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 #4

[Chimera]

Nope. This is a well planned organised hit

Agreed.
It's starting to look that way... with Samantha basically vanishing.

Sometimes a predator will attack, but leave the body thrown to the side of the road or dragged into bushes; not take it away and hide the deceased person elsewhere.
Very doubtful this (random predator ?) is what happened here.
We don't know if she is deceased, but as time goes on it's looking bad.

Where are you, Samantha ?
Omo.

 

[Kaykedi]

If you fast forward to the 19 minute mark and can put up with the annoying commentator (VickiMarieChats), this will help you catch up on what you missed last night on Under Investigation:

Thank you SO much. I haven't seen any of it yet (I'm in the UK)

 

[Curiosity Cat]

No DNA evidence in perps vehicle .. nice one

Precisely PolyDot!

 

[wibbleflea]

Thank you SO much. I haven't seen any of it yet (I'm in the UK)

I’m in the UK and can watch it here:

 

[jennifernz]

Something keeps crossing my mind but it hasn't really morphed into a fully-fledged idea yet. What if it wasn't Samantha herself wearing her Apple watch and carrying her phone that day? What if she was abducted/went off with someone far closer to home (here is the part that hasn't formed yet..) and someone else walked/ran the route to Mt Clear in her place? Could that explain why it took her (allegedly an experienced runner) a full hour to run 7km and perhaps why nobody sighted her enroute? It may be a decoy of some sort, with the perp suspecting that police would turn to mobile data as their first clues in the investigation.

 

[Toowong(s)]

I mentioned that I wondered if there was a possibility of a vehicle "borrowed" from the smash repair business and potentially used to transport a victim. There would probably be a number of cars being held at a smash business at any one time.

I wondered the same but I would expect a business of that nature and size to have good CCTV and monitored security, they are responsible for a lot of peoples cars, and also have expensive paint, tools, computers etc on site that would be regular burglary targets.

And so IMO police would have checked that CCTV footage and would know if a customers vehicle or a company vehicle had been taken on say Saturday afternoon, and returned Sunday morning. There would also be other businesses in the area with CCTV, so a good chance of more footage of the vehicle heading out and coming back in to the street? I think if this happened it’s an easy one for police, there would be enough to go on to arrest someone fairly quickly while investigations continue, while they question the accused. So they would have moved in long ago.

There is always the possibility that someone experienced at crash repairs has undertaken the repairs elsewhere, eg in a back yard garage, so the car may no longer look damaged. That could be a disgruntled employee, or competitor. I worked briefly in a panel beaters and there were a lot of dodgy characters in the trade, it could be a legitimate business run by SM and MM that was infiltrated by bad actors, or under pressure / standover tactics from dodgy competitors.

 

[Toowong(s)]

Ps Dotta I need to learn.

From your concise posts.

You write so succinctly yet powerfully.

Almost poetic.

 

[Curiosity Cat]

Is it known if Cadaver dogs have been used to search the region and in particular the mine shafts? The dogs wouldn't need to go into the shafts, I don't think.

 

[Deleted member 293720]

I understand.

But...
Imagine being an innocent helpful searcher and suddenly you are a poi b/c someone thought you behaved weirdly (according to somebody) during the search.

This atmosphere of suspiciousness among searchers bothers me.
It poisons solidarity.
And might keep people from searches.

JMO

Agreed.
It's starting to look that way... with Samantha basically vanishing.

Sometimes a predator will attack, but leave the body thrown to the side of the road or dragged into bushes; not take it away and hide the deceased person elsewhere.
Very doubtful this (random predator ?) is what happened here.
We don't know if she is deceased, but as time goes on it's looking bad.

Where are you, Samantha ?
Omo.

There would be a motive,

to go out of the way to have every detail planned, done quickly and have no evidence left behind.

There might be only two perpetrators involved in the kidnapping and supposedly killing

But this could have been organised by someone else who knows a few shady people to carry out the hit

and would have to know what time and path she was taking that day

and possibly there are still some others who know what happened

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I wonder if these days they might have an odour detecting gadget that could be lowered down into a mine shaft ?

 

[PolyDot]

Something keeps crossing my mind but it hasn't really morphed into a fully-fledged idea yet. What if it wasn't Samantha herself wearing her Apple watch and carrying her phone that day? What if she was abducted/went off with someone far closer to home (here is the part that hasn't formed yet..) and someone else walked/ran the route to Mt Clear in her place? Could that explain why it took her (allegedly an experienced runner) a full hour to run 7km and perhaps why nobody sighted her enroute? It may be a decoy of some sort, with the perp suspecting that police would turn to mobile data as their first clues in the investigation.

Yes I having been thinking this for sometime . Somebody making it look like she was doing her normal run and then disappeared .
Say she was killed prior to run her watch may not be on her - maybe it’s being charged ? So no real data would show up . Phone would track usual places she was . Phone and watch then taken ‘ for a run ‘ and chucked in bush .

 

[Detective Willy]

If you fast forward to the 19 minute mark and can put up with the annoying commentator (VickiMarieChats), this will help you catch up on what you missed last night on Under Investigation:

To save time for anyone wanting to skip to a particular topic, hopefully this helps:

35 min - Was disappearance staged
39 min - Sissy Austin attack
41 min - Mine Shafts discussed
58 min - IPhone and Apple Watch info
1.02 min - Was this a targeted attack
1.24 min - Tracking Phones/Hardware Codes
1.30 min - Panels opinions

 

[solari]

I think it's going to be a challenge to find the needle in a haystack of needles - a vehicle with body damage in a country town.

I say that as someone who has lived rural.

(Kangaroos just throw themselves in front of you.)

MOO

Maybe but it's also possible the have cctv or dash cam from the morning of the 4th of a car going into the area without damage and eventually coming out with damage, also damage could be internal i.e. they are also appealing to people who may know the potential perps but don't know it yet, fe.exaple if you noticed new/recent internal vehicle damage of a mates car from around that time or may or may not of had a change of behaviour sine that weekend... Might make someone report it as it make be signs of a struggle/abduction, Sam if abducted might have kicked a window and for those who have window tint and had a window broken on a car it is possible for the whole thing to stay in place but looks distinct with the shattered glass... Maybe they have cctv of that but no numberplate yet or they need more than circumstantial evidence....

 

[Curiosity Cat]

I wondered the same but I would expect a business of that nature and size to have good CCTV and monitored security, they are responsible for a lot of peoples cars, and also have expensive paint, tools, computers etc on site that would be regular burglary targets.

And so IMO police would have checked that CCTV footage and would know if a customers vehicle or a company vehicle had been taken on say Saturday afternoon, and returned Sunday morning. There would also be other businesses in the area with CCTV, so a good chance of more footage of the vehicle heading out and coming back in to the street? I think if this happened it’s an easy one for police, there would be enough to go on to arrest someone fairly quickly while investigations continue, while they question the accused. So they would have moved in long ago.

There is always the possibility that someone experienced at crash repairs has undertaken the repairs elsewhere, eg in a back yard garage, so the car may no longer look damaged. That could be a disgruntled employee, or competitor. I worked briefly in a panel beaters and there were a lot of dodgy characters in the trade, it could be a legitimate business run by SM and MM that was infiltrated by bad actors, or under pressure / standover tactics from dodgy competitors.

 

[PolyDot]

I wonder how many mineshafts are open holes and accessible ie close to the road . I would think that those near the walking tracks are sealed. Any locals got more of an idea of that ?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[Curiosity Cat]

I wondered the same but I would expect a business of that nature and size to have good CCTV and monitored security, they are responsible for a lot of peoples cars, and also have expensive paint, tools, computers etc on site that would be regular burglary targets.

And so IMO police would have checked that CCTV footage and would know if a customers vehicle or a company vehicle had been taken on say Saturday afternoon, and returned Sunday morning. There would also be other businesses in the area with CCTV, so a good chance of more footage of the vehicle heading out and coming back in to the street? I think if this happened it’s an easy one for police, there would be enough to go on to arrest someone fairly quickly while investigations continue, while they question the accused. So they would have moved in long ago.

There is always the possibility that someone experienced at crash repairs has undertaken the repairs elsewhere, eg in a back yard garage, so the car may no longer look damaged. That could be a disgruntled employee, or competitor. I worked briefly in a panel beaters and there were a lot of dodgy characters in the trade, it could be a legitimate business run by SM and MM that was infiltrated by bad actors, or under pressure / standover tactics from dodgy competitors.

Very valid points, but what if the car was taken quite a while prior to the event and later returned the vehicle in a way that would not attract any particular curiosity? Just thinking

 

[Awakening]

Sissy said that when she was attacked she forgot all about her phone. The attack happened so quickly.

Source: Under Investigation show

I actually found this a really interesting and a timely reminder about how we think we will act during a trauma vs how we actually act.

I have PTSD, and not recently, but for many years had group therapy with others who had PTSD.

It can be a hinderance to your recovery to ruminate on why didn’t I do this, or why did I do that?

The thing is, intense fear, the life or death kind, turns off your prefrontal cortex and your limbic survival brain takes over.

In Sissy’s case, I say she did exactly the right thing because she survived. Her limbic brain told her to get out now, and that’s was her body and minds sole focus.

We will never know, but perhaps if she’d made a call, the perpetrator might have heard and caused him to panic or retaliate in anger and Sissy might not be here to tell her story.

 

[jjleroche]

It would be a big risk to Samantha's family if she worked undercover with police. That alone leaves me doubting any connection to organized crime.

Didn't police ask about vehicles with some damage? That would be related to someone hitting Samantha with a vehicle - accidentally, or intentionally, and removing her from the scene.

She could have been accosted on the trails and then taken somewhere by vehicle (more than one person). She might be in the area, but it sounds like investigators are trying to pinpoint the exact location where something went wrong. That is, they're looking for evidence that was dropped or left behind at the time of the attack so they can find the original crime scene. Search dogs might be useful if the crime scene can be located.

DBM - already mentioned.

 

[Deleted member 293720]

Probably not looking for a random car maybe they know what type of car it is and withholding information from the public. I doubt damaged car would’ve been mentioned if there’s nothing to it ?

Putting pressure on the perpetrator/s

The police are coming ..!