The husband of missing Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy has made a fresh plea for information to help find her remains and hopes the man charged with her murder starts to cooperate with authorities.
Police launched the latest hunt for the missing mum-of-three in Buninyong Bushland Reserve on the outskirts of Ballarat on Wednesday, sparked by ‘fresh intelligence derived from a number of sources’, they said.
It’s been 45 days since Ms Murphy, 51 was last seen leaving her home at Eureka Street in Ballarat East at about 7am on February 4 to go for her morning run in nearby Woowookrung Regional Park.
No trace of her has been found, despite Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, being charged with her murder a fortnight ago.
Wednesday’s search was called off after eight hours without anything found.
While no search activity was planned for Thursday, police are expected to continue searching over coming weeks.
Adding to the family’s grief are claims that they’ve been left out of the loop by police since Stephenson was charged with Ms Murphy’s murder a fortnight ago.
Her husband Mick was seen driving his distinctive blue ute through bushland near the Buninyong Bushland Reserve on Wednesday afternoon unaware that police had already called off its search for the day.
He pleaded for her alleged killer to cooperate with authorities.
Mr Murphy shook his head when asked by Daily Mail if he knew anything about the search for his now presumed dead wife.
He appeared distraught as he wound down his window to field Daily Mail ‘s single question but gave a ‘thumbs-up’ gesture as he pulled away.
His father John ‘Pud’ Robson later told Daily Mail he had also been unaware of the search.
‘I know bugger all about anything,’ he said.
‘We are in the dark mate. We haven’t a clue what is going on. Mick is in the same boat as us
‘They have told us nothing.’
It’s unknown if the new search was sparked by information from Stephenson, who reportedly hasn’t cooperated with police since his arrest a fortnight ago.
Former detective Charlie Bezzina believed the alleged lack of cooperation from Stephenson could impact on the police investigation.
‘It may affect the search,’ he told Sunrise on Thursday.
‘So police are clearly relying upon other intelligence coming through to them which is what catapulted this particular search.
‘From intelligence, they’ll be relying heavily or still doing door knocks, looking at CCTV footage and obviously phone data, anything electronically or intelligence wise from any whatever source they can get and hopefully someone out there who may have knowledge to give some rest to the family.’
Mr Bezzina warned that it could take up to two years before the evidence will be heard in court.
‘There’s still a long way to go,’ he said.
Criminal psychologist Dr Tim Watson-Munro suggests that there are a number behind-the-scenes developments occurring within the case that the public and family won’t know about.
‘Often there are things happening behind the scenes away from the public.
‘It’s not as though police had stopped working on the case entirely.
‘[The new search location] is a large area and the the police have had a lot of information to sift through, along with IT metadata intelligence.
‘They wouldn’t have announced a search of a new area unless fairly good information had been received.’
A new search was launched on Wednesday to find the remains of Samantha Murphy
Officers from the Dog Squad scoured Buninyong Bushland Reserve on Wednesday in a renewed search for Samantha Murphy’s remains
Dr Watson-Munro wasn’t surprised that Ballarat locals, who have spent the last six weeks looking for Ms Murphy, were told by police to keep clear of Wednesday’s search.
‘Police would have good reason for telling the public to stay away, which would be an additional distraction,’ he said.
‘The investigators should be left alone to do their job until a body is found.
‘My advice to the community would be to stay strong, follow advice from police and let them do their job.’
Dr Watson-Munro’s thoughts were with Ms Murphy’s husband and the couple’s children in the wake of the latest development.
‘They would be riddled with grief and trauma,’ he said. ‘One can’t imagine what they would be going through.
‘A husband has lost his wife and three children have lost a mother in sudden circumstances.
‘There won’t be any closure for them until a body is found and they have the dignity of being able to say goodbye to her and hold a burial.’
The criminal psychologist said that police (pictured on Wednesday) would be acting on new information received
Police urged the public to not join Wednesday’s new search (pictured)
Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said police are committed to ‘doing everything we can to locate her and return her to her family’.
The bushland searched on Wednesday was about 3km from where Stephenson was house-sitting at the time of his arrest on the outskirts of Ballarat a fortnight ago.
The Buninyong area was previously pinpointed by police as a location of interest after Ms Murphy’s phone pinged near the Buninyong Golf Club.
Stephenson remains in custody and will reappear in court for a committal mention on August 8.