Australia Samantha Murphy, 51, last seen leaving her property to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest, Ballarat 100km NW of Melbourne, 4 Feb 2024 #4

[Black-Cat]

A single guy going walkabout on a Friday night, not wanting to take calls, he's probably at the casino, no? They didn't check with his bank and find out?

Yes the response really was quick ... I still think the friends she was meeting up with must have known more and been worried.

MOO

 

[Minaka]

I'm sure the police are searching the Mt Clear Mine. Aerial views attached.
If you were going to get rid of a body all you'd need is someone on the inside at the mine to use one of those heavy excavators in a malicious way.

edit: But then again, how do you search a mine like this?
It would take forever.

 

[T-dawg420]

Under Investigation on this Wednesday, channel 9 at 9pm. Will be doing a story on missing Samantha

This is a good ploy with police, to keep adding the pressure to the perpetrators

Someone will break

It surprises me they are doing a show like this for SM. I mean all due respect with this comment however it’s usually longer term missing people from my understanding.

What it does it makes me wonder if this will be in cahoots with LE. Will they be putting information onto this program with the hopes of scaring the life out of a suspect in the hopes it makes them panic and mess up in some way.

Kinda like with Greg Lynn in the Carol Clay and Russell hill case. I can’t remember the program, but a senior detective appeared on a show like this or a current affairs show and gave the description of the vehicle and trailer. This apparently sent Greg Lynn into a spiral and they tracked him out to where the bodies where IIRC? I know they were worried about him committing suicide.

Anyway, I could be way off, just makes my mind wonder this case is on Under Investigation so soon. Maybe there have been other cases of someone missing for weeks being on the show. Just doesn’t ring a bell with me.

All MOO

 

[Toowong(s)]

Yes the response really was quick ... I still think the friends she was meeting up with must have known more and been worried.

MOO

Hi Black Cat I thought she was meeting up with family for brunch, not friends?

Her husband Mick Murphy, 53, raised the alarm when she never returned in time for a pre-planned 11am family brunch date.

MSN

Left field theory on the quick police response - could SM have been acting as a key witness in a police investigation into illegal practices in crash repairs? Perhaps someone involved in rebirthing cars etc worked for the business and SM uncovered it? I believe the business employs 20 or so staff so even if SM and MM were squeaky clean there could have been a few bad apples on staff that SM discovered and recently reported to police. Just one explanation for police acting so quickly? IMO…

 

[TootsieFootsie]

In the first days she was missing all the articles said she had a brunch appointment with friends, there was no mention of a family meeting.

 

[Warshawski]

Hi Black Cat I thought she was meeting up with family for brunch, not friends?

Her husband Mick Murphy, 53, raised the alarm when she never returned in time for a pre-planned 11am family brunch date.

MSN

Left field theory on the quick police response - could SM have been acting as a key witness in a police investigation into illegal practices in crash repairs? Perhaps someone involved in rebirthing cars etc worked for the business and SM uncovered it? I believe the business employs 20 or so staff so even if SM and MM were squeaky clean there could have been a few bad apples on staff that SM discovered and recently reported to police. Just one explanation for police acting so quickly? IMO…

I do think there was something that made police act fast, whether your theory ( which could be plausible imo) or perhaps MM told them that there had been some occurrences / behaviour of recent times, that now had him concerned.

I feel sick for her & her family, I just hope they find the answers very soon as I can’t imagine what ‘the not knowing’ must be like for them.

 

[T-dawg420]

Bigfoot

It is strange, their story :

I remember thinking the same when I first saw their story on FB and then MSM. I’m trying to find any article to back up my comment here but I can’t atm so I just gonna say this is just my opinion. I just can’t be sure if my memory Is remembering it correctly and I could be wrong.

Originally my ears pricked cos I remember reading how they saw the bush homeless man, and then they drove to a different spot, and the homeless man reappeared. I think they said they drove several minutes away to a new spot, and he must have known a shortcut cos he was there pretty quickly.

I just remember reading it thinking the whole story was out there, too far out there for me. With the seeing SM, then losing the Apple Watch etc. i remember just think no way is this true. I wondered if it wasn’t true why they would come out, was it for clout? Was it something more sinister? I really don’t know. I mean, it could be the truth as well….

In conclusion I really wish I had screenshot the article at the time. Cos I could be just completely making up the homeless bush man having a shirt cut and meeting up with them several minute drive away.

This comment as I said is JMO

 

[Minaka]

In the first days she was missing all the articles said she had a brunch appointment with friends, there was no mention of a family meeting.

I remember that. Also it went from a 10km run to a 20km run, then to a very specific 14 km run. So weird. Whenever I've run I never mention exact distances. It would be 5, 10, 15 or 20. I'd never say 14.

edit: the only way they could ascertain an exact 14 km run would be from data, or if it was a VERY regular run she undertook and told people about it.

 

[T-dawg420]

I remember thinking the same when I first saw their story on FB and then MSM. I’m trying to find any article to back up my comment here but I can’t atm so I just gonna say this is just my opinion. I just can’t be sure if my memory Is remembering it correctly and I could be wrong.

Originally my ears pricked cos I remember reading how they saw the bush homeless man, and then they drove to a different spot, and the homeless man reappeared. I think they said they drove several minutes away to a new spot, and he must have known a shortcut cos he was there pretty quickly.

I just remember reading it thinking the whole story was out there, too far out there for me. With the seeing SM, then losing the Apple Watch etc. i remember just think no way is this true. I wondered if it wasn’t true why they would come out, was it for clout? Was it something more sinister? I really don’t know. I mean, it could be the truth as well….

In conclusion I really wish I had screenshot the article at the time. Cos I could be just completely making up the homeless bush man having a shirt cut and meeting up with them several minute drive away.

This comment as I said is JMO

Found the article, it is DM but it does mention what I thought. Memory mustn’t be too bad just yet lol.

~ The couple decided to pack up and go to another area, which Ms Agheli guesses was about a seven-minute drive away.

She said her partner had warned her of mine shafts in the area and suggested they go elsewhere, but Ms Agheli wanted to have a quick look and wandered a short distance away from the car.

'Then I saw the same guy again even after we'd just driven about seven minutes,' she said.

'His whole face lit up when he saw a woman on his own.

I was thinking, "how did this guy get here so fast, he must know a shortcut". He had both of his hands behind his back and started walking towards me really fast ~

Camper recalls strange man lingering near where mum disappeared from

Rebecca Agheli and her partner Michael, had rented a caravan for a weekend away in Ballarat, northwest of Melbourne , last Thursday in the hopes they may come across some gold.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Deleted member 293720]

Hi Nifty on the running time I was wondering the same thing, is 7am to 8am quite a bit too long to run the 7km.

Searching for some context I found this:

Average Time to Run 14 km (By Age Gender & Speed)

For beginner 50+ female a 14km run would be 1hr39min, for intermediate 1hr09min. Not sure where SM is on this scale but I believe we have read recovering from COVID and having recently taken up running again, maybe the beginner end?

So if SM was at the beginner end, and pacing herself for a 14km distance, the half way mark would be about 50 mins. Then the times we are working with are approx, eg she left around 7am (may be 7.05 or 7.10?) and arrived around 8am (maybe 7.55?). And then maybe SM had stopped for a 5 min at Mt Clear before being attacked?

So in short IMO it might check out as a normal time for SM to punch out 7km.

Edit: Looks like Bear Bear beat me too it - well played!

Mt Clear is 7km away from her house, that would be the return

The police are saying one hour after she left home, she reached the Mt Clear area

And most likely where she was attacked

 

[Deleted member 293720]

I don't know if that specific tower was active on that day.
Sam's uncle did say that 'all the phones were going through Bunninyong, half the repeaters were down that day' (not an exact quote).

It is only a small tower, could be a repeater.

I hope it was functioning, but we can't be sure at this point in time - if the uncle was correct (he is the only source I have seen that info from).

imo

I would rather hear from the police directly, than from a family member, and I am confident the police have picked up enough intelligence through the phone tower and GPS

I have a strong feeling now the police know everything, but are just waiting for that last piece of the jigsaw.

They probably have been listening in on phone calls, with plenty of surveillance set up

There might have been witnesses in the bush at the time walking or cycling that have come forward as well

 

[Leafy]

I remember thinking the same when I first saw their story on FB and then MSM. I’m trying to find any article to back up my comment here but I can’t atm so I just gonna say this is just my opinion. I just can’t be sure if my memory Is remembering it correctly and I could be wrong.

Originally my ears pricked cos I remember reading how they saw the bush homeless man, and then they drove to a different spot, and the homeless man reappeared. I think they said they drove several minutes away to a new spot, and he must have known a shortcut cos he was there pretty quickly.

I just remember reading it thinking the whole story was out there, too far out there for me. With the seeing SM, then losing the Apple Watch etc. i remember just think no way is this true. I wondered if it wasn’t true why they would come out, was it for clout? Was it something more sinister? I really don’t know. I mean, it could be the truth as well….

In conclusion I really wish I had screenshot the article at the time. Cos I could be just completely making up the homeless bush man having a shirt cut and meeting up with them several minute drive away.

This comment as I said is JMO

I have screen shots of the article she posted on the Facebook group. There are also screenshots on the new Facebook page in the comments section of a post, which include the original post by her and a post from a member who PM’d her and she had said it was made up by media and denied it all and then went quiet when confronted on it. There are also screenshots of her LinkedIn with two different names and the same photo. I am not sure the rules will allow me to repost private messages of someone else’s but they are still on the new Facebook group if you wish to view yourself.

 

[WiseOwl]

That makes sense. I was wondering what the perpetrator was doing for 9 hours in the same area before the phone was switched off! It would be really nice to know when the last ping actually happened.

It would be great if the police confirmed the time of the ping. I know the Daily Mail very early on published it was 5pm but that doesn't make sense to me, i still firmly believe the ping was around 8am and that was the information that led to the searches that afternoon shortly after 3pm.

After all, what other information had the police got to lead them to search that afternoon?

 

[Toowong(s)]

In the first days she was missing all the articles said she had a brunch appointment with friends, there was no mention of a family meeting.

All I’ve ever read is “family brunch” or “brunch” but not brunch with friends. It might be semantics, maybe it was even family and friends?! Then again could be very important as some seem to be of the view the “brunch friends” were the first ones to notice SM missing and brought it to MMs attention.

Searching for a media link from first days to clarify and came accross this which I hadn’t seen before, one of SMs friends talking to Ch 7, it was interesting to watch the video:

Friend reveals new details about woman who vanished while jogging

“It’s just an absolute nightmare.’

7news.com.au

 

[Minaka]

I have a strong feeling now the police know everything, but are just waiting for that last piece of the jigsaw.

I agree, however without a body, prosecution becomes harder. If for instance the body was located in the nearby mine as I posted earlier, it may be impossible to recover given the scale of the mine.

 

[Poirot's niece]

All I’ve ever read is “family brunch” or “brunch” but not brunch with friends. It might be semantics, maybe it was even family and friends?! Then again could be very important as some seem to be of the view the “brunch friends” were the first ones to notice SM missing and brought it to MMs attention.

Searching for a media link from first days to clarify and came accross this which I hadn’t seen before, one of SMs friends talking to Ch 7, it was interesting to watch the video:

Friend reveals new details about woman who vanished while jogging

“It’s just an absolute nightmare.’

7news.com.au

Is this the interview where she mentions the 'car event' from the Saturday night? It was a few kms from the most recent forensic search area. I have links etc but if it was posted on here in the early days I don't want to double up.

 

[Toowong(s)]

Is this the interview where she mentions the 'car event' from the Saturday night? It was a few kms from the most recent forensic search area. I have links etc but if it was posted on here in the early days I don't want to double up.

Yes in the interview SMs friend mentions the “Redline Raceway” was on the night before and then appeals to anyone who saw anything to speak up. Looks like it’s another 5-6km away beyond Mt Clear. Maybe the race goers are known to party until dawn and make their way home via the forest tracks?

She also vouches pretty strongly for MM and mentions family having to defend him on social media was causing distress.

 

[Poirot's niece]

Yes in the interview SMs friend mentions the “Redline Raceway” was on the night before and then appeals to anyone who saw anything to speak up. Looks like it’s another 5-6km away beyond Mt Clear. Maybe the race goers are known to party until dawn and make their way home via the forest tracks?

She also vouches pretty strongly for MM and mentions family having to defend him on social media was causing distress.

From the clips I saw of those races cars that don't have damage are an oddity.

 

[Awakening]

The length of time - 75 mins? - to get to the 7km mark seems off to me. So much that I’m awake at 3.00 am. That seems more like someone walking not running. I need to sleep and think more about it.

 

[Cartie]

Mt Clear is 7km away from her house, that would be the return

The police are saying one hour after she left home, she reached the Mt Clear area

And most likely where she was attacked

I find it very odd and a big coincidence that the last ping was exactly at the half way, turning point.