Details on how police narrowed in on man accused of killing Samantha Murphy

Key phone data shows how two weeks ago detectives began closing in on the 22-year-old accused of killing Samantha Murphy.

Detectives began narrowing in on Samantha Murphy’s alleged killer more than two weeks ago after launching a widespread search in the area now suspected to be the murder scene.

Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with murder a day later but Victoria Police were reportedly putting the pieces together a fortnight earlier.

Search squads began scouring the Mount Clear area following a breakthrough in mobile phone data that led them there.

Ms Murphy is believed to have reached the Mount Clear area, adjacent to a park, about an hour after leaving her Eureka Street home in Ballarat at 7am.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that police were examining data from nearby phone towers in an attempt to deduce who else was in the area during Ms Murphy’s routine run.

It still remains unclear if police had any other evidence that placed the suspect in the area at the appropriate time.

Police narrowed their search in on Mount Clear, where they now allege Samantha Murphy was murdered. Picture: Brendan Beckett

Samantha Murphy seen in CCTV footage from the morning she went missing.

Ms Murphy’s disappearance sparked a wide-scale search with hundreds of locals volunteering to help search the bushland where she usually runs, but no trace of the mum was found despite days of searches.

Homicide detectives from the Missing Persons Squad joined the investigation on February 9.

The following day Victoria Police scaled back the active search phase and on February 15, 10 days after she went missing, police said they were treating her disappearance as suspicious.

In a press conference on Thursday, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said police were able to make an arrest on Wednesday thanks to “painstaking detective work with greater assistance from the public”.

“He’s been located through a range of investigative outcomes that have come together and as you are aware we have been pinging phones and following up on investigation reports from members of the public,” Mr Patton said.

“We have done ground searches, we have done door knocks so it’s a whole range of information that has come together.”

Mr Stephenson was charged with murder on Thursday. Police will allege Ms Murphy died on the day she disappeared in Mount Clear, and that the attack was “deliberate”.

Police have also revealed that Ms Murphy’s death was not a hit and run.

Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, was charged over the murder of missing, Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy.

The charge follows his arrest on Wednesday.

He was arrested at a home in Scotsburn on Wednesday, 16 kilometres from Ballarat, where Ms Murphy lived.

It is believed Mr Stephenson was house-sitting the property with his girlfriend when police swarmed the area at 6.30am.

Victoria Police have seized a ute belonging to Mr Stephenson as part of their investigation.

Mr Stephenson, an electrician, is the son of former Geelong and Richmond player Orren Stephenson.

Ms Murphy’s disappearance shocked the community and quickly became one of the most high-profile missing persons investigations in Victoria, capturing international attention.

Police are continuing to look for the 51-year-old’s body.

Despite extensive searches of bushland over the past five weeks, not a single trace of her has been found.

Victoria Police Commissioner Shane Patton urged the public to come forward with “even the slightest bit of information”.

The mum-of-three was last seen leaving her Eureka Street home in Ballarat, a Central Highlands city in Victoria, about 7am on Sunday, February 4.

The mum-of-three was last seen leaving her Eureka Street home in Ballarat, a Central Highlands city in Victoria, about 7am on Sunday, February 4, to go for a 14km run through the nearby Woowookarung Regional Park.

Ms Murphy’s husband Mick, 51, spoke outside his Ballarat East home after the murder charge was announced.

“The adrenaline with everything that’s been going on, it’s just, it’s trying to be brave for everybody,” he told reporters, explaining that it was a “relief” to see charges laid.

“It’s something you wouldn’t want anybody to experience.”

“It is (a relief). Definitely. It’s like something has just let the pressure valve off sort of thing. It hasn’t been a good near on five weeks. Anyway, we’re doing as good as we can. Keeping a brave face.”

Mr Murphy said his family was “doing the best we can under the circumstances”.