EXCLUSIVE
Police have ended their search for today after bringing in specialist cadaver dogs from New South Wales to search the Victorian bush at multiple locations in the hunt for missing mother Samantha Murphy.
Search crews renewed the hunt for the mother-of-three’s remains on Thursday at several locations in dense bush across a vast swathe 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.
Specialist cadaver dogs from New South Wales have been called in to help find Samantha Murphy’s body
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. A smaller team returns on Friday.
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.
The last search is ringing 12 miles south of the Murphy family home and was not made public when police first announced the renewed search Thursday morning.
A statement said detectives would search Enfield State Park 20 miles away, but police later admitted multiple search sites were underway at the same time.
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.
Crews searching the area include those specializing in missing persons, search and rescue, the public order response team and the mounted branch.
The terrain is described as treacherous, with search crews having to navigate not only through dense undergrowth but also through hidden mine shafts.
Unlike a search carried out last month, Ms Murphy’s family was notified in advance of the search.
Police on dirt bikes search the woods for the body of Samantha Murphy
Police investigated mine shafts in the search area
A cadaver dog hunting for Samantha Murphy’s body
Daily Mail Australia spotted Ms Murphy’s husband searching alone in the bush for his missing wife last month, in an area where police had previously searched.
It remains unclear what new information triggered the new search locations for police on Thursday.
In March, detectives charged 22-year-old trader Patrick Orren Stephenson with Ms Murphy’s 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.
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.
Samantha Murphy went jogging on February 4 and never returned home
Mick Murphy and his daughter Jess called for Samantha Murphy to come home on February 8, but police claim she was already dead
Patrick Orren Stephenson has been charged with the murder of Samantha Murphy
The regional city in western Victoria has been rocked by a series of tragedies this year, including the disappearance of Ms Murphy, a mine collapse that killed miner Kurt Hourigan, the death of Rebecca Young, a mother of five, and bushfires in the surrounding areas.
On April 5, 23-year-old Hannah McGuire was also found dead in a burned-out car in nearby Scarsdale.
Her ex-boyfriend Lachlan Young has been charged with murder.
Ms McGuire had only bought a house with Young a year earlier before she was allegedly murdered.
Ms McGuire’s death has left Ballarat locals furious, with plans in place to organize a rally in the city center on Friday evening as an act of solidarity to end violence against women.
According to a description of the event on social media, women do not feel safe in Ballarat.
A cadaver dog digs for clues during the hunt for Samantha Murphy
The thick brush where search crews entered on Thursday