Australia Samantha Murphy, 51, last seen leaving her property to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest, Ballarat, 4 Feb 2024 *Arrest* #11

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Getting whacked over the head with that object police found in the dam allegedly.
What does that look like in the data? Apple phones only appear to have the fall detection monitor, and not a consistent heart rate monitor or ‘radical change to vital signs’ monitor. Early on they seemed clear-ish that intel showed Sam’s well-being changed dramatically around Mt Clear. What could have told them that from phone or whatever data? Did they have such data straight up too?
 
I get the impression if someone dies while wearing the Apple Watch (say a surprise physical attack from behind where the person has no awareness of it going to happen) - the watch just assumes it's not connected to you anymore and there will be no more data. JMO

That's the impression I get from some of the information about Apple Watch - but there maybe more subtle aspects that come into play as well. MOO
 
I wonder what Police found at the crime scene?

Because they found something there
and declared it was the place of attack (Mt Clear).

And what was found there was later reported as
"items of interest".

  • "Items of interest were found on Wednesday
  • Samantha Murphy's husband attended crime scene"

I'm just wondering if the accused didn't bother to clear the "crime scene" of evidence :oops:

Links from 4 months ago:


I think they possibly found the apple air pods?? IMO

Maybe some other personal item belonging to SM - necklace?, Sunglasses? a cap??.JMO

Does SM have asthma?? - a puffer? JMO

I always like to wear a cap especially going through treed areas - don't like brushing through spider webs and it also protects head a bit from lower branches. JMO
 
Or destroy evidence.

Or for witness protection.

I am starting to think that someone might have seen PS that morning (doing what, I don't know). Because in the 22nd Feb presser that I went back to listen to, a reporter asked Mark Hatt did anyone see Sam in the forest. Mark replied that there were various sightings of various people.

And we now know that the presser was in the time period that the police had started looking at PS.
 
"The phone was obviously the interesting one because the assumption was that the body would have been in that lake, near where they found it”.

I think it’s interesting that there’s thought that the body could have been in the same dam as the phone. Wouldn’t that have been obvious given the exposed site and as per our recent discussion about what happens to a body in water?

Did the police attend the dam on 29/05 due to being told there was an object on the bank, or that something was seen being thrown out of a car window, or due to it always being a site of interest and the water now receding? Did the divers come in due to the phone being sighted or were they coming anyway?

However it was Sim card detector dogs that were brought in, not cadaver dogs. I think they were only looking for the phone.
 
That’s still a walking pace or one very slow jog.
Unless she was stopping frequently, or there was an interruption during the jog that took her off track for awhile before resuming. Sam seems to have reached the turning point and then it went bad.
She was still recovering from her New Year Covid, so she might have been taking it easy. Exercise can bring on Covid coughing fits.
 
Or for witness protection.

I am starting to think that someone might have seen PS that morning (doing what, I don't know). Because in the 22nd Feb presser that I went back to listen to, a reporter asked Mark Hatt did anyone see Sam in the forest. Mark replied that there were various sightings of various people.

And we now know that the presser was in the time period that the police had started looking at PS.
I think it means he's not willing to commit to whether claimed sightings of Samantha were her or not.
 
I think it means he's not willing to commit to whether claimed sightings of Samantha were her or not.

I think that whole presser (22nd Feb) was done, not to inform the public of where the investigation stood, but to entice PS into making a move. To perhaps go and check on Sam's remains and/or the evidence that he had discarded. So the police could surreptitiously follow his movements.

imo
 
I think that whole presser (22nd Feb) was done, not to inform the public of where the investigation stood, but to entice PS into making a move. To perhaps go and check on Sam's remains and/or the evidence that he had discarded. So the police could surreptitiously follow his movements.

imo
Good points. PS may well have dropped something at Mt Clear the police knew he’d return to collect.
 
Good points. PS may well have dropped something at Mt Clear the police knew he’d return to collect.

In that presser, Mark Hatt made it clear (a couple of times) that they were searching the Mt Clear area that day "looking for small items". That they had already searched it for Sam and her phone.

I think he was trying to allude to the fact that they were now looking for covered up blood or other bodily matter. Really small pieces of evidence.

When I look at the photos, the police are on their hands and knees in parts of that search.

Google photos - because the photos are in paywalled articles
 
I thought they might have been taking organic samples for matching. But they wouldn't have had anything directly from him yet? Clothes, access to the vehicle. Unless via his girlfriend maybe.
 
I thought they might have been taking organic samples for matching. But they wouldn't have had anything directly from him yet? Clothes, access to the vehicle. Unless via his girlfriend maybe.

I was more thinking of the organic matter that may result from a fatal bashing.

For example, despite Greg Lynn meticulously "cleaning up" and burning the campsite (alleged) crime scene, the forensic search much later still found organic matter from Carol Clay.
 
In that presser, Mark Hatt made it clear (a couple of times) that they were searching the Mt Clear area that day "looking for small items". That they had already searched it for Sam and her phone.

I think he was trying to allude to the fact that they were now looking for covered up blood or other bodily matter. Really small pieces of evidence.

When I look at the photos, the police are on their hands and knees in parts of that search.

Google photos - because the photos are in paywalled articles
Like this object they described as being like tree sap but it also resembles an earring or a hairclip.

 

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I think that whole presser (22nd Feb) was done, not to inform the public of where the investigation stood, but to entice PS into making a move. To perhaps go and check on Sam's remains and/or the evidence that he had discarded. So the police could surreptitiously follow his movements.

imo
Perhaps the publicised phone find on 29th May was similar. PS barrister-ed up the next day.
 
A slowing heart rate
A heart rate that picks up due to a stressful event

I have a Garmin watch. If it detects I’m stressed, it sends me a reminder to relax. If it detects a possible fall, it asks if I’d like it to call my emergency contact (it won’t call without me indicating ‘yes’)
Apple watch even gives heart rate, resting heart rate, resting energy, steps, walking and running distance,walking speed, walking step length,stand time,blood oxygen, walking asymmetry and electrocardiograms. These are all visible in the health app on the phone. I believe this is why the phone is so important. No need to sign up for this app either. It records this data anyway.
 
Violence against women, and why it occurs is such a multi-faceted issue, which requires a multi-pronged approach IMO.

I stumbled upon an interesting BBC radio programme this week and the topic it got me wondering.

A year ago, primary school parents' association group combined with the head teachers of all primary schools in Greystones, areland, invited parents to sign a voluntary pact not to buy a smartphone for their child before they moved up to secondary school. (Usually age 12 in Ireland.)

This initiative resulted from concerns about stress and depression levels of students and teachers.

The documentary examines the results of the initiative.

I found the comments from a male assistant head-teacher particularly interesting (if somewhat alarming.) He is passionately demanding a culture change around phone use for older students too, warning parents that although they think they are giving their children access to the internet, they are really giving the internet access to their children.

He claimed (paraphrasing) that a serious problem with violence against women has arisen due to young children having access to *advertiser censored*. Many young girls believe that it's quite normal/OK for women to be slapped and treated disrespectfully, and so do the male pupils.

I'm interested to know what fellow Websleuthers believe regarding exposure to *advertiser censored* for young children - whether beliefs which they resultantly form have been/could be a factor in the perpetration and acceptance of violence against women.

TIA for your views.
There's been violence and violence towards women since the dawn of time it seems, but in my opinion, the internet has it's role to play for sure. Young kids are being given phones earlier and earlier these days, and as much as some parents do their best to monitor what their kids have access to, it's a very difficult task to completely shield them.

Kids are being shown targeted ads or sponsored content on all sorts of platforms. How many of us have spoken a word, only to find a million articles or ads then popping up on our screens regarding that item or topic? We are adults, and mature enough to scroll on by, but kids are easily influenced. Just look at how many "influencers" there are on various platforms. Kids take their words as gospel, and aim to emulate them. Not only that, with access to the internet, they can also search for any topic they like, including taboo, risky or embarrassing topics. One of those, especially for young boys I would imagine, is the p word. Everyone mature adult knows this is not a realistic view of the topic, but kids don't. They see the images fed to us, and assume they're normal, and this forms part of their "knowledge" about adult relationships and women.

It's also scary to see how people like Andrew Tate are attracting followers who buy into his misogyny.

Absolutely I think the internet is an issue in raising kids, how they form thier views of the world, and what's normal and acceptable. It's one aspect of many, but being fed the crap they are from the internet at a young age definitely plays a role in how they view and treat women. MOO of course.
 
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Ok so that is weird.
According to her mobile phone data, Sam left home at 7am, travelled 7kms in 1 hour, and reached Mt Clear at 8am. (Article 1)
That’s walking time, not straight jogging or running time. Unless she kept stopping or went very very slow.
Sam told her family she was going for a 20k run. (Article 2). Did she walk to Mt Clear to warm up?
Did she have company on that stretch? Why did it take so long?

“Police allege Stephenson 'deliberately attacked' Ms Murphy in Mount Clear, about 7km into her run on a route she had done 'countless' times.”

1. Samantha Murphy: timeline of the investigation into alleged murder of Ballarat woman

2. Samantha Murphy: a timeline of the alleged murder investigation
I'm not entirely convinced this article stating she was going on a 20km run is accurate. Most other articles state she was planning on 14km. I believe her Dad? was quoted as saying she often went for 20km runs, and she was training for some sort of marathon - whether it was the full marathon, half marathon or another distance I'm not sure.

I do feel she was planning on 14km for a few reasons beyond all the articles I've read. She was getting back into running after having covid in the summer holidays, it was going to be a hot day and she had plans for later in the morning.

The one things that seems odd to me is that it took her an hour to run 7km, and that it was 30 mins longer than her usual time. Why? Perhaps due to her getting back into running after covid? Any chance it was a walk instead that day, for whatever reason? I don't buy into the theory that someone else was wearing her watch, but I do wonder if maybe she ran into someone she knew, and walked with them? Did Samantha and PS have any common friends or acquaintances I wonder?
 
I'm not entirely convinced this article stating she was going on a 20km run is accurate. Most other articles state she was planning on 14km. I believe her Dad? was quoted as saying she often went for 20km runs, and she was training for some sort of marathon - whether it was the full marathon, half marathon or another distance I'm not sure.

I do feel she was planning on 14km for a few reasons beyond all the articles I've read. She was getting back into running after having covid in the summer holidays, it was going to be a hot day and she had plans for later in the morning.

The one things that seems odd to me is that it took her an hour to run 7km, and that it was 30 mins longer than her usual time. Why? Perhaps due to her getting back into running after covid? Any chance it was a walk instead that day, for whatever reason? I don't buy into the theory that someone else was wearing her watch, but I do wonder if maybe she ran into someone she knew, and walked with them? Did Samantha and PS have any common friends or acquaintances I wonder?
I agree with you HoneyBunOne - I also think it's possible that she ran into someone she knew, and that it's possible that she and PS had common friends/acquaintances. If this did occur, that may have contributed to the murder in some way.
Eg - maybe Samantha was providing emotional support to someone linked to PS (such as dealing with known aspects of his behaviour - maybe someone trying to break free from his control - I'm probably way off the mark here, but do I wonder...
All JMO
 

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