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 #6

[BGirl88]

Do you all think this was him alone or do you think there is someone else involved? I can see it being a lone attack if he was lying in wait, but if those partying on the Saturday night/Sunday morning are true, I can also see that a vehicle may be involved (perhaps travelling back from Ballarat). If a vehicle was involved, then I do not think he was alone in the vehicle and that is why he is not saying anything.

I have wondered this too, if someone was else was with him (I’m still thinking a vehicle was involved as well). The two people I would imagine to be with him would be 1. His girlfriend or 2. A mate. IMO

I think I read it was his girlfriend who filmed the white powder antics, so they were together (at some point) that night. If they happened to be driving back from a mates place they slept at the night before, did she stay with him? If so, why wasn’t she in the car, or was she?

OR

Did he and his girlfriend have an argument which meant he stormed off in his car?
Did he have another engagement to get back for and so he was on his own?
Did he never go to sleep that night and was just doing weird stuff on his own.
Did he have a history of escaping to the bush and sleeping there the night?

So many unanswered questions.

To me, the girlfriend seems innocent in all of this. The images of her with her horses yday didn’t seem like someone afraid of being arrested.

All IMO

 

[Nikynoo]

@boomburger : Possibly Samantha's death was a hit and run, but I'm leaning more towards a stalking scenario ?
Awful either way.

LE may be able to add 'premeditated' to the charges !

Hoping her body can be located soon.
At least her family has some answers.
Omo.
My utmost condolences to her family and friends.

Is murder premeditated anyway because of the intent?

 

[Howl]

I do recall police saying they were looking for more than one person:

'One or more parties likely involved' in Victorian mum's disappearance

www.google.com

Thanks for this link! Finally, some photos of the Canadian Forest provideing much-needed context for non-Australians.

 

[Angeline]

I

Thank you and IIRC the police have never said that the public are at risk? If, as some have opined that he may have laid in wait and this was a possibly sexually motivated attack, IMO the police would not have released that statement.

I took it to mean that the suspect/s were under surveillance.

 

[Dotta]

Somebody must have dobbed him in. He must have told someone, or maybe someone <modsnip> was present at the time.

The police seem to have a high level of information to go for "a deliberate attack ... murder, intent to kill".

imo

I agree.
And if it is true that he was boasting
(or was it joking? )
after some drinks about burning the body,
then any normal person with a conscience surely informed LE.
I certainly would!!!

Seeing him blatantly taking drugs the night before Samantha's murder on the video posted by HS made me livid.
I'm absolutely disgusted by this (alleged) murderer.

 

[KathPlumber]

CSI season 2 episode 21 'Anatomy of a Lye' is what I'm thinking happened here. <modsnip: name calling not allowed> who accidentally drove into a woman on a morning run after a night of drinking and drugs who, instead of calling for paramedics, ended up deciding to either kill her himself or let her die in fear he would be arrested and his entitled life in ruins.

The vehement statement from police that it was deliberate and not a hit and run definitely leans towards the first scenario you outlined. In a hit and run you leave the scene and leave the body behind. But hitting someone, maybe by accident, and then panicking and following through - that would make it a deliberate attack.

So would like chasing her or hooning around in her vicinity. A deliberate attack doesn’t have to mean lying in wait for hours or surveiling her for weeks.

The sheer mundanity of this scenario somehow makes it seem the most likely to me. All the Loveliness that was Samantha, gone in one or two absolute *advertiser censored* moves…

 

[Nikynoo]

I have another question. How much evidence do the police need before they charge, and is that evidence revised before the charge is laid? Eg in England , the police need to submit evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), who then review the evidence and make a decision as to whether there is a realistic prospect of a conviction. Is there a similar system in Australia?

 

[Dotta]

Ballarat mayor lashes conspiracies as 22yo man charged with murdering Samantha Murphy

This "lashing conspiracies" seems out of touch with reality to me.

It is obvious that community members living in the area of a vicious crime,
with a perp not yet caught,
always discuss many possibilities and speculate about the probable perps.

I would be surprised if they didn't.

It has nothing to do with "conspiracies" but trying to figure out what really happened.

Such disgusting crimes affect the locals.
They live in fear if a perp is still at large.

JMO

 

[Chimera]

Is murder premeditated anyway because of the intent?

Good question.
A hit & run, probably not.
A stalking incident where the assailant knew her routine and lay in wait, possible.
I don't want to say definitely, maybe someone can clarify ?

 

[Chimera]

I am finding the stalker scenario hard to believe now, given his Saturday night antics. We don’t know what time he stayed out until, but if he was actively engaging in the white powder, it suggests a late night to me, and in my mind he wouldn’t be awake early enough to be stalking Sam that morning. IMO

I have no idea which way I'm leaning.
Will keep reading this thread and any updates from LE.
Also wondering if he knew her at all or not ?

 

[Dotta]

Curious re. the motive here ?

Motive?
Brain destroyed by drugs
MOO

 

[Macha]

Motive?
Brain destroyed by drugs
MOO

Cocaine and alcohol create a third drug in the body called Cocaethylene. IMO he was wired and up all night. I think it was SA and then murder and the body probably burnt somewhere. MOO

 

[Chimera]

CSI season 2 episode 21 'Anatomy of a Lye' is what I'm thinking happened here. <modsnip: name calling not allowed> who accidentally drove into a woman on a morning run after a night of drinking and drugs who, instead of calling for paramedics, ended up deciding to either kill her himself or let her die in fear he would be arrested and his entitled life in ruins.

Agreed, but since they can't find Samantha, it looks like LE could add charges like 'tampering with a corpse' or something similar ?
Omo

 

[Chimera]

Motive?
Brain destroyed by drugs
MOO

Well... yes, it's sounding with new developments that this was more random that I previously thought .
I was trying to think of something more specific, tbh.
Robbery, SA, revenge (if they were known to each other which doesn't look to be the case now ?); etc.
Omo.

 

[Dotta]

Well... yes, it's sounding with new developments that this was more random that I previously thought .
I was trying to think of something more specific, tbh.
Robbery, SA, revenge (if they were known to each other which doesn't look to be the case now ?); etc.
Omo.

I'm afraid we cannot find an exact motive of a person full of drugs.
It can be anything.
I even suspect -
the perp doesn't know himself.

JMO

 

[investigatefred]

Cocaine and alcohol create a third drug in the body called Cocaethylene. IMO he was wired and up all night. I think it was SA and then murder and the body probably burnt somewhere. MOO

I concur with this theory.

There are many places he could have just been sitting on the side where she was running, he saw her and took his opportunity to attack. Again, JMO.

 

[drsleuth]

Given the evidence re: drug use (reportedly cocaine and God knows what the cocaine was cut with) I wouldn't be so quick to rule out a drug induced psychosis. I am aware that MDMA can cause psychosis too. No excuse. Just a thought.

If he was in a drug induced psychosis, he must have remarkable come back to reality ,as he managed to function & dispose of a body, that after 1 month has still not been found ....that would take someone being connected to reality IMO

 

[nao]

If he was in a drug induced psychosis, he must have remarkable come back to reality ,as he managed to function & dispose of a body, that after 1 month has still not been found ....that would take someone being connected to reality IMO

Moo..if he was very wacked out he might not remember what he did...moo

 

[BGirl88]

Going back to the fact that Sam was a volunteer at the uniform shop at St Francis Xavier College, while had also attended. And if Jess and are the same age, they could have been in the same grade together there .

Do we know where Jess went to school?

I wonder if SM and mum knew eachother.

The mother-of-three worked in the uniform shop of St Francis Xavier Primary School as a volunteer.

Her accused murderer, Patrick Orren Stephenson, attended the school as a child while Ms Murphy also worked there, 7Newsreports.

Police had previously stated that Ms Murphy and Mr Stephenson had never met despite living nearby.

Mr Stephenson is a similar age to Ms Murphy’s oldest child, daughter Jess.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/police-seize-car-carry-out-search-warrants-as-samantha-murphy-murder-investigation-continues/news-story/845d1eecde887e2b0ad3bdeebbc8d0a1?amp

 

[Chimera]

If he was in a drug induced psychosis, he must have remarkable come back to reality ,as he managed to function & dispose of a body, that after 1 month has still not been found ....that would take someone being connected to reality IMO

Good points.

Unless he had help ?
I doubt his drug-taking is going to help his case much.
The fact that the authorities still cannot locate Samantha makes it look fairly well thought out, and not spur of the moment.
Omo.