 

[Dr Samoht]

I believe this area around Boak Rd and Recreation Rd was where the 2nd, very targeted area of searching occured. I'm guessing it's the 7km turn around point of Samantha's run. IMHO, I think the catastrophic event took place along one of those roads. At around 8am on a Sunday, I image they'd be very quiet. No farms around, no CCTV, no witnesses and lots of bushland coverage.

I thought no cctv as well until I took a walk along Boak Rd Sat evening and at the phone tower there is clear warning about cctv surveillance .

 

[Angeline]

I live on the edge of the Canadian Forrest, about 30sec from the accused parents house. While I don't have any direct information / knowledge of anyone inbolved, I do have a fair bit of knowledge about the boak road area and the site LE were searching a few weeks back. I actually rode my bike with the dog past through the search site around lunchtime on the day SM went missing. A sobering thought
Happy to comment on specifics if it helps.
One thing that should be noted is thar boak road is not a shortcut at all, while it can be driven, it's very rutted in places and has large potholes. Make speed would be 20-30 km/hr in places.
Going from Mt Clear to Scotsburn via that route would take 2x longer than via recreation Rd / boundary road. If the search site on boak road is where it all happened, it was not by chance during a shortcut (IMO)
Something else to note, there has been a significant problem with rubbish dumping in the area for the past 12mths. To the point where parks Vic / LGov have placed trail cameras throughout the area in order to catch dumpers. I'd put good money that they caught some footage (being placed to do exactly that, catch numberplates / car descriptions)

Very interesting. I'm curious, what are your thoughts on why the accused might have been in that area (if this is where something happened?)

 

[bearbear]

In terms of where the accused might have put the body, anyone want to hazard a guess?

In my mind is the categorisation of killers: organised and disorganised and wonder what the accused might be and what this would mean for disposal of a body?

some local person on another forum has suggested yarrawee river, south of buninyong as a likely dumping spot, so hopefully police have checked there too

 

[Sher Lock]

Hi Karin1974,
In the past, we have closed threads overnight because members could not adhere to our rules. It is rare, but it does happen.
I understand the frustration since our overnights are prime time in Australia.
Without the moderators, Websleuths would not exist. It is rare that our mods ever complain about a discussion. They work their rear ends off, giving us their time to make sure Websleuths runs smoothly.
In all the years I have worked on Websleuths, I have never seen a thread go off track like Samatha's. Our mods were finally able to clean up the thread, but it took up so much time that the other discussion threads could not be properly moderated.
It is not the mods fault that I made the decision to close the thread. It was the members who refused to follow our rules.
However, we have discussed it and decided to try again to leave the thread open tonight.
The number 1 rule on Websleuths is "Don't Be A Jerk!"
Please do not name people who are not named in the media, and do not post addresses of people's homes. and use common sense.
I love Australia and its people. I really do. I've had the pleasure of visiting Australia and working with Australians all these years on Websleuths. Most of you are fantastic!
Thank you,
Tricia Griffith
Manager/Websleuths.com

Thanks Tricia .. much appreciated.
For what it's worth, I think that sometimes people just get carried away with momentum and probably don't even realise they aren't following W/S rules.
Perhaps we can try and moderate ourselves and save you & the mods a bit of time. By that, I mean if anyone is obviously in breach of TOU's, another member could point it out and the perpetrator can modify their post immediately/asap.

Cheers, Sher Lock

 

[Ticktock84]

To those who live in the vicinity of Ballarat or know the search areas, would you say Lake Burrumbeet would have been searched or would be a place where the perp may of taken SM? I’m just trying to see how far it may be from where she went missing.

 

[drsleuth]

I live on the edge of the Canadian Forrest, about 30sec from the accused parents house. While I don't have any direct information / knowledge of anyone inbolved, I do have a fair bit of knowledge about the boak road area and the site LE were searching a few weeks back. I actually rode my bike with the dog past through the search site around lunchtime on the day SM went missing. A sobering thought
Happy to comment on specifics if it helps.
One thing that should be noted is thar boak road is not a shortcut at all, while it can be driven, it's very rutted in places and has large potholes. Make speed would be 20-30 km/hr in places.
Going from Mt Clear to Scotsburn via that route would take 2x longer than via recreation Rd / boundary road. If the search site on boak road is where it all happened, it was not by chance during a shortcut (IMO)
Something else to note, there has been a significant problem with rubbish dumping in the area for the past 12mths. To the point where parks Vic / LGov have placed trail cameras throughout the area in order to catch dumpers. I'd put good money that they caught some footage (being placed to do exactly that, catch numberplates / car descriptions)

Welcome to Websleuths!

Have you seen the police out searching at all in the past few days?

Thankgod you weren't there a few hours earlier

 

[blushcherry]

I'll be on and off tonight so happy to pop in a reminder or two not to use addresses, etc etc. Thank you to the mods for letting us have it open overnight - hope nobody abuses this

 

[Deleted member 293720]

It's important if signals have picked up her movements…. Ie her speed increased, being in a vehicle and her heart was still sending a signal.

This is the other evidence the police have linked her to his vehicle and prove that she was still alive.

His and Samantha's phone ping at the same time

I think Samantha was ambushed, possible knocked out and taken away in his vehicle and assaulted and killed

And he has then dumped her body

I think the reason he is not saying anything because a body will incriminate him further.

Maybe even sexual assault could be revealed.

We don't if his girlfriend was with him at the pub ? Did she go home with him ?
Even if she went home with him, where was she at around 8am after the alleged murder ?

Interesting his neighbour said, We see him coming and going all the time, when he's got the motorbike, and when he used to have the army uniform on

If that's true, it would certainly make him difficult to see him in the bush

There are certainly a lot of entries with his same name and currently being investigated by SOCIT.

At Ballarat Court

So if it's the same name, definitely not his first time in court or interacting with police

The Chief Commissioner of Police, Shane Patton, would not comment if the accused murder is known to them in the news conference

The accused murder lawyer David Tamaninka was likely a “his parents called their local family Lawyer , quick get someone rep' But not his ongoing rep, he has no speciality

So could be new legal representation for the accused court case on 8 August

I would presume the police have sat the parents down and explained exactly what they think has happened

If they thought for a minute it was an accident, they would have been there supporting him

The further this gets investigated, we could see a pattern of behaviour from him that was previously ignored, or he got

slapped on the wrist, for that lead him to allegedly murdering Samantha Murphy.

​

 

[Dr Samoht]

His parents became parents at a very young age then had 3 kids by 21, not outrageous but mostly uncommon in this era. Who knows if that could have an effect of resentment or being held back if his father really wanted that afl career? From what has been reported He is alleged to have murdered (in a deliberate attack) a person that has quite similar qualities to his own mother similar age range, 3 kids, shoulder length blonde hair. He played afl football just like his father and was an electrician just like his father. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of factors here in childhood that are poignant in regards to understanding the narrative of motive if this was as suggested a deliberate attack. Could also be something else completely random and unrelated but in trying to understand and figure out a mindset I definitely think things that have been heightened events in life are all connected and considered? Jmo

Have yet to see evidence that the accused continue to play football after his Redan under 19’s days.

 

[Dotta]

Dbm

 

[OptimusLime]

Thanks Tricia!
I am a night owl and will keep throw in a “reminder” on the thread every once in a while and I’m sure others will follow as well. Fellow WS we can do this! Let’s not disappoint Tricia and the mods.

I love the positivity here! (That spelling looks weird). Yes, let's keep it kosher and be kind.
I'm glad mod squad are giving it a go. Often, we get news a bit late here. I keep looking for an update, but I go here first after being disillusioned by DM.

 

[Dr Samoht]

Very interesting. I'm curious, what are your thoughts on why the accused might have been in that area (if this is where something happened?)

Very interesting. I'm curious, what are your thoughts on why the accused might have been in that area (if this is where something happened?)

My thoughts are somehow he had knowledge that Boak Rd ( Telstra tower area) is the turnaround half way point of her 14 Km run and lay in wait .

 

[acutename]

Yes, I’m very curious to know if he engaged in his normal routine, work, socialising etc.

I’ve attempted to come up with a timeline but I cannot vouch for it’s accuracy.

3/2 Reports/rumour the accused was at The Deck until 3am?

3/2 House sitting in Yendon no 2 road?

4/2 Eureka St 7am SM leaves home

4/2 Approx 7km away from SM’s home an incident is alleged to have occurred between SM and accused in Mt Clear at around 8.00am

4/2 5pm “last ping” at Buninyong tower?

5/2 Buninyong Search Area declared

21/2 Reported that Specialist units from Melbourne have been assigned to the case

6/3 Arrested at 6am at address?

7/3 Accused charged with murder

It was reported that police had him under surveillance for the fortnight prior to his arrest which imo means he was under surveillance from the 21/2 which is when police announced they had specialists coming to Ballarat to assist in the case.

I’m assuming Sunday he didn’t have to work. He is a 22 year old man who was rumoured to be house sitting with his girlfriend.

So from 8am (incident) to 5pm (phone ping) he really could have been free to go anywhere.

He could tell his parents he was with his girlfriend and his girlfriend he was with his parents.

Perhaps there was an argument with his girlfriend on the Saturday night?

And from Monday did he keep his normal schedule? We don’t know but the police will.

Please correct me on any errors or feel free to make any additions.

All of this is imo, as I do not know the facts of the case and I’m getting this timeline information from various media reports.

curious if he had regular job hours (9-5, 7-4, etc,) or if he worked on projects and then had time off? Also if he worked at any particular job sites that might have had dumpsters, clean fill areas, etc.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I hate to say it but if you're a local in an area where there are many mine shafts, it seems like a logical place to dispose of a body.

It wouldn't be the first time a body been found in a mine shaft in that region.

 

[pavlovsdaughter]

Wanted to weigh in on some context with regards to the father’s standing as an AFL player. I’m an American who’s been living in Australia (Melbourne area) for a few years so think I have some insight on both sides here.

While AFL is hugely popular in Aus especially Victoria, in general athletes are not celebs to the same extent they are in the US. Not uncommon especially in Melbourne to see players walking around, going to cafes, etc and people generally leave them alone. Of course the top players will garner more attention so there are exceptions to this, but an average AFL player is not a source of public fascination, in my experience.

To put it in comparison the average salary for an MLB player is about $4M USD. The average salary for an AFL player is about $250,000 USD - and that’s today. I’m not sure what the salary was when Orren was playing, but it was certainly lower, and I don’t think he even played a full season.

My Aussie husband is a massive longtime Tigers fan and when I mentioned Orren Stephenson’s name to him he didn’t know who he was. He had to look him up and then said, “oh yeah, maybe, I sort of remember him playing a few games…” So this guy had a very short very average career and did not make much of an impact.

So in my opinion, the dad’s brief AFL career has very little to do with any of this. Just my two cents!

 

[Dr Samoht]

I hate to say it but if you're a local in an area where there are many mine shafts, it seems like a logical place to dispose of a body.

I’m not aware of any ‘suitable for body disposal ‘ type mine shafts in the immediate area of the concentrated Fri police search . Single handed one would need drive their vehicle almost up to a suitable mine shaft to dump a body … I’ve yet to see that scenario in that forest .

 

[acutename]

Some might be interested in the health data of Apple Watches so I’ve taken some screenshots of mine.

My watch is about 4 years old. I’m in my late 40s. I haven’t been actively using it lately.

I don’t remember setting this up, I think it will mostly be default settings with the occasional opt in or opt out and I’ve ticked yes.

It’s very accurate according to the medical professionals I have spoken to.

It measures heart rate, heart anomalies, ecg, atrial fibrillation, blood oxygen levels, blood pressure (although this one requires you to hold your finger on the watch dial to get a reading), sleep patterns, balance, strides, gait and so on.

It also alerts me to loud sounds. Anything over 80db and I get an alert that continued sounds at this level risks damage to my hearing.

Makes me wonder if SM’s watch detected any loud sounds like arguing, screaming, car tyres screeching etc.

I know others from my gym who set their watch up to do a lot more.

Once I furiously bashed on my dryer and my watch buzzed and said it was calling emergency services in 10 seconds. I had to press a few things in order to stop this.

would it call EMS if your heart/respiration stopped? I know a colleague gets alarms if he gets arrhythmia.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Many Australians do tend to leave celebrities and well known people alone, on the whole.

 

[acutename]

However after PS arrest, police got many search warrants to search houses, cars etc. might just put icing on the cake for all the phone/watch and one helpful member of the public.

curious how he cleaned up if he did- had to be in one of the houses unless he was in some natural water area... and if he had an explanation for his whereabouts that day