Former detective shares new theory on Samantha Murphy murder as cops uncover mobile phone

A former detective has shared the reason why Samantha Murphy cops shouldn’t get their hopes up after they discovered the dead mum’s missing phone.

When police found Samantha Murphy’s phone after weeks of no leads it must have been a jubilant moments for those investigating the case.

Cops found the phone on the bank of a dam during a “targeted search” of a Buninyong property on Wednesday.

The discovery of the iPhone, which was reportedly in a teal phone case, is one of the most significant developments in the case as officers continue to search for Ms Murphy’s missing body.

However retired detective Charlie Bezzina has suggested that someone may have discarded the phone in the dam and then concealed Ms Murphy’s body elsewhere in a bid to mislead police.

Mr Bezzina, a veteran cop with decades of experience, said he found it perplexing that police could locate the submerged phone without prior intelligence.

He speculated that authorities might have had some degree of tracking information while the phone was still active, hinting that the police may know more than they’re disclosing.

The phone, encased in a wallet-like cover with cards inside, was among several “items of interest” found near the Buninyong dam. It was discovered by a police dog along Buninyong-Mt Mercer Road, where police teams equipped with picks, shovels, rakes, and metal detectors, meticulously searched the surrounding blackberry bushes.

Police divers entered the dam later in the afternoon.

Mr Bezzina theorised that someone could have kept Ms Murphy’s phone for some time before discarding it in the dam.

“With phones it’s amazing. There’s a lot the carrier, or carriers, don’t tell us about the capabilities of a phone,” Mr Bezzina said via Herald Sun.

“When you’ve got a phone that’s off, people ask the question, ‘is it still transmitting’, and ‘if the battery goes flat does it still transmit?’ Some do and some don’t.”

Ms Murphy vanished on the morning of February 4 after setting off on a run in the Canadian State Forest.

Her body is still yet to be found.

Charlie Bezzina, a veteran cop with decades of experience, said he found it perplexing that police could locate the submerged phone without prior intelligence.

Mr Bezzina said it’s not uncommon for offenders to keep items for a while before discarding them, particularly mobile phones.

“We don’t know when that phone was dumped in there, it is not unusual for offenders to keep items for a while, especially mobile phones … for all we know that might have been discarded just weeks’ ago,” he said.

“Often offenders go back and do things, keep the phone somewhere or with them, and then dump it later on.

Police resumed the search in Buninyong for the body of Samantha Murphy Picture: 7News

The dam next to Bunningyoung-Mt Mercer Road, south of Ballarat, where police found a mobile phone believed to belong to missing local Samantha Murphy.

“And that’s where they’ll get any evidence, if it’s been pinging … people can think ‘I’ll drive 10 or 15 kilometres away and I’ll dump the phone there to really put them off the scent, if the phone is in some way traceable’ … so not unusual at all for it to be dumped in a separate location (to the body).”

Given the phone’s submersion in water, any DNA would likely be degraded, though forensic specialists would still attempt to recover any possible evidence urgently, with results expected within days.

“You’d very very, very interested in knowing that,” he said.

“But (beyond names on the cards) you’ve still got to confirm that it’s her phone, so you’d check all the numbers and information and confirm it … you’ve really got to go the enth degree in confirming that 100 per cent it’s Samantha’s phone and not somebody else’s, even though you may find cards in there with Samantha’s details on them.”

A man is scheduled to appear at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on August 8 charged with Ms Murphy’s murder.