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

[StillDiggin]

desperate search continues for a mother-of-three who vanished without a trace after heading off on a 20km run during a heatwave.

Samantha Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street in Ballarat East, about 100km northwest of Melbourne, at 7am on Sunday.

It's understood she was planning to run through the Canadian State Forest and was captured on CCTV wearing a brown singlet and black half-length leggings.

The mother-of-three has now been missing for almost 36 hours

Her 'upset and concerned' family hold grave concerns and described her disappearance as out of character.

Grave fears for mum missing for 36 hours

Samantha Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street in Ballarat East, about 100km northwest of Melbourne, at 7am on Sunday. She's still missing 36 hours later.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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[Knitty]

Please continue here.

 

[Warshawski]

Please continue here.

Um - is this thread open ?

 

[Skigh]

Um - is this thread open ?

You just posted on it.

 

[OptimusLime]

Here!! *waves hand!!*

I've been reading back too. Some good info. Thanks ISAG for posting the 60 minutes piece. I thought it was well done. I also jog/ walk (more like try) and I get into the zone. The hackles on my neck raised when they mentioned ambush whilst on those tracks. No woman or man should have to fear being ambushed. She was just going about her business, like we all do, when something nefarious happened. I'm at a loss for what may have happened, either planned or random, I hope justice is served with a side of gaol cell. An ordinary thing going for a jog, turning into an extraordinarily nefarious time.

 

[Warshawski]

You just posted on it.

Yep, but it presented weird. Sorry

 

[Toowong(s)]

Still nothing really to go on…

Time for police to put some public pressure on a POI, what are they doing?

And surely the good investigative journos out there know a lot more? Time for media to put some pressure on police, or a POI, or both? It seems odd to me this is not happening. No updates or comments from police for a week, no pressure from media on the police or a POI.

I can only conclude it really is a complete vacuum of clues. The perfect kidnapping or murder?

So disheartening that hard working, community focused, fit, healthy, successful SM, can literally disappear off the face of the earth, as if kidnapped by aliens. IMO.

 

[Investig8r]

Still nothing really to go on…

Time for police to put some public pressure on a POI, what are they doing?

Agree - It would be great to hear progress on this case as there has been silence recently however IMO the police know a lot more than they can share. They would be working very diligently in the background collecting the evidence to make an arrest. Fingers crossed it is soon!

 

[BGirl88]

GoodMorning from sunny QLD. Some random thoughts from me on this Saturday morning:

• This is either a very well planned attack or a random attack/accident cover up where the perps so far are lucky to have got away with not leaving any evidence.
• Destroying evidence - I imagine that if the devices had to be destroyed, they’d likely be put in water? Or placed into a bag and smashed with a hammer? Putting them into a bag would contain any glass / metal / etc.
• Was the phone and watch left at the scene of the crime and then perps came back for it to destroy it a few hours later (crap, we have to go back and destroy her phone before anyone finds it). Or was it removed from the scene of the crime and destroyed near the final ping?
• I keep going back to that first press conference and the way the daughter spoke. She spoke as if she suspected her mum had disappeared of her own accord “mum please come home soon, we miss you and we need you at home with us. Can’t wait to give you the biggest hug and tell you off for causing us so much stress.” It’s odd to me that these were her choice of words. Had Sam taken off in the past? Was there something going on at home that made Jess think her mum had just taken some time out? Why not say “if anyone knows anything about mum, please come forward…” or perhaps Jess was just so overcome with grief and she couldn’t fathom a scenario where her mum had been kidnapped, so ‘assuming’ her mum had taken off was the best scenario her brain could come up with.
• At the same time, I still don’t suspect the husband.I have probably, in my head, made some stereotypical assumptions about MM, based on my own personal experiences and can relate to the “keeping him in line” statement on the business website. I’m hesitant to say much more as these are just personal assumptions.

Every day, I wake up hoping for news Sam has been found.

 

[DK007]

GoodMorning from sunny QLD. Some random thoughts from me on this Saturday morning:

• This is either a very well planned attack or a random attack/accident cover up where the perps so far are lucky to have got away with not leaving any evidence.
• Destroying evidence - I imagine that if the devices had to be destroyed, they’d likely be put in water? Or placed into a bag and smashed with a hammer? Putting them into a bag would contain any glass / metal / etc.
• Was the phone and watch left at the scene of the crime and then perps came back for it to destroy it a few hours later (crap, we have to go back and destroy her phone before anyone finds it). Or was it removed from the scene of the crime and destroyed near the final ping?
• I keep going back to that first press conference and the way the daughter spoke. She spoke as if she suspected her mum had disappeared of her own accord “mum please come home soon, we miss you and we need you at home with us. Can’t wait to give you the biggest hug and tell you off for causing us so much stress.” It’s odd to me that these were her choice of words. Had Sam taken off in the past? Was there something going on at home that made Jess think her mum had just taken some time out? Why not say “if anyone knows anything about mum, please come forward…” or perhaps Jess was just so overcome with grief and she couldn’t fathom a scenario where her mum had been kidnapped, so ‘assuming’ her mum had taken off was the best scenario her brain could come up with.
• At the same time, I still don’t suspect the husband.I have probably, in my head, made some stereotypical assumptions about MM, based on my own personal experiences and can relate to the “keeping him in line” statement on the business website. I’m hesitant to say much more as these are just personal assumptions.

Every day, I wake up hoping for news Sam has been found.

Agreed. I thought the choice of words were a bit strange

 

[SouthAussie]

• Destroying evidence - I imagine that if the devices had to be destroyed, they’d likely be put in water? Or placed into a bag and smashed with a hammer? Putting them into a bag would contain any glass / metal / etc.

I wonder if simply throwing the devices down a mineshaft would be enough to stop the ability of the devices to get a mobile or GPS signal. If it would make the devices seem to be off-air/non-operational.


GPS is a powerful navigation technology, but it doesn’t work as well inside buildings, underground or underwater. Link

Mobile phones operate on a high-frequency signal that's easily blocked by soil or concrete. Link

 

[SouthAussie]

Still nothing really to go on…

Time for police to put some public pressure on a POI, what are they doing?

And surely the good investigative journos out there know a lot more? Time for media to put some pressure on police, or a POI, or both? It seems odd to me this is not happening. No updates or comments from police for a week, no pressure from media on the police or a POI.

I can only conclude it really is a complete vacuum of clues. The perfect kidnapping or murder?

So disheartening that hard working, community focused, fit, healthy, successful SM, can literally disappear off the face of the earth, as if kidnapped by aliens. IMO.

I think we need to give the police time to work on the 500 tips they have received. I have no doubt that they are currently working hard to get some resolution in this case. It is nowhere near a cold case yet.

imo

 

[Deleted member 339914]

An earlier post mentioned the golf course and anyone employed there. In my opinion the police need to check crim rec etc. of anyone working there esp. outside work like labouring and gardening, landscaping etc. JMO.
I am very frustrated that there has been no update from police. Is it possible for a reward to be offered at this stage for information that leads to the solving of this missing persons case. I believe that this guy has "associates". A reward might get a suspicious connection of an associate or of him thinking.
There needs to be some comms. The Ballarat community has worked so very hard to try to help Sam. They deserve some info even if there isn't much to say. I am so very sorry for Sam's family and those closest to her. This case is sending me crazy and I live thousands of kms away and don't even know Sam. I am so desperate for a breakthrough. Prayers for something this weekend.

 

[Cedars]

[*]I keep going back to that first press conference and the way the daughter spoke. She spoke as if she suspected her mum had disappeared of her own accord “mum please come home soon, we miss you and we need you at home with us. Can’t wait to give you the biggest hug and tell you off for causing us so much stress.” It’s odd to me that these were her choice of words. Had Sam taken off in the past? Was there something going on at home that made Jess think her mum had just taken some time out? Why not say “if anyone knows anything about mum, please come forward…” or perhaps Jess was just so overcome with grief and she couldn’t fathom a scenario where her mum had been kidnapped, so ‘assuming’ her mum had taken off was the best scenario her brain could come up with.

Yes, from what I have seen and heard, close family and friends - especially someone so young - will quite unconsciously hang on to any scenario where their loved one is alive, and is not in pain, fear, feeling helpless, nor is likely to be.

To even contemplate the thought of something else having happened, or almost worse, to face that you just don't know, requires psychological distance. Someone deeply attached will feel it is betraying that person - wiping out hope for them, giving up on them, turning you back on them. How can she declare, in her own mind, that her Mom is dead, until there is absolutely, convincing proof?

JMO

 

[Dotta]

500 tips to Police?
Are they anonymous?
What kinds of tips can these be?
Of possible witnesses who are scared to talk to Police?
Or just rumours about neighbours, etc.?

 

[Algorithm]

My mind has been working overtime on this case and the more I look at it the more I think it’s a random attack and the perpetrator has put SM into a vehicle and moved her body to another location. I think it’s just absolute sheer luck that no evidence has been left behind but I can understand why due to the little clothing and devices she was wearing and carrying because of her run. Because imo of the randomness attack, getting rid of the phone and watch was an afterthought hence why LE have got lots of electronic data. I think cctv will be the defining factor in solving this case.

 

[Deleted member 339914]

Even when you don't know the missing person, thinking of them as dead when there is no proof feels like abandoning them ... that is what's happening for me anyway. I imagine if I was being held somewhere and trying to survive and then I escaped and found out that the police had declared me dead ... I'd be pretty disappointed. It's different though if police have proof of death they can't tell us about though.

 

[Deleted member 339914]

To be fair to police, they didn't say that Sam is dead, they said that they have very little hope she is alive or words of that nature. Just a sliver of hope. I am hanging on to that little sliver.

 

[Dotta]

Isn't it strange that Police declared Samantha's disappearance as "suspicious" only after a week of her missing?

 

[mamamama9873]

Isn't it strange that Police declared Samantha's disappearance as "suspicious" only after a week of her missing?

I don’t think so as they could pretty much rule out a medial episode (they would have found her or traces of her if so) and her running away by then