How do you know the phone pinged at 5pm?
Correct me if I’m wrong but VicPol has never shared that.
One of the reasons we do know, quite categorically, that he was short on time is that the Brunch folks set up the hue and cry around 12.30. - 1pm. and between Mick and the Brunch folks, VICPOL immediately took on the urgency, the inexplicability of her non appearance at the brunch and a large scale search commenced , police, fire brigade, SES, and assorted searching people from the tennis club and the dog walkers club, this was around 1.15pm.
It is an error to think that everything revolved around the 'ping'.. there was a lot going on that afternoon, and the traffic of people, dogs, horse riders, police vans, motor cycles etc, all out in the combined effort, the news of Mrs Murphy being missing , was spread by phone and facebook stuff, the temperature rising galvanized a hell of a lot of searchers on that afternoon, professional and amateur. Mrs Murphy was a registered missing person by 1pm that day.. not 5pm.
He was short on time in the context that by 1.15pm, the track, the forest was becoming somewhat crowded, traffic on the track was steady, he did not have the forest to himself, nor the track, nor any other tracks, both firetracks, and cattle tracks.. People were OUT there all afternoon and night from 1.15 on.
Murder 8am, - Brunch ladies hue and cry 1pm. 4 hours. = short on time.