Members of a Facebook group committed to helping with the search for Samantha Murphy have come under fire after some reportedly harassed and harassed her family.
Several online groups have been set up to help coordinate searches and provide updates on the case of the 51-year-old woman after she went missing while out for a run in Ballarat East, Victoria, on February 4.
The mother-of-three has not been seen or heard from since and Victoria Police said her disappearance is their “top priority”.
Since then, the administrator of a Facebook group, which has more than 6,000 followers, has had to tell members not to send messages to Murphy’s loved ones.
Members of a Facebook group committed to helping with the search for missing mother Samantha Murphy have been reprimanded after it was understood some had been messaging her family asking for information.
The administrator had to reprimand members of the group who had been harassing Ms. Murphy’s loved ones.
“Just a friendly reminder that any kind of drama is not tolerated here,” admin Jasmine Kraus posted in the group on Monday.
‘The admin may seem harsh or quick about deleting people sometimes, but we don’t have time for drama, we don’t care what the drama is, you’re gone! Of course, if we discover that we have made a mistake, this can be rectified.
‘This group is about Samantha and finding answers for her family!
‘(Members stalking and/or messaging Sam’s family members will result in an instant ban.)
‘The admin tries his best to keep it that way, most seem to understand this, so thanks for that! Let’s continue to work together for Sam and his family.”
Other members of the group had also posted comments wrongly suggesting that members of his family could have been responsible for his disappearance.
“I’ve also noticed comments hinting at the family’s involvement in Sam’s disappearance…those people shouldn’t be here,” one member said.
It comes after a former detective said good Samaritans who want to help in the search for Ms Murphy may actually be doing more harm than good to authorities.
Narelle Fraser, who worked in Victoria Police for 27 years, 15 of them as a detective in the rape and homicide squads and the missing persons unit, said police would likely be working 24/7. the week in the case given the large amount of information from the public that comes in.
Ms. Murphy’s loved ones have been harassed. Her husband Mick Murphy appears in her photo.
Police to try new tactic in search for missing mother of three Samantha Murphy
Fraser said he knew the volunteers were “desperate” to help and if they found anything they considered important they would take it to the police.
“Then the police have to file a report and have to find out if it’s part of the investigation or not,” he told ABC.
“All of this takes time and I think sometimes it can cause great difficulties.”
It comes after a crime expert suggested Murphy’s possible killer could have been lurking within a volunteer search party.
Legendary Melbourne journalist John Silvester said detectives are investigating whether Ms Murphy’s killer is someone from the Ballarat community who volunteers their time to search for her.
“We now know that the local people, the volunteers, have selflessly gone out to search again and again,” he told Radio 3AW on Wednesday.
‘The police will also consider one of the investigators to be the murderer.
“In that, they have instilled themselves in that situation to be seen as part of the community, but also to be attentive to what is happening.”
Investigators have revealed they will now monitor mobile phone towers in the area where Ms Murphy disappeared to identify the movements of people nearby.
However, analyzing cell tower data could be complicated in the Murphy case due to the number of people living in the area.
Pictured, metal detectorists volunteer to help search for missing mother Samantha Murphy.
Detectives will focus on phones that “pinged” from towers covering the area they believe Ms Murphy was in hours after her run.
The telephone ‘ping’ would detect people traveling on the roads in cars and even those who ride a bicycle or walk on the roads.
The phone’s metadata has been crucial to the investigation after they identified a precise location in the Mount Clear area, about 7 kilometers from his home, about an hour after running 14 kilometers.
Initial reports claimed Ms Murphy’s phone rang at Buninyong Tower at 5pm on the day of her disappearance.
However, that information, which has not yet been confirmed, came 10 hours after she had gone out for a run.