Bushcraft expert Jake Cassar claims to find ‘blind spots’ in search for missing mum Samantha Murphy – as he hands cops ‘several items’ of evidence

Large areas of bushland have not been explored in the search for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy. Volunteers searched the area after police scaled back their active search.

Ms Murphy, a 51-year-old mother of three, went missing on February 4 when she went jogging in Woowookarung Regional Park. The police suspect that one or more people were involved in her disappearance.

She will have been missing for four weeks on Sunday.

Bush tracking expert and visiting volunteer Jake Cassar said he and other volunteers delivered several pieces of potential evidence to authorities in areas of the dense bush that had not previously been searched.

“When I arrived there were many dense areas of bushland that had not yet been searched,” he said.

“From my tracking experience, you can clearly see when brush has not been disturbed.”

Volunteers invited tracking expert Jake Cassar to Ballarat to help find Ms Murphy

Mr Cassar was invited to Ballarat by volunteers who paid for his airfare and accommodation. While recruiting and training volunteers, he began searching areas in the park that had not yet been found by searches.

“I was able to find areas that were undisturbed, to the tune that I was able to find things, and the person who was with me was able to find things, that certainly should have been turned over to the police,” he said.

Mr Cassar could not confirm what those items were so as not to disrupt the investigation, but said there was a significant item and confirmed the area had not yet been fully searched.

Police told NCA NewsWire that they would not comment on intelligence received or items recovered from the case, ‘unless it is determined that doing so will further the progress of the investigation’.

The area where Cassar was investigating on Wednesday. He discovered large areas of uncultivated brush

Teams on the ground have been searching for Ms Murphy for almost four weeks

A spokesman for the volunteer ground team confirmed there was a lot of bush that had not been thoroughly searched.

“Jake found a lot of virgin brush, as they like to call it, which means it’s untouched,” they said.

Last Saturday, more than 200 volunteers attended the search. Of the area they covered, ‘perhaps 10 percent’ of undisturbed shrubland remained, but other areas still contain large amounts of shrubbery that they did not reach.

The ground team decided on Saturday to pause their latest search due to the bushfires, but will meet on Friday now that the fire has been declared under control.

After six days of active searching, the police announced on February 10 that the search would be ‘scaled back’.

“As new information becomes available that identifies areas of interest, the search will be scaled up,” they said.

Specialists have since been spotted investigating the bushland and nearby mines using technology such as metal detectors.

Mr Cassar said it was possible Ms Murphy could be found in those mines and also suggested checking isolated areas 5-20km outside Ballarat.

“I have great respect for searches by police and SES,” he said. “I think they did a fantastic job.”

However, he added that governments should fund bigger and longer efforts to find missing people for “at least a fortnight.”

Mrs Murphy went missing under suspicious circumstances

Mr Cassar said Ms Murphy was everywhere, mentioning spending time looking for missing child AJ Elfalak.

“I was deeply involved in that search,” he said, and after three days people “had pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that he had been kidnapped.” And at that moment I told everyone, ‘No, please don’t give up.’

AJ was found shortly afterwards and Mr Cassar believes he was living off the land for the days he went missing.

Mr Cassar said while it was unlikely Ms Murphy was alive, he remained open to her whereabouts.

“Anything is possible and never underestimate the human spirit,” he said.