The frantic search for missing Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy has continued for an eighth day but a leading forensic psychologist has unveiled a concerning new theory about what happened to the 51-year-old.
Ms Murphy failed to return to her East Ballarat home, in the Central Highlands, after going for a run on February 5 in the Canadian State Forest.
Dozens of police, SES, Country Fire Authority, loved ones and locals have been searching for the mother-of-three over the past week but police are reportedly limited by a lack of leads.
Forensic psychologist Tim Watson-Munro said he had “never encountered” a case like Ms Murphy’s, whose sudden disappearance has captured national attention.
Ms Murphy disappeared during a morning run near her home in Ballarat on February 5. Picture: Supplied.
“There’s no evidence, Chris. She’s literally vanished off the face of the Earth,” Mr Watson-Munro told Sky News host Chris Kenny on Monday evening.
“There’s no clues at all. The police have wound back. They’re searching the forest. They’re relying on CCTV footage if it exists. Video cameras from cars and so on. But I’ve never encountered a case like this where someone ostensibly goes for a run and they’re never seen again. It’s very unusual.”
Mr Watson-Munro has analysed some of Australia’s most infamous criminals, including notorious Melbourne underworld figure Alphonse Gangitano and mass murderer Julian Knight.
The expert said there were “a number of possibilities” of what happened to Ms Murphy but that the mum appeared to have a happy family life prior to her sudden disappearance.
Ballarat locals search through the bush for missing mum Samantha Murphy on Saturday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Wilson.
“The family life seems to be happy,” he said.
“We saw harrowing footage the other day of a daughter who is in deep distress with her father. Look, there’s a number of possibilities.
“One of them is that she had been stalked for a while. I’ve done a lot of profiling. Stalkers love routine of their potential victims.”
Victoria Police formally scaled back search efforts for Ms Murphy over the weekend due to a lack of leads and handed the investigation over to the Missing Persons Unit.
Mr Watson-Munro said a possible explanation was that a stalker had abducted Ms Murphy and the perpetrator “knows a lot about evidence and covering their tracks”.
Volunteers continue to search for Ms Murphy. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Wilson.
“That’s one possible explanation. She went for a run, and she was abducted on a van or a car and taken away from the potential crime scene,” he theorised.
“And I think that’s probably one of the reasons why the police wound back the physical search in the area.
“I gather that there was a ping from a mobile phone some distance away and then a drop out. So obviously a phone was either thrown away as a decoy or she made it that far and then the phone died out.
“But the fact that there’s no evidence, there’s no witnesses, if you follow that line of inquiry, then you’re dealing with a fairly calculating, intelligent person who understands forensic procedures and somebody who knows a lot about evidence and covering their tracks. Terribly clever and psychopathic.”
Source: SkyNews
