Police resume ‘targeted search’ for Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy, cadaver dogs used for first time
Samantha Murphy’s husband has broken down in tears as he spoke of the loss of his “kind, caring, loyal” wife.
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Samantha Murphy’s husband has broken down in tears as he spoke of the loss of his “kind, caring, loyal” wife.
“For someone so good to be gone out of the community is… pretty hard,” he told Nine News on Friday.
Mick Murphy described the first moment he realised something was wrong when his wife failed to answer her phone.
“I’d tried to give her a call and there was no answer on the phone, it went straight to message bank, and that’s when I thought, that’s odd because she has her phone,” he said.
He also recounted the couple’s first weeks together after meeting at his favourite pub in nearby Gordon.
“We were friends for quite a period of time and then one thing led to another, we moved in and you know, sold one house and renovated another house and sold that,” he said.
“Life was really good, and then this came into our lives.”
The heartbroken father-of-three reflected on the first few weeks after his wife disappeared, including when he was identified as a person of interest..
“I’d had verbal abuse, and social media and all of that sort of thing. It’s pretty confronting,” he said.
“You start second guessing yourself,” he said.
“You know you’ve done nothing wrong.”
Mr Murphy said when he received the call to let him know his wife’s alleged killer had been identified, a weight was lifted from his shoulders.
“Once they told me they arrested the accused, yeah, it was a big relief,” he said.
The Herald Sun understands that Ms Murphy’s alleged murderer 22-year-old Patrick Stephenson is still not cooperating with detectives.
But Mr Murphy said he has every faith that the detectives on the case.
Police resume ‘targeted search’
Police will undertake a “targeted search” to locate the body of missing Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy on Friday.
Detectives on Thursday trawled through the Enfield State Park 25km south of Ballarat seemingly to no avail, but on Friday commenced a search at an undisclosed location.
“Police are undertaking a targeted search in the Ballarat area today as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Samantha Murphy,” Victoria Police said on Friday morning.
“Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad as well as a range of specialist resources from across Victoria Police are involved in the search.
“We are not in a position to supply further specific details of today’s operational activity at this time.”
Speciality cadaver dogs that can sniff out human remains were used for the first time on Thursday since Ms Murphy went missing more than two months ago.
New South Wales and Queensland are understood to be the only two states in Australia with cadaver detection dog capabilities.
As a result, the specially trained dogs are often deployed interstate to assist police with missing persons cases.
They generally have eight to 12 weeks of training where the dogs learn to detect odours of human and skeletal remains across a range of environments, designed to simulate real life scenarios.
Typical cadaver dog breeds include german shepherds and labrador retrievers.
Intelligence from several police sources has now prompted investigators to direct their search to the dense bushland in the Enfield State Park area.
Police undertook a similar large-scale search in the Buninyong area last month in an effort to locate any trace of Ms Murphy.
A range of specialist units joined Missing Persons Squad investigators, including the Search and Rescue Squad, Mounted Branch, Dog Squad, Public Order Response Team and motorcyclists from Road Policing Command, as well as local police from Western Region.
Police asked members of the public not to join Thursday’s search efforts.
The renewed search comes after homicide detectives charged 22-year-old Patrick Orren Stephenson over Ms Murphy’s death in March.
He was remanded to appear at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on August 8.
Ms Murphy has not been seen since she set off from her Eureka St home on a morning run on February 4.
Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said the police remain focused on “doing everything (they) can” to return Ms Murphy to her family.
“Today’s search in the Enfield State Park involves a significant number of detectives from the Missing Persons Squad and police from a number of specialist areas,” he said on Thursday.
“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.”
Anyone with any information about Samantha’s disappearance is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a report online at www.crimestoppers.com.au
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