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

[JLZ]

I would like to know what "strange noises" the camping couple heard on the Friday night.

Were they identifiable strange noises? Like people partying somewhere in the bush, and the sound carries far at night. Or some creature snuffling around in the undergrowth looking for tasty morsels.
Or someone accidently breaking twigs as they tried to quietly step around the campsite.


I notice that (in the DM article) the camper says that her boyfriend lost his Apple watch at some point in their visit to Canadian Forest.

Michael also lost his Apple Watch and Ms Agheli said she had been told by police it last pinged in a similar area to where Ms Murphy's phone had also pinged in the nearby suburb of Buninyong.

I was one of the last people to see missing mum when she ran past my campsite on her morning jog

I'd like to know where they were Sunday.

 

[SouthAussie]

Maybe it's a bit early to bring up one of our guru's....or maybe it's dead on time...

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” - Sherlock Homes”​

― Arthur Conan Doyle

The quote I like best (one of our members, OldCop, has it in their signature line) is one I try to remember in these mysterious high-profile cases.

“A hundred suspicions don't make a proof.”
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime & Punishment

​

 

[Kemug]

IIRC a previous post noted that police were alerted pretty quickly, when she was a no-show for the planned brunch. Apparently the brunch attendees rang Mick, and he rang police.

Wouldn't you think that Mick would expect his wife to come home to shower and change before going to the brunch? And also to take a car? So even if he didn't notice all that because he was down the back in the shed, or whatever, it still seems a teensy bit odd to me. I dunno.

 

[SouthAussie]

I'd like to know where they were Sunday.

I'd like to know if there is a local who has a stash of Apple watches and other items they have "found" while wandering through the bushland.

 

[Hestia's Fire]

Wouldn't you think that Mick would expect his wife to come home to shower and change before going to the brunch? And also to take a car? So even if he didn't notice all that because he was down the back in the shed, or whatever, it still seems a teensy bit odd to me. I dunno.

Is he the kind of person who likes to sleep in extra late on weekends, possibly? I could be missing all day on Sunday and my partner wouldn't even notice until he crawled out of bed in the early afternoon and realized I was gone somewhere around his second cup of coffee.

 

[Trooper]

Maybe she never even left her house, under her own steam.

It's not improbable. No one has seen her actually do this. .

 

[JLZ]

I'd like to know if there is a local who has a stash of Apple watches and other items they have "found" while wandering through the bushland.

I wonder if police can find Sam's watch for sale online.

 

[Kemug]

The young lady of the camping couple looks to me like she may be an "influencer".

 

[Dotta]

Rachel Morin case comes to mind.
Except, her body was found soon.
Unfortunately, the murderer wasn't

 

[Dotta]

"CCTV has become the key to finding Ms Murphy,
police have said,
and they are attempting to gather every available piece of footage to track her last documented movements.

A full scale search will only resume if new information emerges.

Investigators are seeking CCTV footage from all surrounding streets and suburbs,
even if it does not show Ms Murphy,
in a bid to better piece together the events leading up to her disappearance.

Police said on Saturday they did not suspect anything sinister about her disappearance,
but they were significantly concerned for her wellbeing."

Warning as search continues for missing mum

A large group of volunteers in Ballarat have continued the search for missing woman Samantha Murphy despite police ceasing their own on-foot search.

www-news-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org

 

[BreakingNews]

Maybe she never even left her house, under her own steam.

It's not improbable. No one has seen her actually do this. .

I have thought this from day one. However a lot of locals seem to be still out searching. I'd want proof that she actually left home and all I can find is the still photo of Samantha with the doggy doo bag.

 

[Liadan]

I have thought this from day one. However a lot of locals seem to be still out searching. I'd want proof that she actually left home and all I can find is the still photo of Samantha with the doggy doo bag.

I'm with you here, my friend. And the brunch appt people rather than family triggering the police call, did anyone try to call her Sunday morning? If you unconsciously know someone is not coming back, then you wait until it becomes obvious to someone else and then act.....

 

[BreakingNews]

That day, temperatures soared to 36 degrees, but the 51-year-old never came home.

Her disappearance has come as a shock to the tight-knit community, located an hour and a half drive from Melbourne.

Samantha is well known in the area and is heavily involved in the local theatre scene.

She and husband Michael also own a car panel shop in town.
View attachment 481282

Search for missing mum who vanished without a trace

Samantha Murphy was last seen on her security system at 7am on Sunday as she left her home in Ballarat East...

9now.nine.com.au

I think it is a huge assumption from this still to say she was seen leaving her home. She may have been, but this still does not prove it. There must be other footage from their cctv which has not been released to the public. Or for some reason, is not in existent. Can anyone help me understand this, please?

 

[Trooper]

I think it is a huge assumption from this still to say she was seen leaving her home. She may have been, but this still does not prove it. There must be other footage from their cctv which has not been released to the public. Or for some reason, is not in existent. Can anyone help me understand this, please

I don't understand it, and I think I am being asked to believe a big fat fantasy, The only thing that rings true in this whole shindig is ' people don't just disappear', quoted by Mr Murphy, and that is the only unarguable thing that lays down and rests on a foundation of irrefutable.

People just don't disappear, we occupy time and space all our lives, and even when we are dead, for some time , we occupy space, and we take up time. It's the nature of things. So she has not disappeared, in any meaning of that term. she is somewhere, dead or alive, and it's hard to think of her being still alive, knowing the effects of the AU bush and summer, it's not impossible,, it's improbable. But she is somewhere.

 

[mamamama9873]

Just starting reading through the thread as the disappearance has intrigued me - I’m a little younger than SM but also live in Australia and go on walks and hikes by myself fairly often. Here are my thoughts thus far:

I am also finding the husband very distanced, the language he uses doesn’t show any emotional connection to his wife. I get that men are out of touch with their feelings and don’t want to appear soft however not showing any emotion whatsoever I find extreme when the partner is missing

However my POV on a few of other things that have come up:

- Wedding rings - lots of people don’t wear theirs anymore for multiple reasons as some have stated. Isolated ok, but in connection with the absolute lack of emotions, this likely does point to marital issues IMO

- Outfit worn by hubby during interview - this is standard attire for many Aussie men, shirt was ironed and clean, don’t see anything wrong with it

- Husband not knowing when to expect SM back home, that she would shower before brunch etc- my husband honestly has no idea of my schedule sometimes. Even if I tell him I’m going out for food with friends, he often forgets etc. I don’t think it’s unusual for the husband to not be fully aware of SM’s schedule

- Theory that SM has run away - find that extremely unlikely. In this day and age people seperate all the time, it’s somewhat accepted in society. I very much doubt that SM would ever leave her children behind, especially seeing the daughter make an appeal showed that mum and daughter are close IMO

- Timing of contacting police - I went through the same scenario in my head as to what my husband would do if I didn’t come home from a walk / run or if my friends told him I didn’t come to an agreed brunch after he knew I went for a walk. He would try to call me several times, see if he can use the “find my iphone” feature and then he would probably contact my parents and go to the track where he would expect me to be to see if they can find me anywhere. Only after exhausting all these avenues would he call the police. The husband seems super chilled so it’s somewhat strange that he didn’t take these steps first and already alerted the police at 11 JMO

 

[otto]

"CCTV has become the key to finding Ms Murphy,
police have said,
and they are attempting to gather every available piece of footage to track her last documented movements.

A full scale search will only resume if new information emerges.

Investigators are seeking CCTV footage from all surrounding streets and suburbs,
even if it does not show Ms Murphy,
in a bid to better piece together the events leading up to her disappearance.

Police said on Saturday they did not suspect anything sinister about her disappearance,
but they were significantly concerned for her wellbeing."

Warning as search continues for missing mum

A large group of volunteers in Ballarat have continued the search for missing woman Samantha Murphy despite police ceasing their own on-foot search.

www-news-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org

Has any authentic CCTV footage been released?

Search suspended until new information emerges, CCTV footage is specifically mentioned. Police seem to be working backwards from the park to the house, looking for confirmation that she was walking or jogging to the park. Maybe she was grabbed off the street on the way to the park, like Eliza Fletcher in Memphis.

"CCTV has become the key to finding Ms Murphy, police have said, and they are attempting to gather every available piece of footage to track her last documented movements. A full scale search will only resume if new information emerges.
...

Investigators are seeking CCTV footage from all surrounding streets and suburbs, even if it does not show Ms Murphy, in a bid to better piece together the events leading up to her disappearance.

Police said on Saturday they did not suspect anything sinister about her disappearance, but they were significantly concerned for her wellbeing."

same link

 

[Shadow@light]

Ballarat Mayor Des Hudson said it had been heartwarming to learn that people had made the trip from Melbourne, but also concerning because newcomers did not know the area.

"What we don't want, and what emergency services don't want, is to then need to mount another search for other people," Hudson told Sky News yesterday.

"Ideally people would be (travelling) in twos at least so they can work as a team, but people do need to be careful," he said.

"Ballarat is a town that was built on gold, lots of gold mines are out there - and people have to be mindful of that when they are searching."

Missing Aus mum Samantha Murphy: Searchers warned to take care

The 51-year-old mother of three left home on February 4 to go jogging and has not been seen since.

www.1news.co.nz

They still find gold nuggets (small Ones), talked the builders over the years in Ballarat and surrounding areas, They all have a Miners Lisance, because they pick up nuggets while on the job .Some are quarter of the size of your Pinky Finger Nail, As One guy said to me, "I've taken the Missus on two Cruises the last ten years, most was paid by the Nuggets we found on the Job." History note " The Biggest Nugget found in Ballarat was called "The Welcome Stranger."
Today people are still searching and it is going to be 36 degrees. I would go and join in the search but they have scale back search and my special Needs Tween needs me settling back in school this year is hard and Samantha being look in the Bush has distressed him being on the news etc. I had to travel last week ,he melted down.
You have to go in pairs in searching, as there are unregistered Mine Diggings over the years, I remember went we were having our house build over 14 years ago, our builder did double checking on our land, he told us recently they poured concrete for foundation on a house, had lunch, came back, concrete was gone, poured it again overnight it was gone they call in land expert, the house was on a Mine which had not been registered.
On this thread people people have brought up cases of people being lost ,the Good and the Bad Cases.
I would like to mention a case which even years later, it still affect the hearts of the Gold fields of Ballarat.
When you travel to the town Dalysford, not far from Ballarat, you see in the middle town a statue of Three Children riding a Horse, visitors think how cute, but it is memorial of a tragic history of Dalysford, in the 1800's three Children went missing in the bushland. Like today people still searching for Samantha Murphy, the locals, Miners and people from miles from Ballarat and elsewhere around put down what they were doing, worked side by side whatever Race or Creed for days looking for the Children. Today, when you drive from Ballarat to Dalysford on the outskirt, near the the Daylsford Antiques Market you will see the white Carine Marker where the Children were found few months later.

 

[bearbear]

if she went for her usual 7am run her husband may not have been alarmed by her being late home, they may have argued and he didnt care, assumed she was having time out, shopping etc, it seems it was her lunch date friends who were alarmed, but even then why the panic?
unless there were things shed told them, especially depression, marriage difficulties etc?
under nomal circumstances with an adult wouldnt it make more sense to at least wait until later in the day to report them missing?

 

[mamamama9873]

if she went for her usual 7am run her husband may not have been alarmed by her being late home, they may have argued and he didnt care, assumed she was having time out, shopping etc, it seems it was her lunch date friends who were alarmed, but even then why the panic?
unless there were things shed told them, especially depression, marriage difficulties etc?
under nomals circumstances with an adult wouldnt it make more sense to at least wait until later in the day to report them missing?

yes my point exactly. Seems really strange behaviour from the husband to be panicked and call police immediately but then being super chilled about the whole appearance. Doesn’t make sense to me at all.

 

[PolyDot]

if she went for her usual 7am run her husband may not have been alarmed by her being late home, they may have argued and he didnt care, assumed she was having time out, shopping etc, it seems it was her lunch date friends who were alarmed, but even then why the panic?
unless there were things shed told them, especially depression, marriage difficulties etc?
under nomal circumstances with an adult wouldnt it make more sense to at least wait until later in the day to report them missing?

Yes , I agree , maybe . But was it her friends who reported her missing to the police - I thought it was her husband who reported after they rang him asking where she was ? Assuming they had tried ringing her & got no response.