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

[mondayschild]

Climate-wise, are we now in autumn there and heading into winter, with less greenery and an easier view through forestry? I think about the Lara Emanuele case in USA/NJ, and the advent of winter revealed evidence, once nature had leaves off trees. How tropical is this climate? How much will time and seasons potentially reveal in wilderness areas?

While it has ticked over into Autumn, it's essentially summer temps (low to mid 30s) in regional Vic. This weekend even hotter.

Found a website with all the different flora in the park she ran through - Flora and fauna of Wookarung and the Canadian Corridor, Ballarat | Friends of Canadian Corridor

 

[Hats]

Technically yes we are 6 days into to autumn but it's 31 degrees today in Melbourne. Also as far as I know almost all Australian natives are evergreen

I would agree, there is not going to be any huge changes from season to season in the Australian bush.

 

[MrsWattle]

View attachment 488242

This looks like an electricity hub station, close to where police think Samantha was taken, near the phone tower at Mt Clear and where police have been searching and believe in the area something happened,

this is most likely Samantha's turn around point at 7km from home, running from Boak Rd.

This building could have a camera as well


View attachment 488252

I've been looking at those crossroads and wondered if a speeding car was travelling towards the crossroads at the same time SM approached with earphone in her ears?

 

[mondayschild]

View attachment 488263
Pic from post above

This place looks so desolate.
There's not a living soul there.

When I look this area up in maps, it says "water tower" or water storage.

Also looks like this might have been part of an older railway track called the "bunny" railway. More investigation required...

 

[acutename]

I've been looking at those crossroads and wondered if a speeding car was travelling towards the crossroads at the same time SM approached.

is it ever misty in the morning since it cools so much over night?

 

[Minx67]

Newbie here....
With all the theories coming in regarding the business dealings & Samantha's position at their company. Maybe ... IMO could it be possible that Samantha pre arranged a meeting point to conduct business with the perps and unfortunately that meeting went haywire?
That would explain when & where they knew to meet.
Also that there was no evidence of a struggle as she was already in the vehicle.
It would explain why hubby was so quick to get police involved after conducting his own search.

 

[Deleted member 293720]

such a big empty area...

I've been looking at those crossroads and wondered if a speeding car was travelling towards the crossroads at the same time SM approached with earphone in her ears?

There would be a lot of evidence to support this scenario and noise if this happened

I think she has been attacked further back in Boak Rd
Where the police have been searching a fair bit

The perpetrator/s who know the area well

 

[Hats]

Newbie here....
With all the theories coming in regarding the business dealings & Samantha's position at their company. Maybe ... IMO could it be possible that Samantha pre arranged a meeting point to conduct business with the perps and unfortunately that meeting went haywire?
That would explain when & where they knew to meet.
Also that there was no evidence of a struggle as she was already in the vehicle.
It would explain why hubby was so quick to get police involved after conducting his own search.

The uncle mentioned she was to have a meeting at 10:00am. Besides a planned brunch at 11:00am, this would be the first of three meetings in one morning?

I don't think she would be silly enough to meet up with someone for business on a deserlate dirt road through the parklands.

 

[acutename]

The uncle mentioned she was to have a meeting at 10:00am. Besides a planned brunch at 11:00am, this would be the first of three meetings in one morning?

I don't think she would be silly enough to meet up with someone for business on a deserlate dirt road through the parklands.

also if the meeting/brunch was all true, I did not think anyone who knew her well would attack her on that day, because she would be missed so soon, IMO

 

[Minx67]

The uncle mentioned she was to have a meeting at 10:00am. Besides a planned brunch at 11:00am, this would be the first of three meetings in one morning?

I don't think she would be silly enough to meet up with someone for business on a deserlate dirt road through the parklands.

IMO Maybe it was a meeting that needed to be conducted in a deserted area and maybe it could have been an ongoing business arrangement so she felt capable of attending but unfortunately this time something went wrong.

 

[mondayschild]

There would be a lot of evidence to support this scenario and noise if this happened

I think she has been attacked further back in Boak Rd
Where the police have been searching a fair bit

The perpetrator/s who know the area well

View attachment 488298

This point is also (as per Google maps) about 7km from their former home so I wonder if it was her halfway run point before the move ? (MOO - I don't know how long she has been running)

 

[Deleted member 293720]

IMO Maybe it was a meeting that needed to be conducted in a deserted area and maybe it could have been an ongoing business arrangement so she felt capable of attending but unfortunately this time something went wrong.

No, I couldn't imagine that happening

 

[Deleted member 293720]

This point is also (as per Google maps) about 7km from their former home so I wonder if it was her halfway run point before the move ? (MOO - I don't know how long she has been running)

The 7km mark would be the turn around to run back home, so 14 km was her full run

Something happened at the 7km mark, the last ping was picked up at that tower

police won't confirm the time

 

[Curiosity Cat]

I

Haha… perhaps… not the first time it’s been suggested that I try too hard to make sense of non-sense. However I must admit this is genuinely how I understood the police’s reasoning… I don’t have a link to provide but my memory is that a police spokesperson said something along the lines of that they’d been saying it wasn’t suspicious up until that point, but the absence of any leads whatsoever made it suspicious…. Can anyone else confirm this?

Guess you mean " no signs of life" like using their bank cards, or being seen, or used passport, hired a car etc.

 

[mondayschild]

The 7km mark would be the turn around to run back home, so 14 km was her full run

Something happened at the 7km mark, the last ping was picked up at that tower

police won't confirm the time

@Nifty - it also seems like that point (the 7km mark/possible ping) is also 7km away from where they used to live (until 2021) - different suburb. Could be complete coincidence but when someone mentioned a possible perp knew the area well, maybe it was also a 'turnaround' or halfway crossroad marker for her. Pure speculation.

Also - I've tried to follow boak road via google maps, the running/walking part with no cars seems to run directly next to the brick electrical building in the pic which could be a place to conceal oneself.

 

[Deleted member 293720]

For some reason your post has triggered a thought I had from the 60 mins episode when they were discussing that LE can get data from a phone even if sim is put in another phone or another sim into existing phone etc.

Maybe they tried to make it look like SM was still moving / around later in the day (eg until the 7pm timeframe) by using her sim or phone in a different arrangement. (Ie to give false impression she was not already deceased?). Bit of a sideways thought but we are mostly grasping at straws anyway ...

True, and If he/they used Sam's phone with her sim card still in, the perpetrators might think it would also be harder for him /them to be traced

 

[Deleted member 293720]

@Nifty - it also seems like that point (the 7km mark/possible ping) is also 7km away from where they used to live (until 2021) - different suburb. Could be complete coincidence but when someone mentioned a possible perp knew the area well, maybe it was also a 'turnaround' or halfway crossroad marker for her. Pure speculation.

Also - I've tried to follow boak road via google maps, the running/walking part with no cars seems to run directly next to the brick electrical building in the pic which could be a place to conceal oneself.

If that building had cameras, that would be a very handy spot to pick something up

 

[fawlty towers]

Newbie here....
With all the theories coming in regarding the business dealings & Samantha's position at their company. Maybe ... IMO could it be possible that Samantha pre arranged a meeting point to conduct business with the perps and unfortunately that meeting went haywire?
That would explain when & where they knew to meet.
Also that there was no evidence of a struggle as she was already in the vehicle.
It would explain why hubby was so quick to get police involved after conducting his own search.

With all due respect to your opinion. Just wondering about your theory. Why, when it is a shared business would Samantha only arrange a meeting point. And why would that meeting point be in the bush? JMO.

 

[Minx67]

With all due respect to your opinion. Just wondering about your theory. Why, when it is a shared business would Samantha only arrange a meeting point. And why would that meeting point be in the bush? JMO.

True it is a shared business but IMO she was it seems...considered the brains behind this establishment keeping her husband in line & keeping the books for the shared business. The out of the way meeting point IMO might just be the way business is conducted or requested by certain clients.

 

[Deleted member 293720]

This spot on your map, close to Boundary Rd, would seem a bit far east to be classed as Mount Clear, wouldn't it?

On the other hand, this location seems a better one for an ambush as it covers other possible longer running routes that SM may have chosen to go on that morning.

I had probably wrongly assumed that the previous talk of a location on Boak Rd at Mount Clear was at the western end of Boak Rd. This definitely makes more sense now if this is correct.

It is a quick get away, so many options and roads to take

View attachment 488242

This looks like an electricity hub station, close to where police think Samantha was taken, near the phone tower at Mt Clear and where police have been searching and believe in the area something happened,

this is most likely Samantha's turn around point at 7km from home, running from Boak Rd.

This building could have a camera as well


View attachment 488252