‘Not looking good': Grim call on missing mum

As the desperate search for missing Victorian woman Samantha Murphy enters its fourth week, a former detective has revealed hopes for the mum’s return are fading.

The mother of three, 51 left her Eureka Street home in Ballarat on February 4 to go on a run in the Woowookarung Regional Park.

Despite major search efforts by the missing persons squad, specialist commands and hundreds of Ballarat locals, Ms Murphy has not been seen since.

Host of The Missing Australia podcast and former detective Meni Caroutas revealed: “it is not looking good.”

“Police are throwing a lot of resources at this, so it’s obviously very serious,” he told Sky News.

“I think police initially would have spoken to the family to find out what the lady’s routine was, to find out as much information about her as they can, but also to eliminate those close to her.

“Then what happens, once they speak to the family and find out all they can, then police cast a wider net.

“But given all the resources police have thrown at this and the fact she’s still missing … it’s not looking good. I pray for a miracle but … hopefully there’s someone that has information and, they need to pick up the phone and call police.”

It comes as more than 300 volunteers scoured dense bushland on Saturday, armed with metal detectors and a sniffer dog in hopes a clue as to the whereabouts of Ms Murphy might surface.

Police have concentrated their search efforts to areas around Mount Clear, south of Ballarat, based on intelligence gleaned from phone data.

Police now hold grave concerns for the mother’s welfare and suspect she may have been the victim of foul play.

“We do have severe concerns and are very doubtful she is still alive,” the police said on Friday.

“We do think another party has been involved (in her disappearance), whether it be one person or a number of people.”

Detective acting superintendent Mark Hatt said “everyone” in Ms Murphy’s personal life has been deemed a “person of interest”.

“Everyone in relation to Samantha is a person of interest in our investigation. We are speaking to everyone that was in her life … So that would include family, friends and work colleagues,” Superintendent Hatt told reporters on Friday.

“We have a number of people that we are speaking to and I can say the family have been absolutely fantastic in co-operating with police.

“At this stage [Mr Murphy] is not [a suspect]. Everyone in relation to Samantha is a person of interest. In our investigation we are speaking to everyone that was in her life.”

The possibility of Ms Murphy suffering a medical episode has been ruled out by police.