Fresh update in search for missing mum
Ms Murphy was going for a run in Ballarat East on February 4 when she vanished.
Her body has not been located.
Patrick Orren Stephenson has been charged with Ms Murphy’s murder. He is yet to enter a plea.
Police allege he acted alone.
Investigators are still searching for her body.
Victoria Police confirmed a targeted search took place in the Ballarat area on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the investigation into Ms Murphy’s disappearance.
“Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad as well as a range of specialist resources from across Victoria Police were involved in the search,” VicPol said in a statement.
“Since February, police have regularly undertaken a range of inquiries and small-scale searches as part of the current investigation.
“Samantha’s family has also been advised of the search.”
Police said a number of items located during a search in Buninyong on May 29 are being forensically assessed.
These items include Ms Murphy’s phone, which was found at a dam about 14km away from her home.
Speaking to Sunrise on Thursday morning University of Newcastle criminologist Xanthé Mallett said the discovery of a phone, if it were Ms Murphy’s could be a breakthrough.
“Unfortunately, it may have been damaged,” Dr Mallett said.
Ms Murphy was last seen leaving her Eureka St home in Ballarat about 7am to go for a 14km run through the nearby Woowookarung Regional Park.
Police believed she had reached the Mount Clear area, adjacent to the park, about an hour after leaving home, but had not been seen or heard from since departing.
Subsequent searches by police and volunteers have failed to locate any trace of the missing mum.
In February, a huge group of volunteers combed through bushland after gathering at Ballarat’s Eureka Stockade Memorial Park – some bringing metal detectors and even a sniffer dog.
Later that month, police launched a targeted search of Buninyong Bushland Reserve involving a range of specialist units including mounted officers, dog squad and motorcyclists.
The search area was highlighted in “intelligence derived from a number of sources,” a police spokesman said at the time.
