Samantha Murphy search: Police using sniffer dogs to find SIM card
Police have revealed a new tactic amid a renewed search for the body of alleged murder victim Samantha Murphy.
Police will bring dogs capable of sniffing out mobile phone SIM cards as they scour a new bushland location for the body of alleged murder victim Samantha Murphy.
Ms Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her Ballarat East home on February 4 to exercise in nearby national parkland.
Victoria Police allege 22-year-old Patrick Orren Stephenson killed the mother-of-three via a “deliberate act” but her remains are yet to be discovered.
Specialist officers descended on the Buninyong Bushland Reserve on Wednesday after receiving new “intelligence” about Ms Murphy’s potential resting place.
However, yesterday’s search ended without finding any new evidence or locating her body.
On Thursday, the force’s Chief Commissioner Shane Patton revealed police would continue searching “around there again” today but at a new site.
“We’ll be going to a different location but we will also use assistance from the Australian Federal Police today in technical detection dogs,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“We don’t have the capacity — we are trying to get that capability — to run a dog that can detect a SIM from a mobile phone and that type of thing.
“We still haven’t recovered her phone and her watch. We’ll use all those specialist skills.”
Chief Commissioner Patton said the information that sparked this weeks fresh searches did not come from interviews with Mr Stephenson.
“We are doing everything we can to try and find Samantha Murphy’s body. We weren’t successful yesterday but we will continue to do everything we can,” the top cop said.
Data from phone towers has been a feature of the investigation, with police revealing early in the search for Ms Murphy that her mobile had last pinged at a location near Buninyong Golf Club.
Police and Ballarat locals have spent weeks looking for clues as to Ms Murphy’s disappearance, which devastated the community.
Mr Murphy’s “distraught” husband Mick was reportedly seen driving around bushland searching for clues and information on Wednesday.
He was spotted driving his blue ute around Buninyong Bushland Reserve, located about 17km from the family’s Ballarat home.
Mr Stephenson was charged with Ms Murphy’s murder on March 6 and was refused bail at Ballarat Magistrate’s Court.
His identity was briefly suppressed by the court out of fears for his safety but the order was successfully challenged by media.
Police allege the Scotsburn man, who is the son of a former AFL player Orren Stephenson, killed Ms Murphy in a “deliberate attack”.
He will next face court on August 8.