A Facebook group created to help co-ordinate volunteer searches for missing mum Samantha Murphy is being deleted after supporters descended into personal attacks and infighting.
The group, Find Samantha Murphy, grew to more than 20,000 members last week amid the intense speculation over Ms Murphy’s disappearance and citizen efforts to find her.
On Monday, creator Cindy Hobbs posted to say the group had “served its purpose” and she had been “given the go ahead to delete” it.
“This is a huge mission on its own as I have to remove every member, if you would like to help Sam’s group, the best thing you can do for her is to help speed the process up by deleting yourself,” she wrote.
“Thanks for all the amazing support, I hope to get on with my life now with my beautiful family that I will never take for granted again.”
Ms Hobbs thanked members for their support and said she would be “shouting for Sam’s return”.
“Praying for a miracle,” she added.
Ms Murphy, 51, has not been seen since leaving her Ballarat East home on Sunday, February 4 for one of her regular jogs through bushland in the area.
Victoria Police announced on Saturday the search for Ms Murphy was scaled back over the weekend after a week of unsuccessful work.
“Despite extensive searches in the area over the past six days, no sign of Samantha has been located,” it said in a statement.
Senior police have stressed that no evidence of foul play has been uncovered, however, investigators were keeping an open mind as they try to solve the mystery.
Ballarat local Ms Hobbs last week told news.com.au she made the page after experiencing a disorganised day of searching and thought it could help in bringing information and search efforts together.
Victoria Police were said to be monitoring the page for information that was relevant to its investigation.
News.com.au has contacted Ms Hobbs, but earlier on Monday she wrote that managing the group had come at a “great cost” to herself and her family.
A lack of concrete information from authorities has bred speculation online, with members of the Facebook page split over the presence of a “psychic medium” who claimed to have insight into Ms Murphy’s whereabouts.
As arguments and innuendo broke out over the past week, a rival page titled Help FIND Samantha Murphy – which has less than 500 members – was created by people who have cast aspersions on Ms Hobbs’ motivations.
Ms Hobbs has made it clear in media interviews and on the site that she did not know Ms Murphy and had created the page as a way to connect volunteers and pool information.
As the face of the page, she has been featured in news reports across television and print, and that has drawn the ire of others who alleged she was promoting herself.
Members of Help FIND Samantha Murphy have claimed to have been “silenced” and removed from Ms Hobbs’ group.
“Disappointed to hear another Samantha group admin is doing interviews etc, but doesn’t actually know the family, nothing will be achieved by those interviews other than boosting her own followers,” wrote the unnamed creator of the rival group.
“Hence why I started a page instead. I need no glory, I just want uncensored conversation until Samantha is found. Sometimes that means asking the hard questions, and here you can do that.
“Help FIND Samantha Murphy.”
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The rival group criticised Ms Hobbs for shutting down her page.
Police scaled back the search for Ms Murphy over the weekend days after Missing Persons Squad detectives took the lead in the investigation.
Police have called for residents to provide any CCTV or dashcam footage covering the Ballarat East, Mount Helen and Buninyong areas last Sunday.
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2024-02-12 05:21:56Z
CBMilAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9uYXRpb25hbC92aWN0b3JpYS9uZXdzL3NhbWFudGhhLW11cnBoeS1ncm91cC10by1maW5kLW1pc3NpbmctYmFsbGFyYXQtbXVtLWNsb3Nlcy9uZXdzLXN0b3J5LzQ4M2Q5ODhlNTQxMzMzYjcwZGJlYTU2OTdmMGY1YTU20gEA
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