Search crews have abandoned their latest hunt for the body of Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy without finding any trace of the missing mother-of-three.
On Friday, police returned to bush tracks near where the mother-of-three went missing on February 4 in Victoria’s west.
But by 1.30pm the mission had been called-off, with the last of the Victoria Police dirt bike team seen loading their bikes into a trailer.
Samantha Murphy was allegedly murdered while out for a Sunday morning jog
Police pack away their dirt bikes after another unsuccessful search on Friday
An officer prepares to pull out of the area after another unsuccessful search on Friday
‘If we’d found anything you would have all heard about it,’ one officer told Daily Mail .
Police will not return to the bush tomorrow.
The unsuccessful search will come as another blow for Ms Murphy’s long suffering family, who are expected to take part in a rally against men’s violence in Ballarat on Friday evening.
Among them will be the family of Hannah McGuire, who was allegedly murdered by her ex-partner Lachlan Young a week ago.
The McGuire family are expected to be at the rally handing out t-shirts sporting Hannah’s face.
‘Tomorrow we will march and stand in solidarity for Hannah McGuire and every other female who has lost their life to violence,’ a post on the family pub’s Facebook page stated.
‘We have had T-shirts made for Hannah and would be honoured if you wore one.’
Earlier, a police spokesperson told Daily Mail crews were undertaking ‘a targeted search’ in the Ballarat area on Friday morning.
‘Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad as well as a range of specialist resources from across Victoria Police are involved in the search,’ she said.
Hannah McGuire’s alleged murder has compounded the Ballarat community’s misery
Police have once again entered thick bush in an area about 25 kilometres from where Samantha Murphy vanished on February 4
Search crews have been looking down mine shafts and navigating treacherous conditions in the hunt for clues
Specialised dogs capable of finding bodies have been brought in to assist the search
Unlike a large scale search carried out by police on Thursday, media had been kept in the dark about where crews were looking on Friday.
‘Over the past two months, police have also regularly undertaken a range of enquiries and small-scale searches as part of the current investigation,’ the spokesperson said.
‘We are not in a position to supply further specific details of today’s operational activity at this time.’
The search had provided renewed hope search teams were close to locating the 51-year old’s body.
On Thursday Victoria Police brought in specialist cadaver dogs from New South Wales to scour the Victorian bush at multiple locations in dense scrub spanning a vast stretch of countryside.
Teams of officers focused their search within Enfield State Park, 30km south of Ballarat – but another search team was also working 25km away in thick scrub in the Durham Lead Nature Conservation Reserve.
The nature reserve is just south of Buninyong where Ms Murphy’s phone was last detected by mobile phone towers at 5pm on the day she vanished.
Ms Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street, Ballarat East, to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest on the morning of February 4.
Police were believed to be looking in bush about 20km south of the Murphy family home.
Ms Murphy’s husband Mick Murphy was informed about this week’s search. He had been previously kept in the dark about similar search efforts
A helicopter was seen flying overhead the dense woodland just before 2pm on Thursday, with search crews making their way deeper into the thick scrub.
By 4pm, the search was suspended for the day.
Thursday was the first time search crews have used the highly-trained cadaver dogs, brought in from NSW Police, since the investigation was launched.
They are specially trained to be able to sniff out humans remains and corpses, even under extreme conditions.
Police on trail bikes have also been used to help cover the wide area of the increasingly desperate hunt for Ms Murphy’s remains, more than eight weeks after she vanished.
Officers had previously made unsuccessful search efforts at Buninyong Bushland Reserve in March.
It remains unclear what new information triggered the fresh search locations for police on Thursday.
In March, detectives charged 22-year-old tradesman Patrick Orren Stephenson with Ms Murphy’s murder.
Samantha Murphy in the last haunting image of her captured before she took off on her run on February 4
Patrick Orren Stephenson is allegedly refusing to tell police where they claim he hid Ms Murphy’s body
They allege he killed her at Mount Clear on the day she went missing.
Stephenson is the son of Orren Stephenson, who played 15 AFL games for Geelong and Richmond between 2012 and 2014.
It is understood Stephenson has refused to cooperate with police and disclose what they allege he knows about the location of Ms Murphy’s body.
Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt described Thursday’s effort as an ‘extensive’ large scale search that built on targeted searches in other areas.
‘I want to assure those in the Ballarat community that police remain focused on doing everything we can to return Samantha to her family,’ he said.
Anyone with any information about Ms Murphy’s disappearance is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Mick Murphy and daughter Jess made a desperate plea for Samantha Murphy to come home. Little did they know then she was already dead