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 #3

[otto]

This seems plausible. Also it would make sense that she just wore the apple watch and left the phone that was synced to it at home. Makes sense if going for a jog to not carry around the weight of the phone. This ties in with the ping to the mobile tower that supposedly shows the ping from near a golf course (I didn't think the location could be narrowed down that much given just one tower operating).

That ping must have been from the apple watch. Meanwhile the synced apple phone is still back at the house and either another family member knew how to access/authenticate with it.

So far, my understanding is that she had her phone and smart watch with her on Sunday morning. Her smart watch should be synced with her laptop, which would be at home.

 

[Naobh]

I’m leaning towards abduction now, initially MM may have believed Samantha had an accident, but later realised it could have been connected to something going on in their lives, possibly business wise, or they received a “message “ from someone after he had been to the police.
It would explain the apparent half hearted press conference,MM was probably told to say as little as possible, and dont answer any questions, as it appears the wider family has also been told.
This would also explain why they are so anti the media.

I'm not sure the press conference was half hearted. There's a huge difference in what people are like depending where they're from. Nearly every WSer here who's from around here or somewhere similar and knows a few aussie blokes has tried to explain MM mannerisms and speech, and why it's not suss. Meanwhile others are analysing whether he is more innocent if he put please at the start or end of the sentence. It's all well and good to analyse these things with people from your local culture in your dialect of English but some things are just something a local could understand. Or if you were exposed to as much Australian media as we get of the rest of the English speaking world!

The lack of information from the family also fits with the likely fact there is no information, they don't know what happened, nor do we.

Edit. if you want more familiarity I'll just recommend a couple of classic Aussie movies. Wake in Fright, The Castle, and pick a few more from this list. There seems to be this thing about ideally keeping things simple and straightforward that's important to some Australians. You can use english subtitles for the hearing impaired and google difficult phrases.

10 Classic Australian Films to watch

We wanted to create a list of the best Australian films ever.. but then we realised that some of our top 10 like ‘Love and Other Catastrophes’ and ‘Thank God He Met Lizzie’ aren’t available on any streaming platforms! So, we’ve only included films on our list that you can actually stream and...

www.southernwildco.com.au

 

[Hats]

New article…. SM’s Dad claims that Police have silenced him.

Father of missing mum Samantha Murphy claims police have silenced him

The heartbroken father of missing mother-of-three Samantha Murphy has expressed frustration at not being able to talk openly about his beloved daughter's disappearance.

www.dailymail.co.uk

It seems they are still talking even though the police have advised them not to talk to the media. I mean just in telling the media that they have been told not to talk, this is saying too much. I think MM may be privy to some knowledge of the current police line of enquire as he is assisting the investigators with it. He may have shared some of this with the father and uncle (or maybe related to some family business troubles they are already aware of). The investigators are *advertiser censored* scared of the suspect(s) getting tipped off as the father and uncle seem quite unfiltered when talking to the media

 

[carbuff]

I think so too.
People can be missed.
Remember Chandra Levy whose remains were only found a year later.....in a city park that had been searched.
How many times do we hear of a missing person who is finally located in the vicinity of already searched places?

and that poor woman on the Appalachian trail, who got lost. She was found not so far off the trail.

Yes, thank you for the reminder that people can be missed. The hiker was Gerry Largay (I hope I spelled that right.) The area had been searched several times.

 

[Naobh]

It seems they are still talking even though the police have advised them not to talk to the media. I mean just in telling the media that they have been told this is saying too much. I think MM may be privy to some knowledge of the current police line of enquire as he is assisting the investigators with it. He may have shared some of this with the father and uncle (or maybe related to some family business troubles they are already aware of). The investigators are *advertiser censored* scared of the suspect(s) getting tipped off as the father and uncle seem quite unfiltered when talking to the media

It might just feed the rumour mill and dilute the investigation, giving everyone more irrelevant rubbish to go over & over.

 

[kiwi50]

It seems they are still talking even though the police have advised them not to talk to the media. I mean just in telling the media that they have been told not to talk, this is saying too much. I think MM may be privy to some knowledge of the current police line of enquire as he is assisting the investigators with it. He may have shared some of this with the father and uncle (or maybe related to some family business troubles they are already aware of). The investigators are *advertiser censored* scared of the suspect(s) getting tipped off as the father and uncle seem quite unfiltered when talking to the media

I agree MM is privy to a lot more information.
I think he said exactly what the police told him to say at the “Presser”

 

[Dotta]

I agree MM is privy to a lot more information.
I think he said exactly what the police told him to say at the “Presser”

I would think that all connected to a victim/missing person should not be "privy to a lot of info" -
family or not.

JMO

 

[Cartie]

I think of Madeline McCann whose parents made many appeals and even pointed out her unusual iris. Of course with an adult being missing it’s less likely they got abducted and are living a life elsewhere.

Its nothing like Madeline McCann case, herparents had a PR firm working for them almost immediately

 

[BGirl88]

Something I noticed when I watched the original presser where MM and daughter spoke. It seemed to me as though the daughter wanting to speak came as a bit of a surprise to MM. I can’t remember exactly what she said but was something like “can I say something too?” Just to me it seemed as though her speaking was not planned. Did anyone else think this? MOO

 

[Dotta]

Something I noticed when I watched the original presser where MM and daughter spoke. It seemed to me as though the daughter wanting to speak came as a bit of a surprise to MM. I can’t remember exactly what she said but was something like “can I say something too?” Just to me it seemed as though her speaking was not planned. Did anyone else think this? MOO

I noticed her father was nodding in approval/support of his daughter.

She was there to beg for her Mum.

JMO

 

[mondayschild]

My impression of MM was someone trying to present with stoicism despite inner turmoil & looking to female police officer for cues/approval a few times (which to me meant the limitations of what he could/should discuss in the press conference were prepped with LE).

 

[SouthAussie]

The public hasn't really been told the facts from the beginning, the public doesn't need to know the specifics of what the police are doing

But there has been no clear indication from the police. A lot from her relatives though, instead, her say and his say.

One minute we are told she had an 11 am brunch with family, then it's a 9 am meeting

No mention if she had a water bottle, headphones. She was wearing her smartwatch and had her phone. The police could have mentioned this and say, could the public keep an eye out for these items etc....

Everything is a bit wishy-washy

Hopefully it's calm before the storm

Yes, the police could have mentioned a lot of things. But it doesn't help them with their investigation.
I don't think they want the public to investigate potential foul play. They would like the public's help in locating a missing person who was last seen at 7am on Sunday 4th Feb.

So, they gave information that would help with that. And they asked for CCTV. Up until this point, that is all the help they need.

If they suspect foul play, there may also be "hold back" information that the police keep under wraps. Something only the potential foul play perpetrator would know.

imo

 

[Dotta]

IMO
Re family talking to Media

I didn't notice anything that might have threatened the investigation.

They were talking about Samantha's childhood,
life goals/dreams, accomplishments, etc.

Love was shining through their words.

The public learnt about the missing woman.

She became a real person to people,
not just a number in terrifying statistics of missing people.

But it is only my opinion.

 

[Nikynoo]

Its nothing like Madeline McCann case, herparents had a PR firm working for them almost immediately

MCs parents were in a foreign country and IIRC didn’t have a lot of faith in the local police.

 

[Cartie]

MCs parents were in a foreign country and IIRC didn’t have a lot of faith in the local police.

Like I said completely different!

 

[bearbear]

IMO
Re family talking to Media

I didn't notice anything that might have threatened the investigation.

They were talking about Samantha's childhood,
life goals/dreams, accomplishments, etc.

Love was shining through their words.

The public learnt about the missing woman.

She became a real person to people,
not just a number in terrifying statistics of missing people.

But it is only my opinion.

i guess if there was a hostage situation though and the potential of sm still being alive somewhere it could be to protect her privacy, and save her embarrassment later on? id be mortified if family members blathered on to msm about me

 

[Dotta]

i guess if there was a hostage situation though and the potential of sm still being alive somewhere it could be to protect her privacy, and save her embarrassment later on? id be mortified if family members blathered on to msm about me

Only positive things were said

This "warming up" approach may result in public's increased efforts to help.
People identify with the victim.

JMO

 

[borderline444]

Maybe they did pick up her scent. Maybe her scent went in multiple directions. I am not sure the dogs would be able to tell if the scent they picked up was from Sunday, or Saturday, or Friday ...... Sam ran regularly.

imo

dogs don't work like that.
they pick up the freshest scent, so when she left the house on her last run they wouldve followed that scent.

 

[they'll get you]

Something I noticed when I watched the original presser where MM and daughter spoke. It seemed to me as though the daughter wanting to speak came as a bit of a surprise to MM. I can’t remember exactly what she said but was something like “can I say something too?” Just to me it seemed as though her speaking was not planned. Did anyone else think this? MOO

Yes I noticed that.

 

[Detective Willy]

There was 1 question asked at the first press conference that I still find interesting - this one that was asked at the 5m 50 sec mark.

The reporter asks if this could be related to "an incident at a Ballarat Hospitality Venue". (I read this as a Pub or club).

As we have seen in the past, the press often have more inside info than the general public. Does anyone know what this incident was at the Ballarat Hospital Venue?

IMO it is either a dumb question or one that has been intentionally left alone and not spoken about for operational reasons?

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