A phone uncovered by police during a search for the body of missing mother Samantha Murphy does belong to the missing mum, sources have told media.
The 51year-old was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street, Ballarat, to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest on the morning of February 4.
Detectives from the Victoria Police Missing Persons Squad and a range of specialist police officers mounted a fresh search on Wednesday morning.
Its location – initially kept secret – was later revealed to be south of Buninyong, with officers finding a phone.
Sources have told 7NEWS the phone does belong to Murphy and is a significant clue into the investigation.
‘Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad have located some items of interest in Buninyong this morning during their search for Samantha Murphy,’ a Victoria Police spokeswoman said on Wednesday afternoon.
‘The area has been cordoned off and those items will now be forensically tested.
‘We are not providing further information about the items until that testing has been completed.’
The search was described as targeted and also involved the n Federal Police.
‘Further information will be provided once we are in a position to do so,’ the police spokeswoman said.
Officers hugged each other after finding the phone near a dam.
Victoria Police confirmed on Wednesday evening the search was not expected to continue on Thursday.
Ms Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street to go for a run in Canadian State Forest on the morning of February 4.
Police in March charged 22-year-old tradesman Patrick Orren Stephenson with the murder of Ms Murphy at Mount Clear on the day she went missing.
He will return to court in August.
Stephenson is the son of Orren Stephenson, who played 15 AFL games for Geelong and Richmond between 2012 and 2014.
Police have launched multiple searches in bushland since February as part of the investigation.
Ms Murphy’s family has been advised of the latest search.