Police will today launch a major new search for missing mother Samantha Murphy after vital phone records led them to a specific area in bushland.
The mother-of-three was last seen at about 7am on February 4 as she left her Ballarat East home in Victoria to go for a run at nearby Woowookarung Regional Park.
But no trace of her has ever been found since, despite a massive land and air hunt for her.
Now a new analysis of phone records has led police to an area around Mount Clear, 3 miles from Ms Murphy’s home on Eureka Street.
Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad will lead the “targeted search”, a Victoria Police spokesperson said.
The significant new development will see ‘a significant number of detectives from the Crime Command and other specialist commands’ join local police in the hunt.
“They will focus on an area highlighted by intelligence derived from telephone records,” police added.
Since Samantha’s disappearance almost three weeks ago, extensive searches have been conducted in the Canadian forest area, but no trace of her has been found at this time.
These searches involved a number of specialist units from across Victoria Police and many members of the local community also volunteered their time to assist in the search.
The 51-year-old was last seen leaving her Eureka Street property to go for a run around 7am on Sunday, February 4.
Samantha was known to regularly run through the Canadian forest area.
Police consider her disappearance suspicious due to the long time she has been missing and no trace of her has been found.
The Missing Persons Squad has primary control over the investigation and that team has been further expanded with experienced detectives from a number of units within the Crime Commando and other specialties.
The team will also continue to work closely with local police.
Researchers are currently reviewing approximately 12,000 hours of CCTV footage and following up on more than 500 separate pieces of information.
Police are again releasing two images of Samantha in the hope that someone recognizes her and can provide information about her movements since Sunday, February 4.
Samantha Murphy disappeared without a trace on February 4
Samantha Murphy’s husband Mick Murphy speaks to the media
Police released this photo of Ms Murphy from the morning she disappeared