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 #2

[WiseOwl]

The only ping so far is at the golf course 11 km away (7 miles). Where was the last ping before that? We don't know. Police must be investigating what she did and where she was in the 48 hours before she vanished. Did she run every day at 7 AM?

Wearing the smart watch during a suspicious event means that her watch recorded a spike in heart rate before the watch could be taken from her. That would record the moment that something happened, if something happened. That would help narrow down the timeline and location for a jogger, which would help narrow down the distance from her home when something might have happened.

The phone pinged from a cell tower at Buninyong, according to this article:

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/police-and-telecommunications-experts-to-focus-efforts-on-samantha-murphys-phone-as-her-disappearance-nears-one-week/news-story/96f038388e67311ca1243bf600dbd89e

Her phone last pinged from a cell tower at Buninyong, where the search effort was briefly focused on Friday, about 14 kilometres from the family home. It is likely her phone would have run out of battery six days on, which will make it difficult for tech experts to track as it will stop sending signals to towers.

If there is no internet or connection, but the device is on, the mapping apps could track the location through GPS. It is believed the Apple Watch Ms Murphy was wearing during her run has SOS technology and can detect a fall or accident, but no such data has been found.

 

[otto]

Was she actually seen leaving the property for the run?

That's what news articles say at this time - that she was seen running up the driveway. There is a still image of her on the morning that she went for a run, showing what she was wearing. Media reports that there is footage of Samantha running "up the driveway" and police don't know which way she turned at the end of the driveway. We know that the end of the driveway is curved and obscured by trees.

CCTV that was thought to show Samantha running in the wrong direction was proven to be someone else a few days later. Police suspended the Park search until they could locate CCTV footage of Samantha jogging after leaving her property.

My impression is that police are looking for the next sighting, after the driveway, of Samantha jogging on Eureka St. If they don't see her jogging on CCTV, they are interested in cars that were on Eureka St between 7-11 AM.

 

[Waverider]

I would assume her fit bit or Apple Watch would also sync back information to her PC or IMac hence why VPOL are looking into home devices and possibly other ones too

Maybe SM‘s watch is a really new model or something, but I can tell you that my daughter’s Apple Watch (6mo old) doesn’t sync with a device to share health data etc UNLESS the Watch and iPhone/MacBook are in close proximity and can physically connect with one another. If my daughter lost the watch, the only data I could retrieve is the data uploaded when the devices last synced. Her watch has its own sim, so it doesn’t need to be in close proximity of a phone to make or receive calls. Nonetheless, health data won’t be shared via “the cloud” - only via syncing devices.

Therefore, if SM’s watch and phone weren’t in close proximity to one another on Sunday morning, any health data pertaining to that time would be difficult to retrieve IMO.

It’s also worth noting that the Apple Watch will call emergency services in the event of an accident and will give you 60 seconds to stop that call. Someone could potentially prevent that call being initiated.

 

[DK007]

Was she actually seen leaving the property for the run?

Apparently yes, she was seen leaving her home and down her driveway. It was shared on one of these threads I think by @otto

 

[Eloise]

Maybe SM‘s watch is a really new model or something, but I can tell you that my daughter’s Apple Watch (6mo old) doesn’t sync with a device to share health data etc UNLESS the Watch and iPhone/MacBook are in close proximity and can physically connect with one another. If my daughter lost the watch, the only data I could retrieve is the data uploaded when the devices last synced. Her watch has its own sim, so it doesn’t need to be in close proximity of a phone to make or receive calls. Nonetheless, health data won’t be shared via “the cloud” - only via syncing devices.

Therefore, if SM’s watch and phone weren’t in close proximity to one another on Sunday morning, any health data pertaining to that time would be difficult to retrieve IMO.

It’s also worth noting that the Apple Watch will call emergency services in the event of an accident and will give you 60 seconds to stop that call. Someone could potentially prevent that call being initiated.

I own one too and I agree, even when you have the models with their own sims (so they work like a phone on their own in terms of sms and phone calls), they don't actually upload anything health data related until they can sync with the phone (personally even then I have some issues with that actually working especially when sharing data with other apps such as My Fitness Pal, so its not an exact science IME).

You can turn a lot of those other features off, or tweak them. Mine will only do the Fall Detection thing if I've registered that I'm doing a Workout, something you have to deliberately confirm at least with my settings. Otherwise I'd have to activate an emergency call manually.

 

[mamamama9873]

Thanks.
You lost me ... sorry.
Does this mean there's a person of interest, or a break in the case -- but LE aren't going public with that individual just yet ?
Tia.

This looks like a random opportunistic murder to me. That is, she is seen on her own CCTV leaving for a 7 AM run. She expects to be home within 2 hours and then lunch with friends at 11 AM. The investigation was confused in the beginning when police found CCTV footage of another woman running in the wrong direction. That was when police suspended the search until CCTV footage was found.

When did her friends contact her husband? Was that at 1:00 PM? Brunch at 11:00 AM, missing person report at 1:00 PM?

If it was a random opportunistic murder with the murder still on the loose, there would be warnings to avoid the forest or at least just go in pairs/ in a group. This hasn’t been done so I think it’s closer to home IMO.

 

[otto]

IMO - I’m a 49 year old female, daily runner & my partner wouldn’t have a clue of my route/s, I don’t follow the same route every day, I also don’t take water or my phone with me, however, I’m in the suburbs running past homes. I also don’t wear iPods or headphones & haven’t ever felt unsafe.

We don't know anything about their relationship and independence.

When I think about a woman jogging early in the morning, disappeared, dead, I am reminded of Eliza Fletcher. Her husband realized that she was late getting home from her 6 AM run, got on his bike, called his friend to get on his bike, and they found evidence that something suspicious happened along her running route. They called police.

Samantha's disappearance unfolded differently. She went running at 7 AM, was expected home at 9 AM, brunch at 11 AM. Noticed missing at 11 AM brunch. Reported missing at 1 PM?

Mollie Tibbetts jogged near home, always the same general route, but never the same exact route. She aimed for distance and wore a smart watch that recorded heart rate. Headphones, talking on the phone, not a good idea while cycling, best to be aware of surroundings.

 

[Kemug]

A small lake of water on a property ….
That is what it means in this context in Aus …

Man-made.

 

[they'll get you]

The only ping so far is at the golf course 11 km away (7 miles). Where was the last ping before that? We don't know. Police must be investigating what she did and where she was in the 48 hours before she vanished. Did she run every day at 7 AM?

Wearing the smart watch during a suspicious event means that her watch recorded a spike in heart rate before the watch could be taken from her. That would record the moment that something happened, if something happened. That would help narrow down the timeline and location for a jogger, which would help narrow down the distance from her home when something might have happened.

Does anyone know if that the amount Xavier Golf Club on 188 Fortune St, Ballarat East?

 

[SLouTh]

Samantha's disappearance unfolded differently. She went running at 7 AM, was expected home at 9 AM, brunch at 11 AM. Noticed missing at 11 AM brunch. Reported missing at 1 PM?

Her family sounded the alarm when she did not attend a brunch at 11am.

I don’t think we know the official time that the missing persons’s report was made ???

Missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy’s disappearance ‘suspicious’ and ‘unusual’, police say

Commissioner says there are ‘some suspicions’ in case of 51-year-old, but doesn’t know whether foul play was involved

www.theguardian.com

 

[mamamama9873]

All news outlets (abc, smh and dailymail) have gone very quiet again, no mention of SM on their first pages at all after it was front page news with all of them this afternoon.

Makes me wonder if VPol is very close to announcing something big

 

[SLouTh]

Does anyone know if that the amount Xavier Golf Club on 188 Fortune St, Ballarat East?

I believe there are 2 golf courses … and the ping was from the Buninyong Golf Course …. Not from the Xavier Golf Course …

Is that what you mean TGY???

 

[SLouTh]

Nine News Melbourne Update

https://twitter.com/x/status/1757666267031372000

 

[DK007]

We don't know anything about their relationship and independence.

When I think about a woman jogging early in the morning, disappeared, dead, I am reminded of Eliza Fletcher. Her husband realized that she was late getting home from her 6 AM run, got on his bike, called his friend to get on his bike, and they found evidence that something suspicious happened along her running route. They called police.

Samantha's disappearance unfolded differently. She went running at 7 AM, was expected home at 9 AM, brunch at 11 AM. Noticed missing at 11 AM brunch. Reported missing at 1 PM?

Mollie Tibbetts jogged near home, always the same general route, but never the same exact route. She aimed for distance and wore a smart watch that recorded heart rate. Headphones, talking on the phone, not a good idea while cycling, best to be aware of surroundings.

According to SM timeline 7am run home by 9am and expected brunch at 11am and reported missing at 1pm, has any information been released why it took almost 4 hours if you start from 9am or 2 hours if you start at 11am to be reported as missing ?

 

[Awakening]

Does anyone know what street the poor dog was hit by a car?

 

[WiseOwl]

I believe there are 2 golf courses … and the ping was from the Buninyong Golf Course …. Not from the Xavier Golf Course …

Is that what you mean TGY???

Just to be clear, the ping was from a cell tower near to the Buninyong golf course, it wasn't located at the actual golf course itself.

 

[SLouTh]

According to SM timeline 7am run home by 9am and expected brunch at 11am and reported missing at 1pm,

BBM

So the 1pm “time of reporting” is a social media rumour then? And not official???

Unless we can find a main stream news link for it???

 

[SLouTh]

Does anyone know what street the poor dog was hit by a car?

It was reported as Eureka Street…
But I have not seen a location on Eureka Street published …

 

[Awakening]

It was reported as Eureka Street…

There is a professional tracker who has put a call out on fb to see if anyone knows.

 

[they'll get you]

Apparently yes, she was seen leaving her home and down her driveway. It was shared on one of these threads I think by @otto

My point is by whom. Who said they saw her leave?

So many husbands ‘say’ their wives went for a walk.