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

[SouthAussie]

Posting this for people who are looking for the latest info today. It is a Police presser.

Police Update Search for Missing Woman Samantha Murphy

Follow the latest news headlines from Australia's most trusted source. Read in-depth expert analysis and watch live coverage on ABC News.

www.abc.net.au

I notice that Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said that ..... he wanted to make clear that as of Friday morning police had "nothing immediate to indicate there is anything sinister behind Samantha's disappearance".

"We haven't received any information relating to her movements from the moment she left [her] home address on Sunday morning," he said.
.

 

[Oona]

I often walk long distances in bushland and I often stop to take photos with my phone and will venture off the track (being very careful) if I see something interesting (animal, etc), so if she is anything like me, I can see it being quite normal/reasonable ‍

Also it is not unusual for people to veer off track temporarily to avoid obstacles (fallen trees, snakes, large puddles). The disused mineshafts are often concealed by leaf litter and branches and can be unstable. There’s some more information about the dangers of Victorian goldfields mineshafts here:

Dangers of mine shafts in the Victorian Goldfields

Unexpected open mine shafts are a fairly common sight throughout the bush of the Victorian Goldfields. The 19th/20th century gold mines which once dominated the region now lie abandoned. Some mines have been capped, but many are still very much open. It is astonishing how much structure and...

www.goldfieldsguide.com.au

 

[Skyboy90]

So is that still shot from the front door, from another day?

 

[Lukey2121]

We know when it’s love ones who commit these crimes, they don’t smile or laugh during press conferences. Most of the time they’re crying and wailing so we should take this expression with a grain of salt.

That is very disturbing! But the officer is also laughing, so maybe he made a light-hearted comment. Doubt I would be smiling in his situation.

 

[benowens]

We know when it’s love ones who commit these crimes, they don’t smile or laugh during press conferences. Most of the time they’re crying and wailing so we should take this expression with a grain of salt.

Not necessarily. Look at Chris Watts, Scott Petersen, Robert Leeming etc.

 

[BreakingNews]

I notice that Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said that ..... he wanted to make clear that as of Friday morning police had "nothing immediate to indicate there is anything sinister behind Samantha's disappearance".

"We haven't received any information relating to her movements from the moment she left [her] home address on Sunday morning," he said.
.

But he has nothing to indicate that she actually left home either. All we have is a still shot of her taking what looks like doggy doo out that is on Crime Stoppers poster. And she looks like she has just finished her run in this photo. Why haven't we seen cctv footage of her actually leaving her house on the day?

 

[hahahils]

Just a quick question, not pointing fingers or anything- but when SM left home, was it confirmed her husband was still at home? Could he have left the property earlier than she did?

 

[SouthAussie]

Just my opinion. But why give a still photo that doesn't show her actually leaving?

I feel that the police will have the entire CCTV video for however long the recordings are retained (a week, a month, whatever).

And that still shot was then given to the media because it shows the front of Samantha ... so the public can see exactly how Samantha looked that morning.

There wouldn't be much point - for identification purposes - to give the public a photo of the back of Samantha. Not if they had a shot of the front of Samantha from that morning.

imo

 

[ScottToorak]

EXCLUSIVESamantha Murphy missing: Husband pictured smiling outside police station

Hard to believe any husband could be smiling when dealing with the fact your wife has been missing for 6 days. IMO this image says it all.

 

[BreakingNews]

I feel that the police will have the entire CCTV video for however long the recordings are retained (a week, a month, whatever).

And that still shot was then given to the media because it shows the front of Samantha ... so the public can see exactly how Samantha looked that morning.

There wouldn't be much point - for identification purposes - to give the public a photo of the back of Samantha. Not if they had a shot of the front of Samantha from that morning.

imo

Good point. But we still have no proof that she actually left home. MSM have not commented on this. IMHO unless we know if she actually left home or not, then 100's of people are actually out there looking her for nothing.

 

[Bats]

Hard to believe any husband could be smiling when dealing with the fact your wife has been missing for 6 days. IMO this image says it all.

A smile can last anything from 1 to a few seconds. His wife had been missing for 6 days now. This has really zero relevance to her disappearance in my opinion.

 

[BreakingNews]

Has anyone got an actual timeline of this situation? I have tried, but I can't get past if she actually left home or not. MSM have not showed actual proof of Samantha actually leaving her home. IMO I can't move forward to the searching phase unless I am sure she has left home.

 

[Bats]

I notice that Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said that ..... he wanted to make clear that as of Friday morning police had "nothing immediate to indicate there is anything sinister behind Samantha's disappearance".

"We haven't received any information relating to her movements from the moment she left [her] home address on Sunday morning," he said.
.

I think the point here is, in real terms how much bureaucracy do the Police need to get through for communication companies to give up their data? Why is it an issue? The Police seemed to highlight that they were "working with telecommunication companies" to investigate the data. That is a telling statement 6 days in, in an investigation of a missing person in my opinion.

 

[MollyHarps]

Hard to believe any husband could be smiling when dealing with the fact your wife has been missing for 6 days. IMO this image says it all.

A smile can mask a lot. He also has to try to stay positive for his children’s sake

 

[Lukey2121]

Reminds of the David Prideaux case. Another person in the bush vanishes without a trace. Obviously, we now know there was motive from some of those close to David and maybe a motive might be identitied in this case. But atm, she’s just vanished with a trace and it’s extremely concerning. A runner shouldn’t leave trails to run and if she was injured, best bet is to stay put and ring someone. Concerning is the Sissy Austin attack and the recent footage of the youth offenders running over those cyclists, both of these are possibilities in this case.

 

[Harry'sMum]

Just a quick question, not pointing fingers or anything- but when SM left home, was it confirmed her husband was still at home? Could he have left the property earlier than she did?

I feel like this whole thing is being botched by the media and the police - they aren't providing enough information at all, especially regarding the image of her leaving (?) the house that morning. If they do have the the whole footage of her leaving, then show it - what they have done by only releasing that image is to raise more questions than answer and open up too many holes aren't aligning and making sense, and they aren't answering any of the answers to those holes - like
a) Is that image of her coming or going? Was she see actually leaving?? Is this image of her returning - cause to me, if she's got dog poo in that bag, that would indicate her returning to the property after the walk, not leaving...having said that...
b) if that IS dog poo in a bag - where's the dog? Clearly she didn't go running with it or it would have been mentioned that the dog is also missing - so is that image of her coming home or leaving or is it even of the day she left (and continue the cycle)...
c) why have the husband's whereabouts not been verified and released if he isn't a suspect <modsnip: not victim friendly>

 

[SouthAussie]

I think the point here is, in real terms how much bureaucracy do the Police need to get through for communication companies to give up their data? Why is it an issue? The Police seemed to highlight that they were "working with telecommunication companies" to investigate the data. That is a telling statement 6 days in, in an investigation of a missing person in my opinion.

Yes. I was just thinking today about all of the kerfuffle to do with accessing Theo Hayez's GPS data. IIRC Theo's family ended up getting the GPS access.

The police in this case sure could use Samantha's GPS data right now, if not yesterday.

imo

 

[JLZ]

I notice that Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said that ..... he wanted to make clear that as of Friday morning police had "nothing immediate to indicate there is anything sinister behind Samantha's disappearance".

"We haven't received any information relating to her movements from the moment she left [her] home address on Sunday morning," he said.
.

I feel like they all know a secret. Police, Mick, Jess and likely Virginia.

 

[DRT]

But he has nothing to indicate that she actually left home either. All we have is a still shot of her taking what looks like doggy doo out that is on Crime Stoppers poster. And she looks like she has just finished her run in this photo. Why haven't we seen cctv footage of her actually leaving her house on the day?

The police press statement they said there was footage of her leaving the place. It is at the very end of the footage someone asks the question. The photo they have shown is probably shown to display her face and clothing so that it is easy to identify her. Also shows her hair is up which it isn't in the other photos given.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

It has also been revealed that CCTV footage put out by the police purporting to show Ms Murphy going for a jog before her disappearance is actually of a different woman.

Ms Murphy’s husband, Michael, thanked the community on Thursday for its support and urged people to contact police if they had any information.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/samantha-murphy-search-psychic-claims-to-connect-with-missing-mum/news-story/907e8cbee694c130c37cebaabb1beb96

* it seems a bit unusual there is a public thank you when his wife has not yet been found