Samantha Murphy’s husband Mick breaks down about his missing wife as search crews abandon their latest search: ‘Incredibly smart and wonderful’

The husband of missing mother-of-three Samantha Murphy has tearfully opened up about his grief after his wife disappeared more than two months ago as search crews called off their final hunt for her remains.

Mick Murphy said his wife was an “incredibly smart and wonderful woman” who he continues to search for every day since she disappeared on February 4 while out for a run in Ballarat East, northwest of Melbourne.

“You know, for someone that good, it’s pretty hard to be gone from the community. She was always good to us and a good mother,” Mr Murphy said. told Nine News as he tried to hold back the tears.

‘You won’t hear a bad word about her, she was a good mother, caring and always caring for everyone.

Samantha Murphy (left) and Michael Murphy (right) are pictured in Indonesia in 2017

‘She was always smiling and happy and we want people to remember Sam for who she was. Anyone who knows her knows what she is like.”

Mr Murphy said his wife was running like clockwork, so when she didn’t return from her run as expected, alarm bells started ringing.

The couple have been married for 27 years and ran a large repair business together in Ballarat.

Mr. Murphy now spends his days searching for his wife, determined not to lose hope that her body will be found.

‘Sometimes I go for a drive and it might not be that special of a place, or I go for a two-hour walk. It varies every day,” he said.

‘It’s very good for my mind and if I were sitting at home I wouldn’t be doing myself any favors with it.’

A march will be held in Ballarat on Friday evening where locals will show their support for those affected by the recent deaths of Ms Murphy, 51, and fellow women Hannah McGuire, 23, and Rebecca Young, 42.

“The march for her today, the respect that the community has, not just for Sam, but for the other women who have lost their lives in recent weeks, the support will be amazing and I think it will be quite an emotional time . Mr. Murphy said.

‘I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.’

Police returned to bush tracks near where Ms Murphy went missing on Thursday, but on Friday afternoon Victorian police said the search had been called off.

Samantha Murphy was reportedly murdered while out for a Sunday morning jog

Police picked up their dirt bikes on Friday after another failed search

An officer prepares to withdraw from the area after another failed search on Friday

The latest search for Ms Murphy ended at 1.30pm, when the last of the Victoria Police dirt bike team loaded their bikes into a trailer.

“If we had found something you would all have heard about it,” an officer told Daily Mail Australia.

Police will not return to the bush on Saturday.

Detectives from the missing persons team and other specialized teams were involved in the search.

Unlike a massive search police conducted Thursday, the media was left in the dark about what crews were looking at Friday.

“Over the past two months, the police have also carried out regular investigations and small-scale searches as part of the ongoing investigation,” the spokesperson said.

“We are not in a position at this time to provide further specific details on current operational activities.”

Police entered dense brush in an area about 16 miles from where Samantha Murphy disappeared on February 4

Search crews have peered into mine shafts and navigated treacherous conditions in search of clues

Specialized dogs that can find bodies have been deployed to assist the search

The search had yielded new hope. Search teams were close to locating the 51-year-old’s body.

On Thursday, Victoria Police deployed specialist cadaver dogs from New South Wales to search the bush at multiple locations in dense undergrowth stretching across a vast swath of countryside.

Teams of officers concentrated their search at Enfield State Park, 30 kilometers south of Ballarat, but another search team was also working 25 kilometers away in dense bush in the Durham Lead Nature Conservation Reserve.

The nature reserve is just south of Buninyong, where Ms Murphy’s phone was last detected by mobile phone masts at 5pm on the day she disappeared.

Ms Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street, Ballarat East, to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest on the morning of February 4.

Police are said to have searched the bush about 20km south of the Murphy family home.

Mrs Murphy’s husband Mick Murphy was informed of this week’s search. He had previously remained in the dark about similar search efforts

A helicopter was seen hovering over the dense forest just before 2pm on Thursday as search crews made their way deeper into the dense undergrowth.

The search for the day was called off at 4 p.m.

Thursday marked the first time since the investigation began that search crews used the highly trained cadaver dogs led by NSW Police.

They are specially trained to detect human remains and corpses even under extreme conditions.

Police on trail bikes have also been deployed to cover the wide area in the increasingly desperate hunt for Ms Murphy’s remains, more than eight weeks after she disappeared.

Officers had previously made unsuccessful search attempts in the Buninyong Bushland Reserve in March.

It remains unclear what new information gave rise to the new search locations for the police on Thursday.

In March, detectives charged 22-year-old trader Patrick Orren Stephenson with Ms Murphy’s alleged murder.

Samantha Murphy in the last terrifying photo of her captured before she left on February 4

Patrick Orren Stephenson has been charged with murder

They claim he killed her at Mount Clear the day she went missing.

Stephenson is the son of Orren Stephenson, who played 15 AFL games for Geelong and Richmond between 2012 and 2014.

It is understood Stephenson has refused to cooperate with police.

Detective Acting Chief Inspector Mark Hatt described Thursday’s efforts as an “extensive” large-scale search that built on targeted searches in other areas.

“I want to reassure people in the Ballarat community that police remain focused on doing everything we can to return Samantha to her family,” he said.

Anyone with information about Ms Murphy’s disappearance is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

It comes after the death of Ms McGuire, who was reportedly murdered by her ex-partner Lachlan Young a week ago.

The McGuire family is expected to attend the event and hand out t-shirts featuring Hannah’s face.

“Tomorrow we will march and stand in solidarity with Hannah McGuire and all the other women who have lost their lives to violence,” said a post on the family pub’s Facebook page.

“We had T-shirts made for Hannah and would be honored if you wore one.”

In another tragedy in Ballarat, Ms Young was found dead at the property on the outskirts of the city in February, along with her partner Ian Butler, who has links to the Bandidos motorcycle gang, in a suspected murder-suicide.

Fellow Balarat woman, Hannah McGuire, was reportedly murdered