Samatha Murphy: Sinister twist as police bring in specialists and ground search for missing mum is mysteriously scaled back less than a week after she vanished without a trace

Police hunting for missing mum Samantha Murphy have sent specialist rescue teams to investigate abandoned local mine shafts as the main search draws to a close.

The mother-of-three disappeared after going jogging near her home in Ballarat, Victoria, about 7am last Sunday.

CCTV footage showed her leaving the house in her running clothes and believed to be heading to the nearby Woowookarung Regional Park.

Her husband Mick Murphy, 53, raised the alarm when she never returned in time for a pre-planned 11am family brunch.

A huge hunt for the beloved mother has been launched by volunteers from the police, the Country Fire Association and the State Emergency Service and hundreds of local residents.

But no trace of her has been found anywhere.

Now police have revealed that specialist rescue teams and divers have been called in to search for the 51-year-old in the abandoned mine shafts that litter the Goldfields area.

It is feared she may have strayed from the forest paths she normally runs and fell into one of the treacherous shafts often hidden from view by bushes.

But locals also say the mine shafts could be used to hide her body if she fell victim to foul play.

Police are also checking the numerous local dams on surrounding farmlands to see if any trace of her can be found there.

“There are a lot of unused mines in the area,” admitted Crime Command Detective Acting Chief Inspector Mark Hatt.

“Right now, a police search and rescue team is involved in the operation (for that). They have been involved in the search from day one.

”It is a challenging area and terrain within the search area…it is also thick and rugged forestland.’

Detectives from Victoria Police’s Missing Persons Unit have now taken control of the search as the manhunt at the scene is scaled back.

They have also deployed an army of telecoms technology experts to try to map Ms Murphy’s movements based on the phone records they have.

Supt Hatt confirmed Ms Murphy was wearing an Apple Watch and had her mobile phone with her when she disappeared.

But he was hesitant to share any information about what the phone records had revealed so far.

“We are not commenting on that at this stage,” he said. “We are still in the process of deploying our expert telecommunications engineers to assist us with this.”

It is understood a local mobile phone tower recorded a ping from Ms Murphy’s phone on Sunday after she disappeared, but police declined to say more about the timing or location of the phone.

“We can’t answer that at this stage,” Supt Hatt said. ‘That will of course be passed on to our telecommunications technicians.’

Locals have speculated that contact with her phone may have been lost when she fell or was thrown into a deep mine shaft.

Maps of the Goldfields show dozens of abandoned alluvial and reef gold mine shafts, but locals say there are still hundreds or even thousands of unlisted mines in the bushland, some of which have lain unused and overgrown for generations.

“Some go down for miles and the sides are unstable,” said a local prospector.

“Heaps are covered, but I’ve seen them fall on themselves like rain and the years take their toll.”

Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina said the mine shafts should be a priority for police as concerns grow about Ms Murphy while she remains lost.

“For all we know, she may be injured in a mineshaft,” he told Nine’s Today show on Saturday.

“That’s a line of inquiry that needs to be looked at and eliminated.”

He also stressed the need to quickly act on any information discovered through GPS tracking on Ms Murphy’s phone and watch.

“(It’s) absolutely critical from the very beginning because battery life is obviously an issue,” he said.

‘They would be very dependent on the GPS coordinates via her smartwatch, and/or Apple Watch and also the phone.

“They are the two crucial elements that they will look at.”

On Thursday, her husband broke his silence and begged anyone with information to come forward.

“People just don’t disappear into thin air,” he added. “Someone must know something.”