New tool in search for missing mum

Police are hoping the use of speciality cadaver dogs will help them in the search for missing mum Samantha Murphy.

Ms Murphy, 51, was last seen about 7am on February 4 after leaving her Ballarat home to go on a morning run.

Police allege she was killed on the same day, but her body has yet to be recovered.

Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, has been charged with her murder.

Officers entered the Enfield State Park on Thursday, as Victoria Police said the search would focus on an area “highlighted by intelligence derived from a number of sources”.

Dirt bikes and a NSW Police cadaver dog are involved with the search of the dense national park.

Police told the Herald Sun it was the first time search crews had used a cadaver dog.

It’s understood NSW and Queensland are the only two states in Australia with cadaver detection dog capabilities.

Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said Thursday’s search would involve “a significant number of detectives from the Missing Persons Squad and police from a number of specialist areas”.

“Since Samantha’s disappearance over two months ago, a range of searches and other inquiries have been undertaken in the Ballarat area as part of this investigation.

“This includes extensive large scale searches such as we have planned this week but also smaller targeted searches focused in very specific areas,” he said.

“I want to assure those in the Ballarat community that police remain focused on doing everything we can to return Samantha to her family.”

However, there is a light police presence on the ground Thursday, with only four police vehicles seen in the search staging area during the day.

Police have previously combed large swathes of the Canadian Forest area since Ms Murphy’s disappearance, with dedicated locals also joining in the search.

Officers have asked civilian search groups to not join Thursday’s new effort.

Thursday’s development bears similarities to a search of a new area of bushland on March 20, sparked by “recently-obtained intelligence”, police said at the time.

Similarly, volunteer searchers and the public were urged to stay away from that area.

That search area was east of the Buninyong Golf Club, the focus of initial search efforts where Ms Murphy’s phone last pinged.

The search then moved to Mount Clear, further north of Buninyong and closer to Ms Murphy’s home, without any success.

Mr Stephenson was arrested at a Scotsburn home early on March 6 and charged with murder the following day.

Police remained tight-lipped about the methods used to identify the accused man, saying they would not go into “operational matters” but added the investigation remained ongoing.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said at the time a “painstaking and methodical investigation” led to the alleged killer’s arrest.

“I’m not going to identify what has specifically led us to this man other than to say it has come about from painstaking detective work with great assistance from the public,” Mr Patton said, adding police would allege the accused acted alone.

“In the interview with the suspect, he has not disclosed to police where her body is,” he said in early March.

At the time of the arrest and murder charge, Ballarat Mayor Des Hudson said the community was relieved and devastated at the development.

He said he didn’t know the man charged with Ms Murphy’s murder personally but described his family as “lovely people”.

Mr Stephenson’s father played 15 AFL games with Geelong and Richmond from 2012 to 2014.

Ms Murphy’s daughter Jess and husband Michael held an emotional press conference five days after she went missing.

“Mum’s a really strong woman and she’s far too determined to give up this fight,” she said.

“Mum we love you so much and we miss you … please come home soon.”

“People just don’t vanish into thin air. Someone’s got to know something,” Mr Murphy said.

“Whether it be any little thing that you might think is relevant, just call the police and let them know.

“It’ll give us a bit of peace of mind, some hope,” he said.

As the search entered its fifth week, accounts of the Murphys’ generous spirit made headlines.

In 2019, Ms Murphy threw her support behind a former employee of her family-owned panel shop Inland Motor Body Works after he was jailed over a traffic offence. Jack Aston was sentenced to 2½ years imprisonment after he crashed a bus into Melbourne’s notoriously low Montague Street bridge, leaving six of the 14 passengers with serious injuries.

Following an appeal verdict quashing his convictions, he was released from jail.

Ms Murphy and her husband were part of a community-led campaign, which included some of the injured passengers, which worked to prove the incident was nothing more than a tragic accident.

Mr Aston served 10 months in prison before his convictions were quashed.