Rocket333
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Thank you Doc - grateful for the time & effort this would’ve taken.I've started to do a bit of a timeline with what we do know.
It's no where near complete, I have just been jotting things down as I re-read some old articles etc.
What we do know:
FEBUARY 2024
- 4th Feb SM left for a run @ approx 7am from her Ballarat East House for an early morning trail run along Woowookarung Regional Park, formerly known as Canadian State Forest. She was last captured on CCTV outside her Blairs Lane home, dressed in a maroon singlet and black running tights.
- SM had her phone, Smart watch & ear pods with her.
- SM didn’t arrive to a planned brunch @ 11am & family raised the alarm
- About 8am 4th Feb – Murphy is believed to have reached the Mount Clear area by foot, according to mobile phone data later obtained by police.
- Emergency services and community volunteers begin to search in nearby Woowookarung Regional Park, or Canadian Forest.
- 5th Feb Victoria Police launch a public appeal. A search area is established near Buninyong, about 14 kilometres from where Murphy was last seen. Police say Murphy's phone was recorded near the Buninyong Golf Club.
- 6th Feb - More than 100 specialist police officers, SES searchers, Forest Fire Management Australia and Parks Victoria officials search for signs of Murphy in the bush. Focused the search on Woowookarung Regional Park and bushland near the Buninyong Golf Course. New search area includes three bushland reserves — Black Hill Reserve, Chisholm Street Reserve, Monte Christo Bushland Reserve — and the Wallaby Track. Police said yesterday they had been using mobile phone data and Ms Murphy's usual running routes to determine the search area.
- 6th Feb - police added parts of Black Hill, Brown Hill and Nerrina as a focus area.
- 7th Feb - Police release CCTV footage of a runner they believe to be Murphy heading north-east toward Yankee Flat Road. The footage is scrapped from the investigation the following day after a community member says they featured in the image.
- 8th Feb - Murphy's husband Mick and eldest daughter Jess hold a press conference, appealing for information and thanking the public for their assistance.
- 9th Feb - Missing persons unit detectives take over the investigation from Ballarat police. Police reveal they are closely examining Murphy's electronic devices.
- 10th Feb - Investigators scale back the search. SES and CFA volunteers are called off.
- 14th Feb - Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton confirms detectives are treating Murphy's disappearance as suspicious.
- 23rd Feb - Police say they suspect that "one or more parties" are most likely behind her disappearance. They send search units to Mount Clear again based on new phone data analysis.
- Investigators were in the process of reviewing about 12,000 hours of CCTV footage and following up more than 500 separate pieces of information.
- Police continued to ask everyone in the Ballarat East and Mount Helen areas, particularly around the Canadian forest, to check their CCTV for any possible sightings over the past three weeks.
- Detectives are also urging anyone travelling through the area, particularly between 7am and 7pm on Sunday, 4 February, who may have dashcam footage to also check this for possible sightings.
- Hatt - “I encourage anyone who does have information that could be relevant to this investigation – whether that’s a person or vehicle seen in the area on that day, something unusual such as a damaged vehicle or property – to please come forward and speak to police or provide the information via Crime Stoppers,” he said.
- 24th Feb - Acting Det Supt Mark Hatt says that while the area had previously been extensively searched, they are looking for small items that may have been missed and “intricate details” of what occurred on 4 February.
- “We’re absolutely looking for a phone, we haven’t yet found that,” he says. “We’re looking for a body.”
- Police will also investigate the possibility Murphy was removed from the local area.
- A volunteer-led community search takes places in Ballarat with hundreds of locals and visitors searching dense bushland in the hope of finding a clue to assist the investigation.
MARCH 2024
APRIL 2024
- 6th March - A 22-year-old man is arrested at a home in Ballarat about 6am.
- 7th March 9.30am -Police charge a Mount Clear man ( PS ) with one count of murder.
- Police inform the public of the man's arrest.
- Prosecutors asked for 20 weeks to compile evidence to hand to the defence, because of the "significant amount of material" that needed to be analysed.
- 7th March - A suppression order is requested by defense team
- 8th March – court – Defence lawyer David Tamanika withdrew suppression order ( instructed by his client )
- 9th March -Chief Commissioner Patton said the police would allege Mr Stephenson acted alone.
- 20th March - A widespread police search for the Ballarat mother's body is sparked after detectives receive new intelligence.
- Police spend eight hours scouring thick bushland in Buninyong, about 11km from Ballarat.
- 11th April - Police search bushland in the Enfield State Park area, after police receive intelligence from "various sources".
- Stephenson isn't cooperating with police.
May 2024
- 29th May - Police find a phone in the mud on the bank of a dam along Buninyong-Mt Mercer Road.
- Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad, together with a range of specialist resources including federal police, spend the day performing a "targeted search" south of Buninyong, about five kilometres south of where Samantha's phone last pinged to a mobile phone tower.
- 30th May – Phone found confirmed to be SM’s
August 2024
TBC
- August 8th Court Hearing. Mr Stephenson's lawyer, Moya O'Brien, said she was yet to receive the CCTV footage and would need time to review it. "It has been described as unprecedented in terms of size," she said.
- She requested at least a 12-week adjournment, a move also supported by the prosecution. Same was granted, next court date 14th Nov 2024
Court hearings for man accused of murdering Samantha Murphy delayed due to 'huge' evidence brief Thur 8th Aug 2024
Patrick Orren Stephenson named as Samantha Murphy's accused killer after suppression order ends Friday 8th March
Alleged killer of Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy unmasked Friday 8th March
Samantha Murphy: police ‘very doubtful’ missing Ballarat woman still alive amid suspicion ‘one or more parties’ involved 23rd Feb 2024
Search area expands for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy Tues Feb 6th
https://www.9news.com.au/national/samantha-murphy-update-timeline-of-missing-ballarat-mums-disappearance/71927797-1901-4364-95b5-b50355b16410 29th May 2024 29th May 2024
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/07/samantha-murphy-timeline-disappearance-investigation-news-update-events-ballarat-has-she-been-found March 7th 2024 7th March 2024
Samantha Murphy: a timeline of the alleged murder investigation 7th March 2024
Interesting break between 24/02 and 06/03 don’t you think? The fortnight surveillance perhaps?
The “damaged vehicle” from the 23/02 always bothers me. There’s something in that.