Samantha Murphy disappearance: Cops call in sex crime and anti-terror specialists to investigate what happened to missing Ballarat mum
Police have called in more than a dozen detectives from specialist units to assist in the investigation into the disappearance of mother-of-three Samantha Murphy, almost three weeks after she vanished without a trace.
Ms Murphy’s mysterious disappearance during an early morning drive on February 4 has generated hundreds of leads, with officers now focusing on known violent offenders living close to her home in Ballarat in regional Victoria.
The additional investigators in what has become Victoria’s top priority police investigation include staff from Melbourne’s sex crimes, counter-terrorism, fraud and armed robbery units.
They traveled to Ballarat because of their experience with difficult investigations and not because of any suggestion of a link with terror or sex crimes. Herald Sun reported.
Although it has been almost two weeks since police stopped the official search, dozens of local community members are still out conducting their own searches.
Police last week changed the status of Ms Murphy’s (pictured) disappearance to ‘suspicious’
Searchers continue to look for clues into the disappearance of missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy
The group of volunteers is looking for “any answers, any solutions, any hints, any evidence that could help bring Sam home.”
The ground crew is ‘constantly looking for Samantha’.
The group will meet this weekend as the desperate mission enters its fourth week.
‘The number of mums and women, there are dads and other people joining the group chats, which is absolutely fantastic, but a big part of the driving force, a big part of the community, a lot of the people involved are the women,” shared Cristie-Lea King A current issue on Wednesday evening.
The mood in the community in Ballarat remains ‘gloomy’, where Ms Murphy’s disappearance continues to impact the daily lives of many local residents.
“I think it’s definitely been felt and discussed,” Ms. King said.
“Even when I got out of my car last night, I suddenly heard a noise.
“I shouldn’t have to think or worry about that, but it gives the feeling that until we get answers, you don’t know what happened.”
She added that the group refused to give up hope that Ms Murphy will be found.
“Until there is an answer, we are not giving up hope for her if she is here,” Ms. King said.
‘Nobody knows until there’s evidence, but realistically it’s about large numbers and large groups coming together to do what we can.
‘If there is evidence, we want to be able to find it. “If there is anything to help the authorities, we want to be able to help,” she said.
Although police have publicly said they have no leads, sources told A Current Affair they believe the missing mother may no longer be in the area around her home.
“The fact that they’ve backed off the search, I think they clearly know things that we may not know yet,” criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro told the program.
“It’s clearly having an impact on the community, it’s clear they’re concerned about the situation and they’re clearly very supportive of the woman who disappeared.
Police still have no striking theory about what happened to Ms Murphy, almost three weeks after she returned home and was never seen again.
Volunteer Cristie-Lea King (pictured) said they are looking for ‘any answers, any solution, any hint, any evidence that could help bring Sam home’
It is understood they believe Ms Murphy may have reached the wooded area where she regularly ran.
There are no witnesses, no CCTV footage and no dashcam footage to help unravel the mystery – which is very rare at a time when consumer surveillance technology plays a crucial role in many police investigations.
The only solid clue is that her mobile phone ‘pinged’ from a tower in Buninyong, on the southern edge of Ballarat, later on the day she went missing.
Since then the phone has not pinged anywhere.
The area she ran in – bushland around Woowookarung Regional Park – has many old mine shafts
However, it is likely that if she had fallen into one of them, she would have been found by now.
The theory that Mrs. Murphy disappeared by choice has been explored, but there is no evidence to suggest this happened or that she would do it to her children.