Australia Samantha Murphy, 51, last seen leaving her property to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest, Ballarat, 4 Feb 2024 *Arrest* #10

[Scooby-Doo]

I agree, and it's amazing with all the media around, there hasn't been one bit of information or some photos of them outside somewhere. I can imagine for safety as well, but maybe there is a lot more information to come out that they are aware of

I have a feeling they're in protective custody in another state

 

[HoneyBunOne]

There appears to be 2 similarly named reserves in the Durham Lead/Buninyong area. Buninyong H21 Reserve, and Durham Lead Nature Conservation Reserve, which may also go by the name Durham Lead Bushland Reserve. This map shows them both in relation to each other:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Durham Lead Bushland/Nature reserve is only 2.6 acres, but quite dense if the following video is in fact the bushland/nature reserve in question. I believe this was the park searched by police about 2 months ago, but I could be wrong.

Durham Lead Bushland Reserve

Discover the natural beauty of Durham Lead Bushland Reserve in Sulky, Australia, as you embark on a thrilling walking or hiking adventure. Spanning 2.6 acres, this picturesque park offers an ideal setting for outdoor enthusiasts seeking an immersive experience in nature. With a variety of...

www.mypacer.com

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=853917461477307

Buninyong H21 reserve covers 13.4 acres. There's not many photos online, the best shots are posted in news articles form that time. It appears to be bushland as well.

Buninyong H21 Bushland Reserve

Welcome to Buninyong H21 Bushland Reserve, nestled in the charming town of Buninyong, Australia. This 13.4-acre sanctuary offers a serene and picturesque ambiance, making it an ideal destination for walkers and hikers seeking a peaceful escape into nature. The park's lush greenery, diverse...

www.mypacer.com

Enfield State Park was also a search location around the same time. It's a 4400 hectare park, also south of the Mt Clear area.

Enfield State Park - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I don't believe it has been searched (that we know about) but Enfield Plantation is on my radar too. This is a google street view of the terrain, date stamped with 2023 if I'm reading correctly.

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.

www.google.com

It's interesting to note that both Buninyong/Durham Lead reserves are not far from the corner of Buninyong-Mt Mercer Road and Slaughterhouse Road, roughly where the phone was found. The Enfield Plantation and State Park are further south. All 4 of these reserves/state parks are open 24/7. The furthest location from Scotsburn or Mt Clear is the Enfield State Park, at approximately 30 minutes travel time, or 1 hour round trip.

Just some observations and thoughts of mine.

 

[ProfCluezo]

I have a feeling they're in protective custody in another state

Yes I must admit I suspected the same…

 

[jjleroche]

As far as I am aware we don’t KNOW that the 5pm ping coincided with the phone being thrown in the dam - that is just a possible THEORY.

My thinking is that IF the accused DID remove the body from the murder scene to another location during the day that it must have been somewhere COOL. An unoccupied house he had access to? But this is just one of many possible THEORIES….

IMO everything the accused is purported to have done is risky… Part of his MO perhaps?

I agree with all your points ProfCluezo.

IMO (in my opinion) an (air-conditioned) unoccupied house/shed or commercial premises to which he had access, would be a logical interim choice IF the accused wanted to relocate Samantha's body from the murder scene.

I have wondered whether his father's electrical business was operated from commercial premises. If so, IMO that location may have been a possibility. CCTV would likely be present IMO. I'm speculating that in such a scenario, the perpetrator may forgotten about it, or turned it off (which would be detectable).

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I don't suppose Samantha could be in a freezer somewhere

 

[ProfCluezo]

I don't suppose Samantha could be in a freezer somewhere

Anything is possible TootsieFootsie….

If that IS the case presumably a lot more evidence may be preserved…?

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Yes I must admit I suspected the same…

I think a lot will come out during the courts

 

[FromGermany1]

I don't suppose Samantha could be in a freezer somewhere

Why not. Connected to electricity or not, optional. It has happened every now and then. Maybe it was just a transitional stage, for hours/days/weeks.

 

[Dotta]

I think a lot will come out during the courts

Protective custody because of whom?

The alleged perp is in jail.
Nobody else is charged/arrested.

Are there any other suspects?

Police claim he acted alone.

JMO

 

[ProfCluezo]

Protective custody against whom?

The alleged perp is in jail
Nobody else is charged/ arrested.

Anger from the community?

Especially past clients of the electrical business who may have had PS in their homes (potentially)…?

Concern about potentially shady acquaintances associated with the accused?

Persons potentially seeking vengeance against the accused by targeting his family?

Anything is possible…

As has been suggested by others, there may be a lot more to this story than what we currently know…

All conjecture and JMO…

 

[Dotta]

Anger from the community?

Especially past clients of the electrical business (potentially)…

Concern about potentially shady acquaintances associated with the accused?

As has been suggested by others, there may be a lot more to this story than what we currently know…

All conjecture and JMO…

Colour me doubtful.

JMO

 

[Trooper]

I don't suppose Samantha could be in a freezer somewhere

I hope not in someone's home freezer. One can hire them, with locks on, perhaps, in some freezer storage facility. ... still... he has to actually get it there, one presumes, in one piece.. pay up front. The bills for it would be stacking up while he's in remand though, someone will notice, surely?

There isn't many freezer storage facilities in Ballarat... a mobile freezer, he could hire that.. plonk it down somewhere, still.. there would be bills to pay.. a paper chain would exist.

 

[ProfCluezo]

Colour me doubtful.

JMO

Fair enough.

All views are welcome here.

It is interesting to me though that somehow the family have completely evaded all publicity…. Perhaps there is some kind of legal order in place preventing publication of their whereabouts but the complete silence is what made me wonder about witness protection…

Even the Duchhess of Wales can’t escape the cameras and media reporting, so I am curious as to how the family have remained untraceable.

Perhaps this is just ignorance on my part Re the capacity of ordinary family members in such a case to evade detection from the media but I find it puzzling…

JMO

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Protective custody because of whom?

The alleged perp is in jail.
Nobody else is charged/arrested.

Are there any other suspects?

Police claim he acted alone.

JMO

I don't think I say without proper article proof on here, even though it's called Websleuths
But have a think, and you wonder why there has been not one sneaky photo anywhere!

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Thanks Sabex, is it a problem thought to access that information without phone password ?
Also wondered what ‘data’ could be obtained from the Phone that they wouldn’t already have from the Cloud ? ( not talking DNA related)

If the internet was turned off at the time of the alleged murder, or it was in an area without coverage, it would not have the ability to upload to the cloud then and there. Only at a later date/time, when in an area with coverage or when the mobile data was switched back on.

The heat of the day.. remember that terrific heat wave a few days later from when Ms Murphy went missing? 42 Degrees C, a hot fierce northerly, wind , fires to the west and north, dry lightning, I was convinced the body had been underground, or underwater, until a bit of a talking to from a science mad friend pointed out that yes, water heats up too, not just the ground and the air, that heated water throws up bodies that have sunk. ... So I have discarded the idea that water was involved, to a certain extent.

In one way of looking at things, that' s why the police did not drain the dams, back in Feb /March, any body in a dam would have floated up during that heat wave...

The weather in the following days was fairly mild for an Australian summer. The next truly hot day after the 4th was the 13th, with a top of 35.3 celcius. The days in between were mostly low to mid 20's.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/202402/html/IDCJDW3005.202402.shtml

Also, a sibling of one of PS's friends was quoted in the news as saying he was quite technically minded and into science related subjects, even wanting to create something related to climate change from memory. I'll see if I can find that article. BRB

Former schoolmate lifts the lid on Samantha Murphy's accused killer

Patrick Stephenson, 22, was this week charged with allegedly murdering Samantha Murphy on February 4 after she left her Ballarat home, in Victoria, for a morning run.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Also, weighed down bodies would not float.

 

[ProfCluezo]

I don't think I say without proper article proof on here, even though it's called Websleuths
But have a think, and you wonder why there has been not one sneaky photo anywhere!

This has gone over my head I’m afraid…

Can you please be explicit for the more “cryptically challenged” amongst us?

 

[Trooper]

If the internet was turned off at the time of the alleged murder, or it was in an area without coverage, it would not have the ability to upload to the cloud then and there. Only at a later date/time, when in an area with coverage or when the mobile data was switched back on.


The weather in the following days was fairly mild for an Australian summer. The next truly hot day after the 4th was the 13th, with a top of 35.3 celcius. The days in between were mostly low to mid 20's.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/202402/html/IDCJDW3005.202402.shtml

Also, a sibling of one of PS's friends was quoted in the news as saying he was quite technically minded and into science related subjects, even wanting to create something related to climate change from memory. I'll see if I can find that article. BRB

Former schoolmate lifts the lid on Samantha Murphy's accused killer

Patrick Stephenson, 22, was this week charged with allegedly murdering Samantha Murphy on February 4 after she left her Ballarat home, in Victoria, for a morning run.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Also, weighed down bodies would not float.

sorry to be graphic , again. Dead bodies manufacture gas, the skin breaks down under water, what isn't tied down floats up, this happens in water that is anything more than icy, anything over that which is about to become ice assists the natural process of breakdown of the epidermis, and underlying tendons, in other words, bits become detached and float free. A body does not retain it's integrity underwater, there are a lot of factors that go towards the dissolvement, even in very cold water, but AU Feb water, it's a very quick process..


For example, in the Murray River, about 300 klms north of Ballarat, ( hotter, so to speak ) in summer every year someone drowns, often early in Dec, but always a few in Jan and Feb, and from long practice the local police at Albury, or Corowa,, or Yarrawonga, wait about 2 or 3 days, because the body will float up, even if it has been caught under a snag, ie tied down by branches ....

This is old news, .. shallow dams around Ballarat, ( and urban dams, like the phone dam, and the ones along the same road, they are not especially deep, ) warm up fast, and cool down slow. ... a body in one of those dams would be visible by the Wednesday, or Thursday , after she went missing on the Sunday. Unless he put it in one of the big river reservoirs .. even Lake Wendouree is very shallow, it is not a deep lake.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

That makes sense - more and more pointing to the mines -which maybe too labour intensive to search just randomly. IMO

I wonder what the dogs picked up along the fence line??? did PS take a leak near the bushes as a good alibi to be just randomly standing there in the late afternoon??

If these dogs are "tech dogs" what "tech" are they detecting near the fence line?

New AFP tech dogs taking a bite out of crime | Australian Federal Police

They have a nose for sniffing out crime and this year the AFP’s detection dogs have detected cash hidden under stairs, sim cards concealed in shoes and USBs buried in eskies full of food. The AFP detection dog program added four fully trained dogs this year, making the capability more than 100...

www.afp.gov.au

So they can pick up the sent of money - was a coin dropped there out of the wallet??

SIM cards, drugs, does he smoke?? usb ??? JMO

Was it not the mobile phone the dog detected?

I hope not in someone's home freezer. One can hire them, with locks on, perhaps, in some freezer storage facility. ... still... he has to actually get it there, one presumes, in one piece.. pay up front. The bills for it would be stacking up while he's in remand though, someone will notice, surely?

There isn't many freezer storage facilities in Ballarat... a mobile freezer, he could hire that.. plonk it down somewhere, still.. there would be bills to pay.. a paper chain would exist.

It's not uncommon for people to have a second fridge or freezer in somewhere like the garage, especially in the country. While the area is not a remote location, it's often easier just to have extra supplies at home to save you a trip in to town. People can also buy things like half a butchered cow from a local farm, and obviously that would require a large freezer. A large chest freezer could hold an entire body, but smaller freezers could hold body parts too. Gruesome, but a possibility.

This has gone over my head I’m afraid…

I’m no good with cryptic posts…

Can you please be explicit for the more “cryptically challenged” amongst us?

Same - I've got no clue what is being alluded to.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

sorry to be graphic , again. Dead bodies manufacture gas, the skin breaks down under water, what isn't tied down floats up, this happens in water that is anything more than icy, anything over that which is about to become ice assists the natural process of breakdown of the epidermis, and underlying tendons, in other words, bits become detached and float free. A body does not retain it's integrity underwater, there are a lot of factors that go towards the dissolvement, even in very cold water, but AU Feb water, it's a very quick process..


For example, in the Murray River, about 300 klms north of Ballarat, ( hotter, so to speak ) in summer every year someone drowns, often early in Dec, but always a few in Jan and Feb, and from long practice the local police at Albury, or Corowa,, or Yarrawonga, wait about 2 or 3 days, because the body will float up, even if it has been caught under a snag, ie tied down by branches ....

This is old news, .. shallow dams around Ballarat, ( and urban dams, like the phone dam, and the ones along the same road, they are not especially deep, ) warm up fast, and cool down slow. ... a body in one of those dams would be visible by the Wednesday, or Thursday , after she went missing on the Sunday. Unless he put it in one of the big river reservoirs .. even Lake Wendouree is very shallow, it is not a deep lake.

Thanks for the science lesson. I never did like science at school.
Are you saying that even if the body was wrapped in chains and attached to a heavy weight, parts would detach and float to the surface within days? weeks?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Same - I've got no clue what is being alluded to.

I'm clueless too, but then that's quite a common state for me.