Weather upends search for missing mum

Victoria’s scorching heat on Wednesday has created a new hurdle in the search for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy.

A volunteer-led search for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy has been cancelled with a catastrophic fire danger rating in place for the region.

The group, Ground Crew, said they made the decision to postpone this week’s search for the missing mother-of-two to ensure “more strain” isn’t placed on emergency volunteers.

“Due to the current bushfires and catastrophic fire warnings, we have made the decision to postpone this week’s search efforts for Samantha Murphy,” they said in a statement on social media on Tuesday.

“We don’t want to put more strain on the community or the current SES and CFA volunteers who are already working tirelessly. Safety is paramount for everyone.”

A catastrophic fire danger rating is in place for the Wimmera region on Wednesday as an out of control fire in Bayindeen, near Ballarat, continues to burn.

Ballarat is set to swelter to 37C on Wednesday with north to northeasterly winds of about 45 km/h.

It comes after more than 100 local residents held a community-led search for Ms Murphy on Saturday.

A volunteer-led search for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy has been cancelled.

Investigators on Friday revealed multiple people could be behind Ms Murphy’s disappearance, with new mobile phone data prompting a fresh search effort in Mt Clear, about 6km south of Ballarat.

Ms Murphy has not been seen since she set off on a 14-km run from her Eureka St home in Ballarat East about 7am on February 4.

Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said it was unlikely investigators would find Ms Murphy alive.

He said Ms Murphy’s disappearance could involve one or more parties, with detectives probing the possibility that they could have moved her body.

Ground Crew organised a large scale search in bushland near Ballarat on Saturday. Picture: David Crosling

“We do think that another party has been involved whether it be one person or a number of people,” he said on Friday.

“Unfortunately, given the time and the fact that we’ve found no trace of her, we do have severe concerns and are very doubtful that she’s still alive.

“We have ruled out that she suffered any kind of medical episode and we have no information to suggest she left the area on her own accord.

“We’re looking at absolutely everything and every possible scenario.”

While her husband Michael is currently not being treated as a suspect, investigators are probing the financial status of the family’s vehicle repair business and are treating everyone Ms Murphy knew as a person of interest.