Police scour bushland at Shelford west of Geelong for missing Bannockburn mum Lorrin Whitehead

New intelligence has led police and SES crews to search bushland 100km west of Melbourne looking for missing mum Lorrin Whitehead, while it can be revealed the case has been referred to the coroner to investigate.

A coroner will probe the disappearance of a missing Bannockburn mother more than a decade after she vanished, while a fresh search for her remains took place on Tuesday.

New intelligence led police and SES crews to a rural Shelford property, about 100km west of Melbourne, on Tuesday in an effort to find Lorrin Whitehead, who has not been seen since February 8, 2013.

The Herald Sun understands that Ms Whitehead’s case was this week referred to the coroner

to investigate.

The 42-year-old mother of five was seen leaving her home about 4.40pm that day before CCTV at a Bannockburn supermarket captured her buying a bottle of water, a card and a pen about 10 minutes later.

SES volunteers search bushland near Shelford on Tuesday. Picture: Aaron Francis

Lorrin Whitehead went missing in 2013. Picture: Victoria Police

The last confirmed sighting was a short time later in the area’s CBD, when witnesses reported seeing her in the driver’s seat of a red 4WD.

Detectives have been unable to find that vehicle, which would provide a major breakthrough in the case, ­because Ms Whitehead did not own a red 4WD when she went missing.

However, the vehicle was seen parked on a nature strip outside her home on the weekend she vanished.

Her work phone was found in her home and her bank accounts have not been touched since she disappeared.

A grainy CCTV image of Lorrin in a supermarket before her disappearance.

Lorrin can be seen on camera in the supermarket before she disappeared.

Detective Sergeant Steven Murphy, of the Moorabool crime investigation unit, said crews were searching for some of Ms Whitehead’s belongings – including a laptop, iPad and phone – as well as her remains to bring closure to her family.

Sergeant Murphy said investigators were probing whether Ms Whitehead had fallen victim to foul play.

“We’ve got a responsibility to Lorrin, her five children, her elderly parents and the tight-knit community of Bannockburn to solve this investigation,” he said.

“We’re considering all of the theories in ­relation to Lorrin’s disappearance, and that includes foul play.

“For her children, her parents and her loved ones, how distressing it must be to not know where in the world your mother is.”

Crews carry out the search in Shelford. Picture: Aaron Francis

Crews did not locate Ms Whitehead’s remains or her belongings in Tuesday’s search, but Sergeant Murphy said new leads had continued to pour in from the public over the years since she disappeared.

He would not be drawn on what specific intelligence led police to a private rural property this week.

“(Tuesday) is just another one of the things that we are doing to follow up every piece of ­information,” Sergeant Murphy said.

Former veteran police officer and host of News Corp Australia’s The Missing podcast Meni Caroutas has investigated Ms Whitehead’s disappearance as part of the series.

Ms Whitehead was a mother of five. Picture: Aaron Francis

Police said they continue to receive leads over the case. Picture: Aaron Francis

Mr Caroutas, who has maintained close ties with Ms Whitehead’s family, told the Herald Sun he believed finding the missing 4WD would uncover the last person to have seen her alive.

Ms Whitehead vanished when her eldest daughter Amelia Grozdanovski was just 11 years old.

Speaking to the media in the years since her mother’s disappearance, she opened up about the struggle of coping with the lack of answers.

Ms Grozdanovski lashed the police’s initial response to her mother’s disappearance, saying not enough had been done to find her in the days after she went missing.

“We are 11 years in and we have never had any real solid leads until hopefully now,” she told the Geelong Advertiser last year.

The homicide squad is not involved in the search for Ms Whitehead at this stage, but the missing persons unit is aware of the ­efforts to find her remains.