Victoria’s most baffling missing persons cases

Samantha Murphy’s case has gripped Victoria, but sadly hers is not the only one. Read more about Victorians who remain unaccounted for.

Tens of thousands of people are reported missing in Australia every year.

For close to a month, Victoria has been gripped by the disappearance of Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy, desperately clinging to hope and praying for positive news.

Ms Murphy left her Eureka St home in Ballarat East early on Sunday 4 February to go for a run and has not been seen since.

Ms Murphy’s case is so perplexing because of the lack of evidence, with no witness accounts, CCTV or dashcam footage to help piece together what happened to her.

As the investigation into her disappearance progresses, sadly, other people around the country will also go missing.

According to the Australian Federal Police, there were over 55,000 missing persons reports made to police in Australia in 2022. This is nearly 150 missing reports per day.

Thankfully, over 98 per cent people are found within hours or a few days of authorities being notified by desperately worried family members, friends or colleagues.

But more than 2500 people are among the long-term missing cases in Australia, classified as those who have been gone for more than three months and, sadly, remain unaccounted for.

In Victoria, about 70 people are on the AFP’s long-term missing persons list.

Many of them were doing the stuff of every day life, just like Ms Murphy was.

Visiting family, dropping the kids off at school, driving their partners to work, catching the train, taking a trip to the beach, the doctor, enjoying a few drinks at the pub.

Then, they simply disappeared - in most cases without a trace, or at least with scant few clues that might help authorities and those who desperately miss them understand exactly what happened to them and why.

Speaking to the Herald Sun in 2022, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said police had their best chance at finding missing persons in the hours immediately after they had been identified as being missing and that worried loved ones did not have to wait before making a report.

“Most reported missing people are located within 48 hours,” the spokeswoman said.

“If a person is missing and there are concerns for that person’s safety and welfare, a report can be made at any time,” she said.

The cases listed here compiled from records published on the AFP’s Missing Persons website.

Some of the people on the register have been missing for less than a year, while others haven’t been seen since the late 1960s.

Several other Victorian cases are listed on the Australian Missing Persons Register, a website set up by Queensland mum Nicole Morris.

In several cases, rewards up to $1m remain on offer for information that can help authorities determine the whereabouts of a missing person.

If you have information about any of the people mentioned here, call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report it through the Crime Stoppers website.

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Originally published as Victoria’s most baffling missing persons cases