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

[Kemug]

Apparently, he lived at home with mum and dad.. he must be a master dissembler.. . he's been able to live in his community , with the parents, everyone would have been talking about Ms Murphy, everyone would have had a theory, yet he never gave away the slightest shiver of a hint. A lifetime's art of looking people in the eye and lying. A very dangerous young man.

A 22-year-old living with his parents doesn't necessarily see very much of them - probably just "ships that pass in the night".

 

[mondayschild]

The reporter has stated the accused is an electrician in Ballarat. None of his family were in attendance at the court.

That's given me shivers again in light of the links & discussion we had in the thread 24 hrs ago re Mr Cruel, being around electricity substations/maintenance, uniforms etc.

 

[SouthAussie]

Of course they would have more proof than just phone pings to charge him with murder. What I said was that phone pings likely led police to him (and possibly other suspects who were then ruled out).

Likely Samantha’s DNA in his car I’m suspecting.

Buninyong is on the way from Mt Clear to Scotsburn. Phone ping.

Google maps

 

[Neet_Mc]

Let’s hope the accused does not pull out the mental health card like this recent high profile case in NSW:

1000% guarantee this will be the case. Par for the course infact.

 

[Black-Cat]

Just wanted to let you all know that I have just spent 4 days at a training course with the mum of the alleged perp. You could not meet a more friendly and down to earth person. When she told me where she was from, I actually asked her if she had a theory, and what she thought about the case. It was a very general conversation. I am devastated for Sam and her family, but also for the family of the perp. who up until yesterday had a completely normal life. I won't be commenting further on this case.

 

[emirates1957]

Apparently, he lived at home with mum and dad.. he must be a master dissembler.. . he's been able to live in his community , with the parents, everyone would have been talking about Ms Murphy, everyone would have had a theory, yet he never gave away the slightest shiver of a hint. A lifetime's art of looking people in the eye and lying. A very dangerous young man.

He thinks he is running the show. He has a very steep learning curve to surmount. All this reluctance and obstruction is laid before the judge by the Prosecutor, ( no one gets away with anything once you are arrested and charged. EVERYTHING you do is noted for further adjudication)..as evidence of a lack of remorse and it carries weight.

He can probably maintain his attitude for years.. there are men serving LWOP in AU who , to this day, refuse to disclose.. the bodies remain unfound, because there is payoff in it, it's a big up-yours to the system, which, I hasten to add, will inevitably run him over like a steamroller, notwithstanding his current position. ..

Didn’t the law change whereby no body no chance of parole Troops? And if this was planned what on earth is the motive? Too many questions.

 

[mamamama9873]

Just wanted to let you all know that I have just spent 4 days at a training course with the mum of the alleged perp. You could not meet a more friendly and down to earth person. When she told me where she was from, I actually asked her if she had a theory, and what she thought about the case. It was a very general conversation. I am devastated for Sam and her family, but also for the family of the perp. who up until yesterday had a completely normal life. I won't be commenting further on this case.

So terrible. Just as with the recent tragic double murder case in NSW, these perps don’t just ruin the lives of their victims and their own but also the lives of their own families (and of course victims’ families) .

 

[jjleroche]

I suspect they have something else aside phone pings. If he is not being co operative in custody, they must have something of significance that enables them to put forward the said charges.

Unless he admitted it during the interview but won’t advise the body location.

IIRC Victoria currently is a "No Body, No Parole state.

Well spotted.
So perhaps he had been watching Sam on her runs for sometime and became obsessed with sick fantasies about her.
I wonder if she ran past his house regularly?

I wonder if she was a friend of his father, or if his father was a jogging partner of Sam's. Mt Clear was a regular route for Sam. I had wondered if she used to meet up with a running partner there. JMO

 

[Trooper]

Didn’t the law change whereby no body no chance of parole Troops? And if this was planned what on earth is the motive? Too many questions.

Oh the law changed, but the psychosis of the murderers remained the same!!

Chris Dawson, for example, when he murdered his wife, that law was not operative, but it came in 2 days before he was convicted 40 years later. So he doesn't get parole until he produces Lynn's body. Which he may never do, because that means he admits to murder.....

Paul Wilkinson murdered Kylie Labauschange, he buried her somewhere between Grafton and Newcastle, he won't tell anyone because it is revenge on her family for helping convict him by providing Kylie's phone messages. He'd rather stay in prison than give them the satisfaction. Keeping in mind , one is dealing with sick psycho creeps, this is how it works for them.


Motive. He doesn't need one. Perhaps it just felt good. God knows. maybe even God doesn't know. I am sure in his own little mind he has ,or had, a motive. Not that it needed to have anything to do with Samantha Murphy. So good to crash into , Emirates, my idol.


Emirates, in the spirit of the Committed Websleuther, went to the house opening of a murderer to check the place out!!..

 

[ZombieKittie]

That's given me shivers again in light of the links & discussion we had in the thread 24 hrs ago re Mr Cruel, being around electricity substations/maintenance, uniforms etc.

I think we can safely assume this guy isn't Mr Cruel given he wasn't born in 1990

 

[leopink74]

I was not expecting to hear that a 22 year old had been charged with this..
Did Samantha witness something during her run that then made the accused think she would report it to the police so he had to stop her doing so ? If drugs were not involved then I have no clue what could be that serious…
It just seems inconceivable that he would just somehow decide that killing Samantha was the best option.
Unless he had some kind of psychotic episode from an ‘undiagnosed mental illness’ - which has been the case too many times….

 

[T-dawg420]

It has been said he replied ‘no comment’ when being interviewed by police.

Their evidence must be extensive to charge him. IMO

I was thinking the same to be honest. He’s not saying anything, he hasn’t given up thr location of a body, so what do they have?

A lot I assume as they have managed to charge him with murder.

It’s gotta be more than phone pings, I mean, if it was just that, no way could you charge someone with murder imo. There must be something else, or someone who has given him up. Maybe they knew about him for a while and have surveillance on him and he’s let it slip to someone. But again, VicPol must have substantial evidence against this person. Who I won’t name, for obvious reasons…

Side note, the “M” in “DBM” for me could now have a different meaning, there should just be a blank space left with “deleted by mods”, I’d have a few of those let me tell ya…… lol just joking mods, as always, I love your work, must be a bloody tough gig lol.

 

[Sarahlou]

I reckon he was just yet another sick guy with sick desires/fantasies and he possibly had been stalking her and then carried them out. IMO.
There's always suggestions that maybe things went too far or maybe the victim stumbled on something they shouldn't have done, but I can hardly ever remember that turning out to be the case.

 

[mondayschild]

I think we can safely assume this guy isn't Mr Cruel given he wasn't born in 1990

I'm not in a joking mood about it. Didn't say or assume he was.

 

[jjleroche]

I was not expecting to hear that a 22 year old had been charged with this..
Did Samantha witness something during her run that then made the accused think she would report it to the police so he had to stop her doing so ? If drugs were not involved then I have no clue what could be that serious…
It just seems inconceivable that he would just somehow decide that killing Samantha was the best option.
Unless he had some kind of psychotic episode from an ‘undiagnosed mental illness’ - which has been the case too many times….

I suspect Sam was a friend of his father's - maybe a running partner. JMO

 

[BGirl88]

I suspect Sam was a friend of his father's - maybe a running partner. JMO

I did wonder this too whether there’s another family connection.

 

[T-dawg420]

Was just reading about the definition of murder in Australia. It mentions one characteristic as being “reckless indifference to human life, where the defendant foresaw the probability, as opposed to possibility, of his or her actions resulting in death”.

Can someone who is a lot smarter than me define that for me please? Cheers in advance.

 

[Trooper]

I was thinking the same to be honest. He’s not saying anything, he hasn’t given up thr location of a body, so what do they have?

A lot I assume as they have managed to charge him with murder.

It’s gotta be more than phone pings, I mean, if it was just that, no way could you charge someone with murder imo. There must be something else, or someone who has given him up. Maybe they knew about him for a while and have surveillance on him and he’s let it slip to someone. But again, VicPol must have substantial evidence against this person. Who I won’t name, for obvious reasons…

Side note, the “M” in “DBM” for me could now have a different meaning, there should just be a blank space left with “deleted by mods”, I’d have a few of those let me tell ya…… lol just joking mods, as always, I love your work, must be a bloody tough gig lol.

It is quite a big step to charge someone with murder without seeing the dead body, ...what if there is an error and Samantha walks in to the police station, large as life... ?? in that sense, perhaps there is a dashcam video.. perhaps he actually filmed himself doing this ( a Dutch cleaner at a school in Leeton murdered Stephanie Scott, he photographed himself doing it, ,and then trying to burn her body, and sent the pics to his twin brother! ) .. and maybe this bloke sent his film /pics to someone to brag to.. people do stupid things. I mean, really really stupid stuff, for which there is no explanation.

 

[jjleroche]

I was thinking the same to be honest. He’s not saying anything, he hasn’t given up thr location of a body, so what do they have?

A lot I assume as they have managed to charge him with murder.

It’s gotta be more than phone pings, I mean, if it was just that, no way could you charge someone with murder imo. There must be something else, or someone who has given him up. Maybe they knew about him for a while and have surveillance on him and he’s let it slip to someone. But again, VicPol must have substantial evidence against this person. Who I won’t name, for obvious reasons…

Side note, the “M” in “DBM” for me could now have a different meaning, there should just be a blank space left with “deleted by mods”, I’d have a few of those let me tell ya…… lol just joking mods, as always, I love your work, must be a bloody tough gig lol.

I heard a moment ago on ABC radio that the arrest came about as a result of both phone ping data and public information (paraphrasing,)

 

[leopink74]

I did wonder this too whether there’s another family connection.

I was thinking potentially a connection to Samantha’s daughter - I am not sure how old she is but maybe they knew each other ?

I did wonder this too whether there’s another family connection.