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

[CoffeeHug]

Good lesson to always let someone know your route in the scrub. Injure yourself and break your phone - then just lay and wait for your loved one to find you.

I always do and I carry a locator beacon for emergencies. Runners may be a bit more spontaneous with planned routes. I only have a vague idea where my husband is heading.

 

[carbuff]

You don't know how he is behind closed doors though, or if he was advised not to join the search himself. If you've never been in the position of having a missing spouse, you don't know what you'd do. Maybe he let the many people out there search because the children needed his presence? I think it's best not to assume anything based on appearances.

I know in the US, immediate family is usually discouraged from joining the search. They want somebody at home in case the missing person returns, they don't want a potential perpetrator having the chance to meddle with evidence, and they don't want family members to have to deal with the trauma of finding their loved one's body (which also has the risk of interfering with evidence.)

 

[olaselo]

Interestingly, the 'find samantha murphy' facebook page has now been archived (10,000+ members). The organiser was advised that it had served it's purpose and it's time to take it down.

My gut feel is that the Police are all over it (and probably advised the organiser to take it down).

 

[CoffeeHug]

Yes I agree with you, valid points. But how he came across in his statements he had no panicked vibe to me at all, very relaxed and emotionally distanced from his spouse I found him to be. This does not align with an immediate reaction to contact authorities IMO

And when my loved one was missing (found deceased) I took about five minutes to jump in the car and head over to their place hoping to find them alive, and was cool and collected when talking to the police and on the phone to family. It's called shock.

 

[T-dawg420]

Interestingly, the 'find samantha murphy' facebook page has now been archived (10,000+ members). The organiser was advised that it had served it's purpose and it's time to take it down.

My gut feel is that the Police are all over it (and probably advised the organiser to take it down).

That is kinda strange, I must agree with you that the police are all over it. I am a member of this group, as well as a member of other missing persons groups. I can’t recall a group being archived and “serving it’s purpose” while the person is still missing and not having an outcome.

If anyone else knows different id love to know, cos again, I can’t recall this happening to an actively missing person before.

 

[bearbear]

Interestingly, the 'find samantha murphy' facebook page has now been archived (10,000+ members). The organiser was advised that it had served it's purpose and it's time to take it down.

My gut feel is that the Police are all over it (and probably advised the organiser to take it down).

yes, weird, i noticed it was taken down when i was searching for the 5pm time line people here were discussing, that page had been deactivated to further comments

 

[pipj]

Interestingly, the 'find samantha murphy' facebook page has now been archived (10,000+ members). The organiser was advised that it had served it's purpose and it's time to take it down.

My gut feel is that the Police are all over it (and probably advised the organiser to take it down).

Who advised the organiser it had served its purpose and it was time to take it down?

 

[olaselo]

Who advised the organiser it had served its purpose and it was time to take it down?

I am not sure ? Simply stating what Cin Hobbs (organiser) posted on the page. I removed myself from the group as per her request to everybody - as she needs to remove everybody one by one, so to speed up the process she requested everyone check themselves out.

 

[Trooper]

That is kinda strange, I must agree with you that the police are all over it. I am a member of this group, as well as a member of other missing persons groups. I can’t recall a group being archived and “serving it’s purpose” while the person is still missing and not having an outcome.

If anyone else knows different id love to know, cos again, I can’t recall this happening to an actively missing person before.

I am stumped, yet again, by this turn of events. Either she is missing, not found, or she is not missing. It cannot be both. What is going on here?.. Why has there not been another appeal from Mr Murphy, in regard to his now long missing spouse?. it's been 3 days since he spoke to the concerned public. He must have thought of perhaps more detail than what he gave the last time.

 

[otto]

The photo is from actual cctv video, and it has been widely reported as a fact that she was leaving for her walk. I strongly assume they would not be reporting pure speculation as fact. It seems the police have confirmed she was seen in video leaving for her walk.

That's my impression as well - that she left the house at 7:30 AM wearing a smart watch, yet we haven't heard anything about the watch. At the very least, smart watch should be synced with heart rate readings on laptop.

Was she not wearing her fitbit smart watch that day?

 

[mondayschild]

Re the online forum, last night I saw a few posts that suggested individual members had been getting targeted/threatening DMs from someone & then reported it to police. Might be related?

 

[otto]

Wouldnt the first thing you do is actually go and search for her yourself along the path she jogs? Would seem to be my first instinct to go there personally. He would know where she jogs surely, after so long. Once i could not find her, i would call police after a while.

The thing is, I don't think it would be cause for immediate concern losing contact with an adult at that time of the morning. She could have just gone shopping, decided a new change of plans, etc. You would not panic just because she missed a brunch date surely? Its not like she went missing late at night or for a whole day, its just a few hours.

I can only relate to a missing dog. First reaction was to search, second was to call vet clinics, third was to sit by the phone and hope to hear something. It didn't go beyond that with the missing dog, but with a missing person, sitting by the phone is probably quickly replaced with missing person's police report.

She went jogging in jogging clothing. Stopping for a drink or coffee with a friend, yes, but going shopping in the middle of jogging, I doubt it. There is something surprising about the fact that missing a brunch date alerted friends to think that she was missing.

 

[otto]

Yes - I just did a double take, and fixed my original post. There does appear to be a second exit around the back, with no CCTV.

So it's possible that she went for a run at 7:30 AM and arrived home through the back entrance. Was her husband home alone that morning?

 

[T-dawg420]

I am stumped, yet again, by this turn of events. Either she is missing, not found, or she is not missing. It cannot be both. What is going on here?.. Why has there not been another appeal from Mr Murphy, in regard to his now long missing spouse?. it's been 3 days since he spoke to the concerned public. He must have thought of perhaps more detail than what he gave the last time.

I agree with you, I am stumped as well.

I also agree about why hasn’t there not been another appeal by Mr Murphy, or even anyone close to Samantha. I realise with the amount of days she has been missing then the chances of her turning up alive are quite small. But if you didn’t have an answer, and you had no info, why wouldn’t you be out there asking for help, asking if anyone has info, or camera footage, or if they saw her. Where are her friends? Why haven’t they made a plea for information?

There was over 10k members of Samantha’s FB page, most I assume have good intentions and genuinely want to help and show support for samantha and her family. To show they aren’t alone, people care, and people are invested.

To just delete/archive the group, by saying it’s served it’s purpose I find odd. Maybe others might not find it odd, but what purpose has it served? There is no outcome in Samantha’s case, we are still where we were yesterday, and thr day she went missing right?

Or maybe not.

 

[mamamama9873]

I

I am stumped, yet again, by this turn of events. Either she is missing, not found, or she is not missing. It cannot be both. What is going on here?.. Why has there not been another appeal from Mr Murphy, in regard to his now long missing spouse?. it's been 3 days since he spoke to the concerned public. He must have thought of perhaps more detail than what he gave the last time.

What is it going to help? It’s still front page news anyway. Makes more sense for an appeal once media interest dies down a bit

 

[olaselo]

So it's possible that she went for a run at 7:30 AM and arrived home through the back entrance. Was her husband home alone that morning?

Re: Husbands movements on Sunday morning (4 Feb) - I don't believe these have been made public knowledge.

Also, CCTV may not ALWAYS be on. For example - with my CCTV at home, I can disable and enable at the flick of a switch on my phone. If I screenshot something for you - there is no date/time stamp.

In the still image circulating online - there is no date/time stamp. Who knows if that was actually from Sunday morning. And I don't think expert IT technicians would have been analysing it before it was circulated. These most likely came into play when Missing Persons squad brought in.

Interestingly, Missing Persons squad is headed by Mark Hatt - who worked in the Purana taskforce (Melb gangland) - and also has done significant time in Homicide investigations.

 

[olaselo]

So it's possible that she went for a run at 7:30 AM and arrived home through the back entrance. Was her husband home alone that morning?

Re: Going for a run at 7:30AM ... it is stated 'last sighted at 7AM' (I presume they state that is from the CCTV)

The CCTV that captured the OTHER RUNNER down Eureka Street at 7:15AM (OTHER RUNNER running EAST).

It is MORE THAN LIKELY they crossed paths - if she left at 7AM as stated.

 

[Lorelai23]

If they owned a 2 million dollar house, it’s possible it’s large enough not to notice the comings and goings of other family members. Sams husband may have just assumed she’s come come home from her run as normal, cleaned up amd headed out to brunch without seeing her if it’s a large house or perhaps he was out gardening before the heat struck. They also have 3 kids that may have weekend sports etc that he may have been dropping them off at. and possibly everyone was just doing their own thing on the weekend. If they all work and have school during the week it’s easy to see that they may all just have their own things going on during the weekend and touch base with each other at different points of the day. JMO

 

[JLZ]

Re: Going for a run at 7:30AM ... it is stated 'last sighted at 7AM' (I presume they state that is from the CCTV)

The CCTV that captured the OTHER RUNNER down Eureka Street at 7:15AM (OTHER RUNNER running EAST).

It is MORE THAN LIKELY they crossed paths - if she left at 7AM as stated.

Depends which way she went. I think she went down Cathie St, wasn't long on Eureka St at all. That's if she did go running.

 

[tiff]

Maybe the ptb want public interest to die down… perhaps they have a poi?