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 #7

[bearbear]

yarrowee river south of buninyong, further south of the phone tower ping, still seems a possible burial (ground or water) place to me, after reading a locals description of the area, secluded, deep in bush and trees, lots of wildlife. and its only a 9 min drive from mt clear and 10 mins from scotsburn

 

[Dotta]

I think it's premeditated and it's been rehearsed

Too much planning from the beginning to the end has gone into this

He was allegedly under influence of drugs and alcohol.

People do terrible things in such state.
Become aggressive/unhinged/
inhibitions fly out of the window.

He might have allegedly experienced hallucinations/delusions/
psychosis.

I guess the victim's body is in another area/another suburb far from the searches in some shallow grave
Or in water.

IMO allegedly totally random crime by an alleged druggie.

JMO

 

[Nifty]

He was allegedly under influence of drugs and alcohol.

People do terrible things in such state.
Become aggressive/unhinged/
inhibitions fly out of the window.

He might have allegedly experienced hallucinations/delusions/
psychosis.

I guess the victim's body is in another area/another suburb far from the searches in some shallow grave
Or in water.

IMO allegedly totally random crime by an alleged druggie.

JMO

No I think it was well planned, the police can't even find her body

He is a pretty calculated piece of work !

 

[TrunkImagine]

He was allegedly under influence of drugs and alcohol.

People do terrible things in such state.
Become aggressive/unhinged/
inhibitions fly out of the window.

He might have allegedly experienced hallucinations/delusions/
psychosis.

I guess the victim's body is in another area/another suburb far from the searches in some shallow grave
Or in water.

IMO allegedly totally random crime by an alleged druggie.

JMO

There's an element of disorganisation with psychosis that would be incongruent with Samantha going missing without a trace. I don't believe the accused was experiencing psychosis MOO

 

[Dotta]

There's an element of disorganisation with psychosis that would be incongruent with Samantha going missing without a trace. I don't believe the accused was experiencing psychosis MO

I used the word: MIGHT

And allegedly moving a body out of area with a car does not need extensive planning.

JMO

 

[Trooper]

He was allegedly under influence of drugs and alcohol.

People do terrible things in such state.
Become aggressive/unhinged/
inhibitions fly out of the window.

He might have allegedly experienced hallucinations/delusions/
psychosis.

I guess the victim's body is in another area/another suburb far from the searches in some shallow grave
Or in water.

IMO allegedly totally random crime by an alleged druggie.

JMO

People do terrible things without any help from any drug, or alcohol, whatsoever. An unhappy conclusion to reach, but history tells us this is so. People do kill without any mind altering substance at all. Often , they surprise themselves, but also, on the other hand, they always knew they had it in them. ..... While it is , perhaps, due to cultural memes to think of drugs/alcohol being a part of this horror, it is not necessarily so. His age may suggest that, but again, it doesn't disqualify him being stone cold sober at the time, and after.

Considering the outcome, it's difficult to equate a person out of their skull on god knows what, and the clean up of this crime. These two things do not match up. .

 

[Detective Willy]

Sam was allegedly attacked at 8am in the morning and there was allegedly the last phone ping at around 5pm that same afternoon.

IMO Police would be intensely focusing on the accused’s vehicles CCTV movements that Sunday.

I don’t think he had the luxury to go back to the exact burial site later because this case got so much publicity so quickly. He probably told his girlfriend that he was at his parents house after the bender and told parents he was at girlfriends etc. Spent that whole Sunday frantically covering his tracks and burying Sam, maybe took the Monday off work sick to sleep?

I wonder if he visited any hardware stores or if tools have been removed from some locations that Police have already raided at Mt Clear.

It reminds me of the Greg Lynn case, VicPol are heavily relying on putting together a very strong circumstantial case with technology playing a massive part.

If they do not find Sam the chances of the alleged killer getting downgraded or getting off will increase dramatically IMO.

Defence will be arguing to get as much digital evidence as possible ruled as inadmissible.

I don’t think he will talk now either, he has chosen what road he is going down IMO.

 

[Dotta]

No I think it was well planned, the police can't even find her body

He is a pretty calculated piece of work !

So "well planned"
that the alleged perp is now sitting in a cell accused of murder.
Phew!

 

[Nifty]

I used the word: MIGHT

And allegedly moving a body out of area with a car does not need extensive planning.

JM

It's still planning, compared to a lot of random murders where the police can easily find the body

He doesn't want her body found and has gone to a lot of trouble to hide it

not to mention hiding her phone, smartwatch and any other items she had

likely aware of police tracing his and her phone pings and getting rid of them quickly

planning what he has said to his girlfriend and others of where he has gone etc during that time...

Being careful he hasn't been spotted and acting quickly

 

[sm1980]

I also have a question for Aristotle Picket from the end of the last thread:

You seem to be convinced the area was not accessible by cars. Can you clarify what area and why you think this? I am not a local but have viewed the Recreation Rd/Boak Rd area (which I believe is the key area of interest, where the alleged "incident" appears to have taken place) on street view, and it certainly looks like Rec Rd at least is a through road for cars. Boak looks like a rougher road, but definitely still drivable, with some tracks off it. The fact someone else mentioned there are now cameras in the area to try and stop illegal dumping of goods suggests cars can access these locations. It looks quite feasible to me that Samantha could have been on a path that comes out at Rec Rd (as per street view) and possibly been hit by a car, or told off a driver driving too fast and a road rage incident occurring.

Hi all, the roads are definitely accessible by regular cars (not 4wd). Street view of some of the tracks is available, but it's approx 16yrs old...
The main roads have more recent imagery (6mths or less)
The key element though is that boak Rd isn't the fast way to anywhere. Yep, it's drivable, but Max 10-20km/hr in places.
There are at least 4 small dams within minutes of the boak road area. As far as I have seen, none of these has had LE level searching.
I've lived on the edge of the forrest for 15 yrs, and in the area for 40+.
There are hundreds of mullock heaps / tailings / mounds of dirt indicating mining activities from the past 150yrs. I can only think of 1 or 2 that might be 10m or more deep. Those are so full of 150yrs of branches and other crap that if you tried to hide a body in them, you're more likely to end up in there yourself. Yep, there are probably others (capable of hiding a body) but I honestly don't know where they're coming up with 50 or 60 candidates (if I understand correctly)
Sure, these could be off the beaten track, but waaaay off. Not accessible by car (or at least not without flagging that a car (or 4wd) has had a crack)
Honestly, it just doesn't feel like the path of least resistance. IMO

 

[Voluspa]

I also have a question for Aristotle Picket from the end of the last thread:

You seem to be convinced the area was not accessible by cars. Can you clarify what area and why you think this? I am not a local but have viewed the Recreation Rd/Boak Rd area (which I believe is the key area of interest, where the alleged "incident" appears to have taken place) on street view, and it certainly looks like Rec Rd at least is a through road for cars. Boak looks like a rougher road, but definitely still drivable, with some tracks off it. The fact someone else mentioned there are now cameras in the area to try and stop illegal dumping of goods suggests cars can access these locations. It looks quite feasible to me that Samantha could have been on a path that comes out at Rec Rd (as per street view) and possibly been hit by a car, or told off a driver driving too fast and a road rage incident occurring.

This morning I had some spare time and decided to check out the area. I drove along Eureka St turned onto Cathie St and followed Boundary Rd all the way to Recreation Rd and drove down Boak Rd.

Mostly standard dirt roads except for Boak Rd which was very rough. I noted many water sources in the area. Some of the vegetation around Boak Rd was so thick it looks like a difficult terrain to search. Plenty of roads and tracks in the area. I'm not sure why Aristotle Picket claims this area is not accessible by car, it certainly is accessible.

Such an eerie feeling in the forest. I didn't see any other cars or people around.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Hi all, the roads are definitely accessible by regular cars (not 4wd). Street view of some of the tracks is available, but it's approx 16yrs old...
The main roads have more recent imagery (6mths or less)
The key element though is that boak Rd isn't the fast way to anywhere. Yep, it's drivable, but Max 10-20km/hr in places.
There are at least 4 small dams within minutes of the boak road area. As far as I have seen, none of these has had LE level searching.
I've lived on the edge of the forrest for 15 yrs, and in the area for 40+.
There are hundreds of mullock heaps / tailings / mounds of dirt indicating mining activities from the past 150yrs. I can only think of 1 or 2 that might be 10m or more deep. Those are so full of 150yrs of branches and other crap that if you tried to hide a body in them, you're more likely to end up in there yourself. Yep, there are probably others (capable of hiding a body) but I honestly don't know where they're coming up with 50 or 60 candidates (if I understand correctly)
Sure, these could be off the beaten track, but waaaay off. Not accessible by car (or at least not without flagging that a car (or 4wd) has had a crack)
Honestly, it just doesn't feel like the path of least resistance. IMO

I definitely don't think Boak Road is an alleged getaway/body dumping area. It just seems the police were quite interested in the Boak Rd/Recreation Rd/Boundary Rd area in their targeted search if I remember correctly. It's also of note that a walking track through the state forest comes out right near this intersection. It's interesting to see that Katy Ryans Rd is very close, is bushland for a large percentage (from what I can tell on google maps) and links back up to the new CCTV area of interest.

 

[Ticktock84]

This morning I had some spare time and decided to check out the area. I drove along Eureka St turned onto Cathie St and followed Boundary Rd all the way to Recreation Rd and drove down Boak Rd.

Mostly standard dirt roads except for Boak Rd which was very rough. I noted many water sources in the area. Some of the vegetation around Boak Rd was so thick it looks like a difficult terrain to search. Plenty of roads and tracks in the area. I'm not sure why Aristotle Picket claims this area is not accessible by car, it certainly is accessible.

Such an eerie feeling in the forest. I didn't see any other cars or people around.

Have you also been out searching when they were doing all the searches too? Well done for going out there but it must of been a little eerie knowing what has happened in there.

 

[SouthAussie]

So "well planned"
that the alleged perp is now sitting in a cell accused of murder.
Phew!

And he was arrested and charged within 4½ weeks. Which is pretty quick.

As a comparison with some other Vic cases:
Borce Ristevski (murdered Karen Ristevski) arrested and charged = 18 months after the murder
Greg Lynn (allegedly murdered Russell Hill and Carol Clay) arrested and charged = 20 months after the murders
Adrian Bayley (murdered Jill Meagher) arrested and charged = 5 days after the murder

imo

 

[Voluspa]

Have you also been out searching when they were doing all the searches too? Well done for going out there but it must of been a little eerie knowing what has happened in there.

No unfortunately, I live 50 minutes away and have two toddlers. I would've loved to help join in with the searches but it wasn't ideal conditions for the little ones given the heat at the time.

 

[iamshadow21]

No unfortunately, I live 50 minutes away and have two toddlers. I would've loved to help join in with the searches but it wasn't ideal conditions for the little ones given the heat at the time.

You made the right call. I for one would never take minors of any age to a search where they might be present when a deceased person is found. Even if they don't see the body, they're in that group and are exposed to everyone's distress.

MOO

 

[SouthAussie]

thank you, i do remember us discussing the dogs they were using and their accuracy but cant find any confirmation they used actual cadaver dogs? or just regular search dogs?

I don't know, bear. I imagine it takes a while to arrange the use of the cadaver dogs. In the cases I noted from Vic & SA they got the cadaver dogs well after the people had disappeared.

In this case, they might need to wait if the cadaver dogs are already busy elsewhere. And/or they might wait until they have a more definite zone in which to look for Samantha. And/or they might have had a cadaver dog in already, but didn't announce it due to compassion for the family.

It would be great if all states could put cadaver dogs into their police budget. But police budgets are a whole other discussion matter.

imo

 

[Voluspa]

You made the right call. I for one would never take minors of any age to a search where they might be present when a deceased person is found. Even if they don't see the body, they're in that group and are exposed to everyone's distress.

MOO

Absolutely, that would be traumatising.

I'm glad I went for a drive through the area to gain a bit more perspective as I was curious what the roads were like throughout the forest and whether speeding is a possibility and it definitely would be, not on Boak Rd, as I said that road was very rough.

Such an amazing effort for all involved in the searches for Samantha, it's certainly not easy terrain to navigate.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Each orange and yellow dot represents known mining activity in the Ballarat area.

Experts say it is entirely feasible illegal mining activity once took place in Ballarat, given its prominent role in the gold rush, making it impossible to now know the location of every shaft.

Mr Shaw said he had located at least 100 mineshafts during his searches in Ballarat bushland during the past five weeks and he had been down about 60

There are countless mineshafts in the area searched for signs of Samantha Murphy. This is what it's like inside them

Raymond Shaw says he has spent the past five-and-a-half weeks uncovering and exploring disused mine shafts in a determined effort to find anything that helps locate the Ballarat mum.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Deleted member 340727]

Each orange and yellow dot represents known mining activity in the Ballarat area.

Experts say it is entirely feasible illegal mining activity once took place in Ballarat, given its prominent role in the gold rush, making it impossible to now know the location of every shaft.

Mr Shaw said he had located at least 100 mineshafts during his searches in Ballarat bushland during the past five weeks and he had been down about 60
View attachment 490131

There are countless mineshafts in the area searched for signs of Samantha Murphy. This is what it's like inside them

Raymond Shaw says he has spent the past five-and-a-half weeks uncovering and exploring disused mine shafts in a determined effort to find anything that helps locate the Ballarat mum.

www.abc.net.au

Yes I saw that map in an article: Could you have an old gold mine under your backyard?... ABC Ballarat 21 Aug 2023 And there are constant sinkholes appearing everywhere. Because there were too many illegal mining activities it had become impossible to monitor and map. That ref. I gave has 2 beautiful watercolours of Ballarat.