Police and telecommunications experts to focus efforts on Samantha Murphy’s phone as her disappearance nears one week

Police have confirmed the large-scale search for Samantha Murphy will be scaled back, as investigators and telecommunications experts try to access more data from her phone and smart watch.

Police and telecommunications experts are trying to access further metadata from a missing mum’s phone as her mysterious disappearance nears one week.

Samantha Murphy, 51, failed to return to her East Ballarat home, in the Central Highlands, after going for exercise on Sunday morning in the Canadian State Forest.

Dozens of police, SES, Country Fire Authority, loved ones and locals have been searching for the mother-of-three over the past six days but there have been no signs of her.

Victoria Police confirmed the ongoing hunt for Ms Murphy will be scaled back this weekend, due to the little information and leads they have to go off.

“Police continue to be in regular contact with Samantha’s family regarding the developments of the search and the status of the investigation,” it said in a statement.

“The investigative stage of the investigation continues and as any new information comes to hand identifying areas of interest, the search will be scaled up.”

Police are trying to access further metadata from Samantha Murphy’s phone and her Apple Watch she had with her on a run before mysteriously disappearing. Picture: SuppliedInvestigators will continue their efforts to find other metadata from Ms Murphy’s phone and Apple Watch, which she had with her while she was exercising.

Ms Murphy had left her East Ballarat home on Sunday about 7am, running from the Eureka St property towards the Canadian State Forest.

Her phone last pinged from a cell tower at Buninyong, where the search effort was briefly focused on Friday, about 14 kilometres from the family home.

It is likely her phone would have run out of battery six days on, which will make it difficult for tech experts to track as it will stop sending signals to towers.

If there is no internet or connection, but the device is on, the mapping apps could track the location through GPS.

It is believed the Apple Watch Ms Murphy was wearing during her run has SOS technology and can detect a fall or accident, but no such data has been found.

Police confirmed the search for the mother-of-three has been scaled back on the weekend as further investigations continue almost one week since she vanished. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian WilsonVictoria Police Inspector Bob Heaney on Friday said police had been “limited” in the ability to track the mother-of-three’s two devices.

“We know what time she left and we’ve got a fairly large area to search where we think she may have been coming from that data which we’ve been focusing on the last six days now,” Inspector Heaney told Seven’s Sunrise.

“One of the challenges we have is the area where she normally runs is a fairly remote area. It’s within a forest and a lot of bushland and there is no CCTV coverage out there. That’s been (another) one of the challenges we’ve had to face.”

Police also on Friday confirmed detectives from the Missing Persons Squad will take the lead role in the investigation into Ms Murphy’s disappearance.

The role of investigators from the Victorian Police unit is to look into missing persons cases who vanish under suspicious circumstances.

Officers are dispatched when the body of a person has not been found, human remains have been unidentified for three days in a suspected homicide or the case is more than 30 days old, as described on the police force’s website.

However, police have repeatedly said there is currently no suspicious circumstances.

Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad will take the lead role in the investigation.

There are no suspicious circumstances behind the disappearance at this stage.

Ms Murphy has not been seen since Sunday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Wilson

Her husband Mick spotted at a police station on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Wilson
Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt from Serious Crime  Operations said Ms Murphy’s family and friends will also form a key part of the investigation.

“A huge part of our investigation (is) digging into the background, working out Samantha’s movements in the days leading up to her disappearance, and also the people that know her,” he said at a press conference on Friday.

Det Supt Hatt also referenced the “challenging area and terrain” for search crews and that there are a lot of unused mines and waterways in bushland.

Police are yet to uncover any other CCTV footage relating to Ms Murphy’s movements after she left her home on Sunday, despite repeatedly calling on the community to come forward with any vision which may assist with the investigation.

CCTV released on Wednesday which was believed to be of Ms Murphy running was later determined to be footage of another individual who came forward to police.

Police referenced the tough terrain and open mineshafts. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Wilson
Police have repeatedly urged any motorists or residents living in or near Ballarat, East Canadian and Mount Helen to come forward with security and dash cam video.

Those with any footage captured on Sunday February 4 between 7am and 7pmm from the mentioned locations are urged to hand it in to investigators.

The mother-of-three has been described as Caucasian, about 173 centimetres tall, slim build and shoulder-length blonde hair.

She was last seen wearing black half-length leggings and maroon/brown singlet.

Anyone who spots Ms Murphy is urged to call Triple-0 immediately.

Phone found in fresh search for Samantha Murphy’s body

A phone has been found on farmland near Ballarat during a renewed search for the body of missing woman Samantha Murphy, marking the biggest breakthrough in the high-profile case since a man was charged with her murder.

Television cameras captured police closely inspecting a dam along Buninyong-Mt Mercer Road on Wednesday afternoon, a few kilometres south of where the 51-year-old mother’s phone last pinged when she disappeared on a run in February.

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Police find phone during Samantha Murphy search

Police have found a phone during a search for Samantha Murphy

Crime scene officers soon arrived at the property after a sniffer dog drew police to the dam’s banks.

A television camera captured a pair of officers then donning masks, laying down a yellow evidence marker and photographing a phone.

Aerial footage of the scene showed some searchers hugging. Shortly after 4pm, a police diver entered the dam.

A police source, speaking anonymously owing to the sensitivity of the investigation, was confident the phone was Murphy’s.

Australian Federal Police technology sniffer dogs had been brought in from interstate for the targeted search.

Victoria Police confirmed “some items of interest” had been found, but didn’t specify a phone was among them. However, television cameras clearly capture a phone being inspected.

“The area has been cordoned off, and those items will now be forensically tested,” police said in a statement. “At this stage, we are not providing further information about the items until that testing has been completed.”

The discovery of the phone could assist investigators looking for Murphy’s body, by providing detailed location data about her final movements.

Near the dam where the phone was found, a yellow digger was captured on camera excavating a nature strip and bushes adjacent to a quiet country road. Two people used tools to dig among thick scrub on the roadside. Later on Wednesday afternoon, the digger moved across a paddock to excavate near the dam’s edge.

Earlier, police said detectives from the missing persons squad were joined by specialist teams in Ballarat on Wednesday morning.

Police would not reveal the exact location of the fresh search, but said Murphy’s family had been informed.

“Police ask that members of the public do not attend the search at this time,” police said.

Murphy left her home about 7am on February 4 to go for a run in Woowookarung Regional Park – known locally as Canadian Forest – an expanse of dense scrub bordering her Eureka Street property in Ballarat’s east.

In late February, police revealed they doubted she was still alive, and alleged someone else was involved in her disappearance.

In March, Patrick Stephenson, a 22-year-old local with no apparent connection to Murphy, was charged with murder over her disappearance. Investigators allege Stephenson, the son of an ex-AFL player, attacked Murphy at Mount Clear on February 4.

Hundreds of Ballarat residents have spent hundreds of hours since then scouring bushland for Murphy’s body.