Australia Samantha Murphy, 51, last seen leaving her property to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest, Ballarat, 4 Feb 2024 *Arrest* #11

[JLZ]

Maybe Vicpol already had enough to make a murder charge. Maybe they just held him for the maximum allowable time. If they got the car while he was being interviewed, any blood would need to be tested. Maybe they got that fast-tracked. I think they had enough for a murder charge, the car might have been the icing on the cake.
I eagerly await the trial.

Yes. If they had enough to charge him, yet they still would have pressed for a confession or partial confession. Once he's charged, police bargaining and bluffing position weakens.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Maybe Vicpol already had enough to make a murder charge. Maybe they just held him for the maximum allowable time. If they got the car while he was being interviewed, any blood would need to be tested. Maybe they got that fast-tracked. I think they had enough for a murder charge, the car might have been the icing on the cake.
I eagerly await the trial.

He was under surveillance for two weeks, there would have been extensive CCTV footage during that time.
Phone intel, surveillance carried out etc.. His phone taken and examined, witnesses etc

He was then taken into custody and charged with Samantha's murder
During that time all the home searches, the vehicle forensically examined etc
I think during those two weeks, whatever they have seen indicated Samantha was deceased, maybe they observed the accused get rid of the murder weapon

 

[callmehenry]

The police might have found the phone earlier in a search, we don't know, but just another possibility.
They have been very quiet in the beginning and no photos of similar items to help the public locate, If they have been found in the forest
Samantha's phone, what type, what colour phone case, what type and colour running shoes she was wearing, what type of smartwatch, ear pods she had, was she wearing a cap etc...

Oh I understand now! Sorry. Good point about not mentioning similar items. Then again, perhaps they already found those items just not Samantha

 

[Warshawski]

apologies if I’m being dense but if she didn’t have the phone with her then how did it get in the dam (or away from her house)?

Don’t think you’re being dense… there are so many questions & you raise the $99 ones IMO,
How did the phone get in the dam / who put the phone in the dam. …. because the sudden finding of it seemed soooo staged to me.

 

[Warshawski]

We’re on the same page. What I said was, “They arrested him (one day) and then charged him the next day”.
PS was arrested, search warrant kicked in (and car siezed), and day after that charged with murder. Something like 30 hours-ish between arrest and charge. What was found to strengthen the charge?

My apologies Rocket 333 - I misread your comments. We’re certainly on the same page with that - and also with your question re ‘what was found’.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Don’t think you’re being dense… there are so many questions & you raise the $99 ones IMO,
How did the phone get in the dam / who put the phone in the dam. …. because the sudden finding of it seemed soooo staged to me.

I agree, may be accused of being overly sceptical, but my BS detectors are going off.
Suddenly, almost out of the blue, the phone is found, in perfect working order. At the first property, they publicly search. In the first dam, they publicly look at. And a camera crew are on hand to capture perfect photos of the phone in its wallet, for all to see.

 

[Cliff Hardy]

I agree, may be accused of being overly sceptical, but my BS detectors are going off.
Suddenly, almost out of the blue, the phone is found, in perfect working order. At the first property, they publicly search. In the first dam, they publicly look at. And a camera crew are on hand to capture perfect photos of the phone in its wallet, for all to see.

It is odd but what's the thinking?

Someone else who was involved in some way had the phone, got cold feet and discarded it? Perhaps then tipped off the cops anonymously as to where they had thrown it?

 

[Trooper]

I find it difficult to believe that VICPOL has the time, and the interest to bung on a Cecil De Mille production in regard to the phone, etc.. it just does not jell with the usual pragmatic approach VICPOL usually takes, ....

My take on it, the owner of the property saw the phone when the level of the dam went down, as dams do suddenly in very hot weather, the level drops overnight, and contacted the police. Of more interest, to me, are the other 'artifacts' they found at the same place, which, to my mind negates the idea of things being hurled from outside the property over the large bushy fence... hard to get a whole lot of things to land in the one spot. So , I think the phone and the artifacts , whatever they are, were dropped from the inside of the property. not the outside. FWIW.

 

[jjleroche]

I find it difficult to believe that VICPOL has the time, and the interest to bung on a Cecil De Mille production in regard to the phone, etc.. it just does not jell with the usual pragmatic approach VICPOL usually takes, ....

My take on it, the owner of the property saw the phone when the level of the dam went down, as dams do suddenly in very hot weather, the level drops overnight, and contacted the police. Of more interest, to me, are the other 'artifacts' they found at the same place, which, to my mind negates the idea of things being hurled from outside the property over the large bushy fence... hard to get a whole lot of things to land in the one spot. So , I think the phone and the artifacts , whatever they are, were dropped from the inside of the property. not the outside. FWIW.

That certainly sounds very plausible.
IIRC, there was some mention a while back of the accused having had access to the property on which the dam was located - work perhaps - I can't recall, but it sounded legitimate. MOO
I've tried to find the post and am still looking.
Wil post when found.

 

[Lemony]

Another possibility...
The police would've been working hard to back capture PS movements using data and CCTV, as the investigation progressed it has been revealed that PS had travelled that road on the day Samantha went missing. Drones may then have been used to search in the vicinity of the road looking for items of interest. With the dam level dropping quite low an anomaly was noticed and investigators have zeroed in on the dam.

Vicpol use drones extensively in their investigations, with more and more members training up as drone pilots.
IMO

 

[Rocket333]

I agree, may be accused of being overly sceptical, but my BS detectors are going off.
Suddenly, almost out of the blue, the phone is found, in perfect working order. At the first property, they publicly search. In the first dam, they publicly look at. And a camera crew are on hand to capture perfect photos of the phone in its wallet, for all to see.

Didn’t PS then Barrister up?

 

[Trooper]

Didn’t PS then Barrister up?

If I recall correctly , the finding of the phone galvanized the accused into instantly acquiring, thru his solicitor, the announcement that he was in receipt of some high level legal representation , in a matter of hours.

Certainly, it seemed to be a correlation between those two events, not withstanding that correlation does not mean causation. but... it is tempting to draw a distinct chain of circumstance between those two occurrences.

 

[callmehenry]

So do we know if they’ve found anything else belonging to Samantha? Clothes, watch etc?

 

[Trooper]

So do we know if they’ve found anything else belonging to Samantha? Clothes, watch etc?

Only the phone , Henry... AND. 'some artifacts'.... exact number unknown, precise description unknown. Found with the phone.

 

[Cliff Hardy]

Only the phone , Henry... AND. 'some artifacts'.... exact number unknown, precise description unknown. Found with the phone.

Artifact is an interesting turn of phrase for the police to have used :

An artifact can be described as something observed in a scientific investigation or experiment that is not naturally present but occurs as the result of the preparitive or investigative procedure.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

The frustrating thing about this whole dreadfully sad situation, is that we Know Nothing, other than that Samantha has been allegedly murdered, and the accused has been charged with her alleged murder.

I would love to be a fly though, sitting on his defence lawyer's shoulder looking at all the evidence including CCTV that they have been presented

 

[Trooper]

The frustrating thing about this whole dreadfully sad situation, is that we Know Nothing, other than that Samantha has been allegedly murdered, and the accused has been charged with her alleged murder.

I would love to be a fly though, sitting on his defence lawyer's shoulder looking at all the evidence including CCTV that they have been presented

The only thing better than that, would have to have been one of the police squad who saw it first. Talk about striking gold ! We will probably never know if Stephenson thought he got away with it, until the CCTV turned up, although, apparently, he turned up for work next day , things were normal at home, etc.. so probably, he did.

 

[Dotta]

The frustrating thing about this whole dreadfully sad situation, is that we Know Nothing, other than that Samantha has been allegedly murdered, and the accused has been charged with her alleged murder.

I would love to be a fly though, sitting on his defence lawyer's shoulder looking at all the evidence including CCTV that they have been presented

I'm afraid
the details, when ultimately presented, will prove to be horrific.
As in every trial.
Another woman senselessly murdered, leaving her family in despair and loss

JMO

 

[Cliff Hardy]

I'm afraid
the details, when ultimately presented, will prove to be horrific.
As in every trial.
Another woman senselessly murdered, leaving her family in despair and loss

JMO

Almost a given, unfortunately.

 

[BoysTown]

I don’t. He’s a big, strong guy who could carry her easily. It could’ve been all over in minutes. It may have even happened in his car hence the possible lack of much evidence on the ground in the bush. They arrested him and then charged him the next day. Was there (for example) enough blood in his car to indicate loss of life?

I don’t think anyone else was involved in the murder part but believe ‘someone helped’ afterwards.

IMO