Samantha Murphy: Family members of missing mum believe foul play was involved in disappearance

Two family members of Samantha Murphy have said they believe her disappearance is suspicious and that “someone could have been watching her”.

Two family members of missing Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy have now said they believe she has met with foul play.

“Somebody would have been watching her; I can’t think it would be anything else,’ Ms Murphy’s aunt Janice Robson said on Thursday.

“Someone who she didn’t even know was stalking her.”

Ms Murphy, 51, is believed to have left her Eureka St home in East Ballarat for a run into bushland at about 7am on February 4. She never returned.

It’s now been 12 days since she vanished.

Victoria Police have said Ms Murphy’s disappearance is “suspicious”.

“Call it unusual, call it suspicious. But it certainly is of significant concern to us,” chief commissioner Shane Patton said on Wednesday.

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Ballarat mother of three Samantha Murphy has been missing for 12 days,

Ms Murphy’s uncle and aunt Allan and Janice Robson told the Daily Mail on Thursday that foul play was the explanation that now made most sense.

“It’s just like she’s gone off the face of the Earth. There’s nothing,” said Ms Robson.

“You’d think the police dogs would have been able to pick up her scent. They should have been able to pick up where she ran into that forest.”

The couple said the fact Ms Murphy’s phone hadn’t made communication with a mobile tower since she went missing didn’t bode well.

“She would never switch that phone off … that phone was always hooked up,” said Mr Robson.

He wondered if because she went for a morning run so regularly, she could have been stalked by someone who knew her routine.

A possible motive could have been a robbery that went awry, he told the Mail, as it may have been known that the Murphys were financially secure.

The search for missing woman Samantha Murphy has been scaled back in the Woowookarung Regional park in regional Victoria. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

‘She would have put up a fight’

“She would have put up a bloody good fight,” Mr Robson said.

His wife added that if Ms Murphy suspected something was wrong, “I don’t think she’d hang about”.

“She was a runner. She would have got out of that area”.

On Wednesday, chief commissioner Patton said there were still no new leads in the investigation headed by the Missing Persons Squad.

“It’s certainly unusual when we haven’t been able to locate any trace of her or any other evidence within that period of time,” he said.

“It’s suspicious, whether that means there’s foul play involved or not, I don’t know, but obviously detectives are investigating a matter where a woman’s been missing for a significant period of time.”

SES crews during a large-scale search in Buninyong for missing Ballarat East woman Samantha Murphy, who has been missing since early Sunday morning. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Wilson

It was reported on Wednesday that detectives went to the Murphy family home in the morning and spent more than an hour inside.

In a statement, Victoria Police said officers had uncovered nothing to suggest “anything sinister” was behind Ms Murphy’s disappearance.

“However the fact she has been gone for 10 days now and we haven’t located any trace of her despite a significant investigation remains suspicious in itself and is certainly highly concerning for police,” it said.

“Detectives are currently following up hundreds of pieces of information in relation to the matter, including the review of CCTV.

“Police are also continuing to conduct targeted searches of the local area.”

The force said its investigation was “active and ongoing”, and urged anyone who had seen Ms Murphy or had footage of the area to come forward.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has said the disappearance is suspicious. PICTURE: NCA Newswire / Nicki Connolly

On Thursday, Ms Murphy’s daughter Jess urged the Ballarat community to not lose hope in the search for her mum.

“Mum’s a really strong woman and she’s far too determined to give up this fight,” she said.

“I know she’s out there somewhere, so if you could please continue to search for her and give us something to work with we’d really appreciate it.”

The call was echoed by her father and Ms Murphy’s husband Mick: “People just don’t vanish into thin air. Someone’s got to know something”.

Mystery breeds theories

The mystery surrounding her fate had sparked intense speculation in the local community and nationally, with experts weighing in to share their theories.

Retired homicide detective Charlie Bezzina said he thought the decision to wind down search operations led him to believe police had information they had not shared to the public.

Mr Bezzina said there were some “unnerving circumstances” surrounding how a woman from a respected family could go missing.