I have faith the police are building a strong case against (a) suspect(s) behind the scenes. They aren't sharing what they know because it could undermine the case and their ability to find Sam. I think about the Idaho student murders (totally different scenario but attracted a lot of public interest). It took almost 7 weeks for police to make an arrest and nothing was shared with the public until Brian was in custody. A lot of what they had against Brian was built on mobile phone data. I think this stuff really takes time to go through and they have to be meticulous with their methodology to ensure everything stands up in court. I have faith we will have answers. It's just going to take some time.
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 #5
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One of the types of data mentioned in the UI show was elevation data. I wonder if a phone falling down a mine shaft could generate a change in elevation in the data (I can’t get my words together but hopefully you get what I mean).
carbuff
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Assuming this case is typical, the answer is probably all of the above.
Some of them are probably anonymous, but many won't be. Some will be afraid of the police or of retaliation by the person they're reporting; others will be gloating at the chance to get revenge on somebody they don't like. Most of them will be sincere. Some of them will be people looking for attention or hoping to get somebody else into trouble.
Probably a lot of them will be "I thought she was acting funny when I saw her two weeks ago" or "The same car parks outside the fence every Thursday afternoon for two hours," or "Did you look into that fire south of town? That looks awfully suspicious to me" or "I'll bet it's those bikies" etc.
They all have to be checked, no matter how pointless they seem. With a woman like Sam, who had lots of activities and friends, I'm surprised there aren't more than 500 tips.
Unfortunately, if you read Facebook / twitter, you’ll see that people are commenting ringing crime stoppers because they have ‘a feeling’ or they read she could be down a mineshaft.
IMO, these would be the majority of the calls - total waste of time and resources as I believe all calls to crime-stoppers have to be followed up.
Another reason why police will release fewer details so they can quickly filter out the bs tips/ or I should say prioritise as all have to be investigated.
D
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When beautiful little Cleo Smith disappeared everyone I know ... absolutely everyone, believed 100% she was dead and blamed her mum and stepdad ... horrible things were being said about her poor mum and stepdad and I have no idea how they got through that other than knowing they had done nothing wrong and believing that somehow their little girl would make it wherever she was and whatever was happening to her.
I felt she was still alive all along ... yes, just feeling, nothing else, nothing you could build a case on or anything, useless really and I am not into psychic stuff or anything like that.
It was a mention by some shop owner to the police that he was wondering why a guy with no kids was buying nappy pants that was the breakthrough I think. Today might be that day for Sam! Please please!
I felt she was still alive all along ... yes, just feeling, nothing else, nothing you could build a case on or anything, useless really and I am not into psychic stuff or anything like that.
It was a mention by some shop owner to the police that he was wondering why a guy with no kids was buying nappy pants that was the breakthrough I think. Today might be that day for Sam! Please please!
mondayschild
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I must admit, this case is on my mind a lot. I woke up this morning and had the idea of 'gingerbread crumbs'.
On 7th Feb, way before we had confirmation that SM did walk/jog through this area towards Mt Clear (confirmation in press conference 23rd Feb), LE found personal items belonging to SM.
We saw MM drive up and talk to LE at the scene, then news articles posted this message: "In short: Police on Wednesday discovered items of interest during their search for the missing Ballarat East mother, but later said they were not relevant to the case"
The thing that has been bugging me is the significance of the items found outside/at entrance to the park on Feb 7th - brief news link here.
I'm interested in anyone's ideas around:
1) why would possible personal items of hers outside the park that SM entered to run be irrelevant? (EDIT - the printed news articles don't state that the items belonged to Sam. They also don't state that they did not belong to her. The all just say that the items found were not deemed relevant)
2) how were LE able to confirm these items were not relevant to the case so quickly? (CCTV footage?)
3) why wouldn't we be told what they were if they were truly unconnected ?
4) were they perhaps 'dumped' at a later time point e.g. between 4th-7th Feb?
5) could this be SM leaving a 'gingerbread crumb' to suggest she was already aware of being followed?? (because you wouldn't dump things at the beginning of a run, you just wouldn't take them with you in the first place)
6) or was this again LE leaving a gingerbread crumb/hook to inform possible kidnapper/alleged perpetrator that they knew her movements etc (like the forensic tree sap photo shoot).
On 7th Feb, way before we had confirmation that SM did walk/jog through this area towards Mt Clear (confirmation in press conference 23rd Feb), LE found personal items belonging to SM.
We saw MM drive up and talk to LE at the scene, then news articles posted this message: "In short: Police on Wednesday discovered items of interest during their search for the missing Ballarat East mother, but later said they were not relevant to the case"
The thing that has been bugging me is the significance of the items found outside/at entrance to the park on Feb 7th - brief news link here.
I'm interested in anyone's ideas around:
1) why would possible personal items of hers outside the park that SM entered to run be irrelevant? (EDIT - the printed news articles don't state that the items belonged to Sam. They also don't state that they did not belong to her. The all just say that the items found were not deemed relevant)
2) how were LE able to confirm these items were not relevant to the case so quickly? (CCTV footage?)
3) why wouldn't we be told what they were if they were truly unconnected ?
4) were they perhaps 'dumped' at a later time point e.g. between 4th-7th Feb?
5) could this be SM leaving a 'gingerbread crumb' to suggest she was already aware of being followed?? (because you wouldn't dump things at the beginning of a run, you just wouldn't take them with you in the first place)
6) or was this again LE leaving a gingerbread crumb/hook to inform possible kidnapper/alleged perpetrator that they knew her movements etc (like the forensic tree sap photo shoot).
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Yes, of course. Phones have accelerometers built into them.
Police said they were it's of interest....they didn't say they belonged to Samantha.
It could've just been a hairband on the ground, or a bottle top, or part of a bracelet.... something that MAY have been hers, but was subsequently found not to be, so seemed "irrelevant".
D
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Most likely have picked up other pings near her phone, they can be traced almost straight away
Dotta
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Yes, you are right.
They have so many hours of cctv to wade through - like thousands?
How many officers can be engaged to do this?
It is tiring job - I mean,
so many hrs in front of the screen make eyes hurt terribly.
RobinCAL
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Is there somewhere else it states that the items found belong to Samantha ?
As this is the only bit I can find in your attached link -
Victoria Police say items recovered in bushland on Wednesday are not believed relevant to the search for missing woman Samantha Murphy.
BBM
D
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Not to mention the 12,000 plus hours of CCTV footage.
There might be a lot of that footage insignificant, but there could be one piece that could be the missing link for police
D
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It's interesting that Mondayschild mentions gingerbread crumbs ... it can be the tiniest crumbs of info yes?.
Also, I wish every outbuilding, small sheds etc. around the outskirts of Ballarat on the Mt Clear side could be searched but of course police can't get a warrant unless there is some evidence. That must drive them mad sometimes ... maybe there are some positives of living in some totalitarian regime where police can do what they want ... only joking.
Also, I wish every outbuilding, small sheds etc. around the outskirts of Ballarat on the Mt Clear side could be searched but of course police can't get a warrant unless there is some evidence. That must drive them mad sometimes ... maybe there are some positives of living in some totalitarian regime where police can do what they want ... only joking.
D
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If police have found some evidence, they certainly won't be saying.
I think police have found something of Sam's, maybe in a different area, as police will keep that quiet
BreakingNews
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Becomes a cold case after 3 months when all clues and info has been thoroughly exhausted. Can't find the link now. It was on police website.
mondayschild
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Yes and when I read back all the articles from the time (that I can find) relating to these item/s of interest they show a huge police response and MM attending the scene in a car. I had this memory of it being reported that MM confirmed the belongings were hers and that was the reason he attended the scene - but I can't find anything where that is discussed so perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me.
RobinCAL
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I just wondered if the OP had something on hand to support their comments on relation to the objects . Of course, the police keep things to themselves
mondayschild
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No - I can't find a printed article where it says that - the articles all say "not thought to be relevant", or "not relevant" (rather than didn't belong to SM etc). If I can find it, I will post. I felt sure I had seen it reported that they did belong to her but were deemed irrelevant but I could be entirely incorrect and if so, I apologise.
nightrider17
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Items recovered during search for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy not related to case
Police say items recovered during a search of bushland near the home of missing Ballarat East woman Samantha Murphy are not related to her whereabouts.
www.abc.net.au
Just on the comments from "mondayschild"
The map included in this article - had 3 sites they were interested in circled in red.
1. Brown Hill/Black Hill
2. Woowookarung Regional Park (Close to the Mt Clear area)
3.Buningyong and Scotchmans Lead
If they knew roughly which route SM took on a regular basis why were they looking in these other 2 areas.
It seems the phone ping at 5pm?? near Buningyong must have factored into this early on? IMO
But I don't know why the Brown Hill/Black Hill area - that seems more densely housed and populated. Was it just to rule out SM might have gone that way.JMO
BreakingNews
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I have reported to Crime Stoppers a few times. Once was about someone in my building who had lots of visitors for short periods of time. Something not quite right. Police were here to arrest this drug dealer next morning. They had him on their radar, but didn't know where he currently lived.
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