Member of the public have been urged to ‘stay away’ as police search a new location in the hunt for missing mother-of-three Samantha Murphy.
In a major breakthrough for the case, detectives have swarmed to Buninyong, just south of Ballarat, to search bushland on Wednesday to search for Ms Murphy’s body.
Police will allege the 51-year-old mother was murdered by Patrick Stephenson, 22, on February 4 after she left her Ballarat East home to go for a morning run.
The search will focus on an area of Buninyong Bushland Reserve brought to the attention of police from a ‘number of sources’.
‘A range of specialist units will join Missing Persons Squad Investigators including the Search and Rescue Squad, Mounted Branch, Dog Squad, Public Order Response Team and motorcyclists from Road Policing Command as well as local police from Western Region,’ Victoria Police said.
Ballarat mother-of-three Samantha Murphy (pictured) has been missing since 4 February
The new search launched by police is about 10km from original search efforts
A new search was launched in Buninyong Bushland Reserve on Wednesday
‘As such, police are asking that members of the public do not join today’s search efforts at this time.’
Ms Murphy’s case has captured the interest of the nation, with hundreds of volunteers organising and conducting their own ground searches across the area over the past six weeks.
As the new search commences, police units are stationed at nearby Royal Park as dozens of specialist officers conduct a search of the reserve.
Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said police are committed to ‘doing everything we can to locate her and return her to her family’.
‘Since Samantha’s disappearance, extensive searches have been conducted in the Ballarat area and today we will focus on an area of bushland in Buninyong,’ he said on Wednesday.
‘We will have a range of specialist resources involved, however as we are searching for Samantha’s body, we ask that members of the public do not try and join today’s search.
Investigators are pictured scouring the Mount Clear area for Ms Murphy during a search last month
READ MORE: Huge army of volunteers turn out to continue search for missing mum three weeks after she disappeared near Ballarat
A group of volunteers in hi-vis have turned out to search for Samantha Murphy
‘Hopefully today’s search will benefit the investigation or provide further avenues of enquiry for police.
The new development comes after extensive searches were previously focused on the Canadian Forest, in Ballarat’s south-eastern outskirts.
The search site is just a four minute drive away from the Scotsburn home where Stephenson was arrested on 6 March.
He was housesitting the property at the time with his long-term girlfriend.
Stephenson was charged with murder the following day in relation to Ms Murphy’s disappearance.
Police allege that Stephenson ‘deliberately attacked’ Ms Murphy in Mount Clear, about 5km from her home on the day she went for her morning jog.
He has been remanded in custody to appear at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on 8 August.