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

[Trooper]

Moving towards sunset down in Ballaarat, with normal high temps expected tomorrow... 32C, 36 C, 33C coming up, with rain maybe on Tuesday..... rain , which maybe a hindrance, or a help.. could go either way.

 

[they'll get you]

That’s a lot of miles for someone who was super sick with Covid over the holidays, and who normally runs about a 10k distance (although I have also read that she was a walker, not necessarily a runner). She leaves at 7am for a run of apparently at least 16 miles. Where was her phone while she was out? For example, did her running outfit have pockets? Was she wearing a running/hydration vest?

Because we have also read that she was not carrying any water. What would be the reason for not taking water? Because you don’t want to have to hold anything, that is the usual response. So then where was the phone while she was running?

Maybe her watch was cellular.

 

[they'll get you]

yes i noticed this too and thought maybe depression or marriage difficulties

AND RIGHT THERE IS A MOTIVE.

 

[Trooper]

Well, my opinion of the hour is that it had to do with the business, and there may have been a conflict, leading to murder, or co-operation, leading to I had better not say what.

I reckon there is nothing harder than being married to the boss. It really takes a very special kind of dynamic to make that work, and has the potential for trouble of such magnitude that would turn anyone's hair grey in weeks........I reckon you could be on the money there, JLZ. Something went spectacularly wrong, very quickly.

 

[Liadan]

At the moment he is controlling the timeline and the police just switched searching for a body to searching for motive.

 

[they'll get you]

Yes, there are a few possibilities apart from accident and murder.

Edit: no, her mental state and history have not been disclosed, except that several people insist that she's very strong. You say that when someone's had to demonstrate it. I wonder about her history and also possible current stresses. But her husband in his most persuasive moment asks me to respect the family's privacy.

I agree the family needs privacy but unfortunately this is Websleuths. We are the great unwashed who solve crimes. It’s been proven the cops read our thoughts and sometimes act on our gut.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[possumheart]

I read nothing odd in the comments about meals. I come from a city of about the same size with running tracks nearby. I think our community response would be similar. The reputation of the community is part of the reaction. They all feel the duscomfort and collecfively fall into soothing behaviour. I think the early accusations pointed at Gillian Meager’s husband Tom are a better pause for reflection than Lindy in this instance.

 

[Trooper]

aha,, the old SCALING BACK trick, where everyone goes home and has a deep think about what is exactly goin on. .. Cops go home and get a clean shirt, the SES gets fed at the local pub, the parade of casseroles to the Murphy home goes on, ...........everyone lets their guard down...

 

[Witness 28]

Hopefully police will take reports of that weirdo lurking in the bushes seriously, especially after the Sissy Austin attack. He needs to be found.

Hi Noorie, you're absolutely right they have to concentrate in the search for that bloke in the bush and also to try if possible to rule out the husband Michael, his behavior is very strange but people act differently in circumstances of grief and when under pressure, he's been seen smiling quite often in a very difficult situation when his daughter was in tears and beside herself ,and in my opinion but I think the police should use a cadaver dog at the house and and is Ute just to rule out that she didn't leave the house

 

[imstilla.grandma]

‘May I ask why the Missing Persons Unit didn’t take over sooner? They seem to have more resources,” one person said.

‘Why had it taken so damn long, they should have taken action on it straight away. The phone doesn’t ping when it’s underground,” said another.

Commentators on social media have questioned why the search was ‘scaled back’ after seven days, just as the missing persons squad was brought on board

Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina was also critical of the fact that the missing persons squad only became involved on Friday.

“I would have expected the missing persons (crew) to have been on the ground on the Monday after she went missing because we have a mother of three here, very respected in the community who has inexplicably gone missing,” she said. he Nine breakfast program Today.

‘In my opinion it is better to be cautious, start at the highest level and then work your way down because so much can be lost. Here we see the missing persons coming on board five or six days after the event.

“I think the mines need to be looked at to see if perhaps she inexplicably fell into one of them.

“She could very well have gone off the beaten path to relieve herself, whatever it may be, so you know for all we know she could get hurt in a mineshaft.”

Samantha Murphy Missing: Aussies Stunned That Cops Have All But Abandoned The Search For Missing Mum - As An Ex-homicide Detective Slams One Move He Says Police Were Too Slow To Make - Ny Breaking News

Neighbors and locals are questioning why the massive hunt for missing mother Samantha Murphy has been scaled back less than a week after her disappearance.

nybreaking.com

 

[Liadan]

Wonder if the police are looking at the smorgasbord of vehicles at the disposal of the family from the family business. Were any of these possibly captured on dashcam near the ping locations - being taken for a test drive? Has their location data been examined? Doubt the family vehicles would move if there are cameras to capture that footage!

 

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

Some OT posts have been removed, along with some posts that are making insinuations and/or trash-talking individuals who are NOT named POIs or suspects in this case.

Both the above are violations of Websleuths TOS.

 

[they'll get you]

This clip shows the extensive mine shafts dotted around the area ‘Some 1,000 metres deep.’

https://fb.watch/q6W4V5c6mf/

9News Melbourne.

 

[Witness 28]

Wonder if the police are looking at the smorgasbord of vehicles at the disposal of the family from the family business. Were any of these possibly captured on dashcam near the ping locations - being taken for a test drive? Has their location data been examined? Doubt the family vehicles would move if there are cameras to capture that footage!

The police in homicide will be right on this that's a good one

 

[they'll get you]

Hi Noorie, you're absolutely right they have to concentrate in the search for that bloke in the bush and also to try if possible to rule out the husband Michael, his behavior is very strange but people act differently in circumstances of grief and when under pressure, he's been seen smiling quite often in a very difficult situation when his daughter was in tears and beside herself ,and in my opinion but I think the police should use a cadaver dog at the house and and is Ute just to rule out that she didn't leave the house

The strong smell of bleach that lingers at a crime scene.

I do worry about mental health and hope this isn’t rope in this bag.

 

[Melt71]

I agree the family needs privacy but unfortunately this is Websleuths. We are the great unwashed who solve crimes. It’s been proven the cops read our thoughts and sometimes act on our gut.

Yes but also a lot of people here are American and might case a US lens over the case, which would be culturally incorrect. For example police are saying little, because that's how investigations are handled here.

 

[pipj]

I wonder how many times her signal pinged the tower?

It should be noted too, that a phone will ping a tower within range with the strongest signal. Not necessarily the closest tower.

Did she have her phone on her, or did the ping come from her watch only? (If that’s a thing).

 

[they'll get you]

Yes but also a lot of people here are American and might case a US lens over the case, which would be culturally incorrect. For example police are saying little, because that's how investigations are handled here.

I don’t understand the ‘culturally incorrect’ comment.

This is in Australia where we offer large rewards, I’d like to think we get the job done, most bodies are found and most crimes are solved.
We loath domestic violence!
Cross fingers on this one.

 

[LuluCherry]

IKR, this scares me the most for several reasons:
1) it was a serious assault that didn't seem to be taken seriously
2) I never heard about it
3) I have close friends who live in this area
4) One of my closest and first friends after I moved to Australia, from another country, lived in Buninyong. When I first went up to the lookout here, she told me not to go alone, that there was some not so good people up there. This was in 2000-2004, that's 24 years. I always got a funny gut feeling about that lookout.
5) What if this is a repeat offender and WHAT else have they done, and what the he!! is being done about it
ETA, apparently my reasons were more than 3!

I heard about it at the time it happened. She posted about it on social media, it was picked up by the media. She felt very let down by police. She was terribly bullied online when she posted about it, it was pretty gross. Lots of people victim blaming, accusing her of making it up etc. Of course she didn’t make it up, it was very real and very serious and very distressing and the police told her there was nothing they could do. So that’s why she posted about it on social media, to warn others.