Samantha Murphy’s accused killer Patrick Orren Stephenson escorted by police on another search of Ballarat bushland

Detectives have ramped up efforts to find the Ballarat mum’s remains with alleged murderer Patrick Orren Stephenson taken on a second search to a state park.

The key suspect in Samantha Murphy’s murder has been taken to bushland for a second time in another desperate search for her body.

Patrick Orren Stephenson was taken from Melbourne ­Assessment Prison to a remote area in Enfield State Park, with excavators brought in to dig up an undisclosed area in a bid to find Ms Murphy’s remains.

Samantha Murphy vanished last year after going on a morning run.

Patrick Orren Stephenson has been accused of murdering Samantha Murphy. Court sketch: Paul Tyquin

The Herald Sun last month revealed that Patrick Orren Stephenson had been taken under heavy police guard to bushland on the outskirts of Ballarat late last year.

Detectives from the missing person’s unit were keen to ­escort him again, this masthead revealed in mid-April.

Now it has been confirmed the accused killer has revisited the site with detectives.

It is understood Mr Stephenson, 23, was taken to the park, where crews focused on a pine plantation suspected of containing Ms Murphy’s remains.

Police have ramped up the search for Ms Murphy’s remains. Picture: David Crosling

Ms Murphy, 51, has not been seen since she set off from her Eureka St home in East Ballarat on a morning jog.

Her daughter Jess and husband Mike raised the alarm when she did not return home.

Immediately after her disappearance, a week of intensive searches were launched by emergency services and volunteers from the general public, but efforts were eventually scaled back.

Mr Stephenson, the son of former Richmond and Geelong player Orren Stephenson, was charged with her murder a month after she vanished.

The fresh searches with Mr Stephenson are some of the most significant developments in the investigation into Ms Murphy’s alleged murder.

They come after officers found what they believed to be the missing mother of three’s phone buried in mud on the edge of a Durham Lead dam on May 29 last year.

Detectives have also examined a car, studied CCTV, phone records including messages and Mr Stephenson’s ­internet searches.

Mr Stephenson has pleaded not guilty to her murder and is expected to stand trial in the Supreme Court later this year.

Originally published as Samantha Murphy’s accused killer Patrick Orren Stephenson escorted by police on another search of Ballarat bushland