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

[Lukey2121]

I think the 24 hour thing is a common misconception,
when people are missing in bushland searches are usually started swiftly.

Wouldn’t they only act on this if you had solid evidence e.g bushwalking group has lost a member or something of this nature.
I‘m sure we’d all like to believe they’d assist to search for an adult missing for an hour, but I really find this difficult to believe. They’d be jumping at shadows all day long if this was the case.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Mr Watson-Munro has analysed some of Australia's most infamous criminals, including notorious Melbourne underworld figure Alphonse Gangitano and mass murderer Julian Knight.

“We saw harrowing footage the other day of a daughter who is in deep distress with her father. Look, there's a number of possibilities.

“One of them is that she had been stalked for a while. I've done a lot of profiling. Stalkers love routine of their potential victims.”

“That's one possible explanation. She went for a run, and she was abducted on a van or a car and taken away from the potential crime scene,” he theorised.

“And I think that's probably one of the reasons why the police wound back the physical search in the area.

“I gather that there was a ping from a mobile phone some distance away and then a drop out. So obviously a phone was either thrown away as a decoy or she made it that far and then the phone died out.

“But the fact that there's no evidence, there's no witnesses, if you follow that line of inquiry, then you're dealing with a fairly calculating, intelligent person who understands forensic procedures and somebody who knows a lot about evidence and covering their tracks. Terribly clever and psychopathic.”

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/psychopathic-forensic-psychologist-reveals-shocking-new-theory-about-missing-ballarat-mum-samantha-murphy/news-story/7b764387efece9dffc2b0fb12d3d689a

 

[mamamama9873]

Hs

Wouldn’t they only act on this if you had solid evidence e.g bushwalking group has lost a member or something of this nature.
I‘m sure we’d all like to believe they’d assist to search for an adult missing for an hour, but I really find this difficult to believe. They’d be jumping at shadows all day long if this was the case.

Yes I would think so too. They would surely have a lot of questions before sending valuable staff out to search for someone who’s only been gone for a few hours.

 

[SLouTh]

She went for a run, and she was abducted on a van or a car and taken away from the potential crime scene,” he theorised.

BBM

If Sam was wearing ear pods (as suggested when Police were looking for them in the search) it is possible that she was unaware if someone was following her …. Catching her by surprise???

IMO

 

[SLouTh]

Yes but there was no CCVT in that case.

In all honesty, there doesn’t seem to be much CCTV in this case either… Not that we know of, as yet …

IMO

 

[imstilla.grandma]

BBM

If Sam was wearing ear pods (as suggested when Police were looking for them in the search) it is possible that she was unaware if someone was following her …. Catching her by surprise???

IMO

Sunday’s search was led by locals, but others travelled from Melbourne, Geelong and near the NSW-Victoria border, and took metal detectors and magnet fishing gear to try to find the AirPods and Apple watch Murphy was carrying when she left home.

Search for Samantha Murphy scaled back, but volunteers continue combing bush

Little new information has emerged since the 51-year-old went missing more than a week ago after setting out on a run in bushland east of Ballarat.

www.theage.com.au

Inspector McDougall also refused to say if police had obtained any further information from Ms Murphy's phone, airpods or watch.

Inspector McDougall further declined to say if Ms Murphy had accessed her bank accounts since Sunday and would not speculate on why Ms Murphy may not want to be found.

Gut-wrenching moment missing mum's daughter breaks down

The eldest daughter of missing mother-of-three Samantha Murphy has broken down in tears as she pleaded for her mum to come home, five days after she disappeared.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[ScottToorak]

For gods sake does she have a mother or father or any brothers or sisters who are willing to ask her to come home?. I am thinking it is a given that she is deceased because I don't recall the husband asking her if she was watching his presser to come home or make contact!.

 

[BoysTown]

Hs

Yes I would think so too. They would surely have a lot of questions before sending valuable staff out to search for someone who’s only been gone for a few hours.

Did the search of the area begin the following day?

She was reported missing on the 4th but an official search didn’t begin until the 5th?

 

[Trooper]

For gods sake does she have a mother or father or any brothers or sisters who are willing to ask her to come home?. I am thinking it is a given that she is deceased because I don't recall the husband asking her if she was watching his presser to come home or make contact!.

She had some friends, upstanding reliable women , well spoken and direct who did speak, but no other family, perhaps she is an orphan, perhaps he is , too. I just think it's time for another public appeal, from anyone who loves her, actually.

 

[SLouTh]

Did the search of the area begin the following day?

She was reported missing on the 4th but an official search didn’t begin until the 5th??

This has been difficult to ascertain with this case …. (As timeline details are so slim) I have searched for these details …

But I believe I have read that Pol Air was up over the forest by 3:30pm the day Sam went missing ….and back again the following day ….

Edit to add: I think the full scale search was started on the 5th …

IMO

 

[mamamama9873]

For gods sake does she have a mother or father or any brothers or sisters who are willing to ask her to come home?. I am thinking it is a given that she is deceased because I don't recall the husband asking her if she was watching his presser to come home or make contact!.

I’m sure they exist but might be very private people. What difference would a public appeal make. I doubt that she’s somewhere watching TV.

 

[Trooper]

I’m sure they exist but might be very private people. What difference would a public appeal make. I doubt that she’s somewhere watching TV.

WHo knows what difference it might make..... right now, it's at a standstill, so why not?... try everything, this is a woman lost in horrible circumstances, and there is no reason not to try some things over and over again, because, who knows , it might work...

 

[SouthAussie]

This has been difficult to ascertain with this case …. (As timeline details are so slim) I have searched for these details …

But I believe I have read that Pol Air was up over the forest by 3:30pm the day Sam went missing ….and back again the following day ….

Edit to add: I think the full scale search was started on the 5th …

IMO

Yes, some kind of search started on Sunday. This article mentions that the search started on Sunday, and when there was no contact with Sam by Monday morning, the police put out the public appeal for information on her whereabouts.

A CCTV snap, a morning run, then nothing. The search for Samantha Murphy

Her husband Mick said no one vanishes into thin air, but after six days of searching, there’s been no sign of the 51-year-old after she went for a run.

www.theage.com.au

 

[BoysTown]

This has been difficult to ascertain with this case …. (As timeline details are so slim) I have searched for these details …

But I believe I have read that Pol Air was up over the forest by 3:30pm the day Sam went missing ….and back again the following day ….

Edit to add: I think the full scale search was started on the 5th …

IMO

Thank you Slouth

I looked as well but don’t recall seeing anything published til the 5th.

Presumably her husband or friends could have been out looking for her even after calling police?

 

[WiseOwl]

This has been difficult to ascertain with this case …. (As timeline details are so slim) I have searched for these details …

But I believe I have read that Pol Air was up over the forest by 3:30pm the day Sam went missing ….and back again the following day ….

Edit to add: I think the full scale search was started on the 5th …

IMO

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/samantha-murphy-headed-out-for-a-run-on-sunday-morning/news-story/232e37fbd23c4b2f116938d49e1e9785

Police and the SES searched the state forest area behind the Buninyong Golf Club on Monday. “The area of search isn’t completely remote, we are on the outskirts of Ballarat, and it’s not that far from urban areas as well,” MacDougall said.

I can't find anything on MSM that says there were any searches for Samantha on Sunday 4th, just the search at the state forest area behind the golf club on Monday 5th.

I also can't find anything that gives the time on Sunday when the police were first contacted about Samantha's disappearance.

The only things the police have confirmed is that Samantha left for her run shortly after 7am on Sunday morning, and that her phone pinged at some time also on Sunday near to the Buninyong Golf Club.

 

[Liadan]

Websleuths have always been able to maintain a pathway for people interested in discussing the pros and cons of a crime, even if this is quite constrained for posters. Something is better than nothing! Let's just be grateful for the community spirit and hope that we can bring light to a very dark crime.

It is really concerning that the parameters of this case are quite similar to the Karen Ristevski case. Her daughter was devastated and supported by her father; the father was certain that Karen went for a walk to clear her head. Police were very close-mouthed about any details, and the daughter and family were silent.
The outcome was surprising but not unpredictable. Let's do what we can to find the truth for SM.

 

[PolyDot]

Didn’t necessarily mean to refer to her parents (just tried to picture the scenario in my case), any adult relative, one of the husband’s or SM’s siblings or very close friends.

My husband would not be so quick to alert police and neither would I.

I also believed police only consider an adult missing once they haven’t been seen/ haven’t made contact in 24 hours so seems unusual that the official search started on the afternoon she disappeared

So maybe there was something ‘suspicious’ that made him concerned enough to right the police … and something that made the police start an investigation

 

[Awakening]

I thought it was a family brunch not friends but maybe I’m confused.

No idea when police were called and probably initially for advice on what to do, not necessarily in a full blown panic.

I do get the feeling there’s a part of this story we are not being told, and I’m hoping this is to protect SM’s privacy as they believe she’s out there somewhere alive and either will return or be found.

 

[Shadow@light]

That's an interesting angle. The Bandidos have a national "run" between Ballarat and Buninyong. I don't know what "run" means but sounds like they spend time and have links in the area.

It is the Christmas Toy Run for Kids in Need, they always stop in my area for years.
Rest ,pick up Donations. Laugh and jokes with Kids.
Very polite Gentlemen. they go up the highway we line the Highway to wave.
We never forgot the help they did for Black Friday Bushfire.

 

[DK007]

Considering they have footage of her fumbling around the front of the house, surely they played the whole video which has her leaving the property?

If she didn’t leave, then I don’t think VPOL would have wasted all these resources searching surely? It’s then Q and A with whoever lives in the house. I mean, if she isn’t on camera leaving the property, then she is still on the property! Talk to whoever lives there.

If the press could perhaps ask at tomorrow’s presser ‘did the cctv have her walking away from the property?’

I find it odd the only confirmation Samantha was possibly seen was by a couple who were camping I believe. Correct me if I’m wrong but the couple weren’t 100% sure. Surely VPOL could announce Samantha was seen leaving her home to quash speculation??