…”If others think this is the incorrect dam, I will be happy to edit with another image.”
View attachment 528909
Actually, I disagree that that is the dam. Instead I think this is the dam they found the phone in along Buninyong-amt Mercer Rd.
maps.app.goo.gl
The reason is it matches to what MSM such as The Age posted, here is their photo of said dam. You can see it matches to my coordinates .
Images from The Age :
Here is also a link (behind a paywall but the image shows publicly not behind a payaall if lookup Samantha Murphy dam on google ) :
The first physical clue to the missing Ballarat mother’s fate emerges from the mud - a mobile phone.
www.theage.com.au
Therefore if you view down on Google street view , it doesn’t appear there is really a fence at all.just scrub and low bushes so it would be an easy throw from the roadside. Images from Google are 1 year ago .
it would be odd if he pulled over on the
opposite side of the road and ran across the traffic to throw the phone in. My guess is he parked (or an accomplice who helped dispose ?) on the exact side of the road as the dam (ie driving south away from ballarat) to throw it in perhaps pretending to check his car tyres or pee and putting it in. I still find it very odd though if broad daylight and such an obvious main road. As others have said it doesn’t really sit right unless he was panicked. Or unless he asap wanted to dispose of it in water to stop the tracking etc on his way south.
But it’s pretty exposed to not only the road traffic but also the house on the property .
See here: (again google street view)
If he drove south then did he still have SM’s body in the back to dispose of .
Also I’ve read here in this old article from 2013 that his father was also a trained telecommunications technician.
Orren's family affair
“So, he revisited his working life – he holds two trades, one as an electrician and the other as a telecommunications technician – and waited to see what would happen next.”
So I wonder if he still did that alongside general electrician work. And if the case if PS also had experience there. In that case he would maybe know a lot about phone pings and towers active/down. Just a thought and could be wrong or he stopped doing that to focus on electrician jobs only I’m not sure. JMOO
And then see here the proximity of this dam to the place he was house sitting with his girlfriend in Yendon No 2 Rd , Scotsburn. (Right hand starred location in the image below). They’re close by. Or perhaps he was heading back to the Scotsburn house and noticed the phone in the car and had to dispose quickly. (But would involve parking on the opposite side of the road and crossing over the road to throw it over into the dam - again a bit obvious and noticeable in daylight).
Perhaps he has stopped by this dam before or regularly sees it on a drive and knew there was no high fence
Or perhaps he went direct from My Clear, via the dam and south (not going home in the meantime) and then onwards to dispose of Sam in Enfield State Park or Enfield Plantation or a similar bushland. We know they did a search of Enfield State Park but didn’t find anything with cadaver dogs .
If so then this is the rough travel path:
Perhaps they had pings from down that way and hence the search. It’s about a 26-30min drive Mt Clear to Enfield State Park.
Or perhaps this was too close for him - and he drove further or changed direction . There are other forests he could have chosen.
All JMOO and of course we have to wait until the trial but I’m still baffled why this exposed dam. Seems a little strange unless he was not thinking straight and panicked or wanted her phone under water and not ping en route South (if her body was in the car. ) hmmmmmmm
