EXCLUSIVE
The family of missing mother-of-three Samantha Murphy have revealed how her husband tried to find her on the morning she disappeared.
Mrs. Murphy’s uncle and aunt, Allan and Janice Robson, told Daily Mail Australia that her niece’s husband, Mick Murphy, made the call to police two hours after she failed to return home at 9am on February 4.
“She was reported missing around 11 a.m. Mick reported her missing. He said she was supposed to be back for some kind of meeting that morning,” Allan said.
‘She was not home. It wasn’t her…she called her and reported it and then they started looking for the other side of Buninyong, which is 20 or 30 kilometers away.’
Allan obtained the information directly from his brother John Robson, with whom he maintains regular contact.
“She was reported missing around 11am. Mick reported her missing. He said she was supposed to be back to go to some kind of meeting that morning,” said Samantha’s uncle, Allan Robson (pictured by Mick and Samantha Murphy).
“(Mick) (pictured above) closed the door and locked (the reporters) out,” Allan said. “He is fed up with journalists”
‘I was only going to run 10 kilometers and get home at 9 in the morning. She said that she would return then to go to the meeting. “Something in Ballarat,” Allan said.
It is unclear if any of Murphy’s three children, who range in age from their late teens to early 20s, were in the family home at the time their mother disappeared.
‘The young man would have been at home. He’s only 12 or 13,” Allan said.
Ms. Murphy’s father called Allan and Janice just as they were about to sit down to dinner the night she disappeared.
“He said, ‘Oh, Janice, Sam’s gone. “Samantha is missing,” Janice said.
‘I said “What do you mean it disappeared?” He said, “She’s missing. She’s gone out.” He didn’t say she was out running, but she had disappeared. “She hasn’t shown up. She never came back.”‘
Allan said his niece usually ran 20km on the weekends, but this time she planned to run a shorter distance so she could keep her appointment.
Police confirmed Ms Murphy was due to attend a brunch that morning.
“I was going to come back at 9am because it was stinking hot too,” Allan said.
On Thursday, a woman who identified herself as Murphy’s sister refused to allow Daily Mail Australia to speak to her parents, who reside in Gordon, about 22 kilometers from their daughter’s home.
‘People just don’t disappear into thin air. “Someone has to know something,” Mick Murphy (pictured above) said at a press conference.
The rugged terrain where police and community members searched for Samantha Murphy
Murphy’s relatives spoke to Daily Mail Australia in the hope that the general public will not forget that he was missing.
“That’s the only way to find her,” Janice said.
“(Mick) closed the door and locked (the reporters) out,” Allan said. He is fed up with journalists.
Allan said Murphy had never attracted public attention.
Daily Mail Australia also does not suggest that Murphy had anything to do with his wife’s disappearance.
Janice said Murphy probably felt the media attention was an intrusion on his family’s privacy.
‘Then, on the other hand, they have to stop and think. Nothing else works. “The more people talk about it, something might come up,” Janice said.
“We have to keep refreshing people’s memories,” Allan added.
Murphy made his only public statement to the media on February 8 in a press conference that was memorable for his daughter Jessica’s emotional words more than his own.
‘People just don’t disappear into thin air. “Someone has to know something,” Mr. Murphy said then.
‘If it’s any little thing you might consider relevant, just call the police and tell them. “It will give us a little peace of mind, some hope.”
Janice said she had been bombarded with theories and opinions about Mr Murphy’s behavior in the week since he asked for help.
Some of the theories Janice mentioned have been repeatedly deployed on Facebook pages that claim to be “helping” police find Ms. Murphy.
‘She was the boss. Mick is different. He is quiet. He remains in the background. He doesn’t say much.
‘It’s too quiet, Mick. Nothing would worry him.
The couple said Murphy’s father told them that his daughter had not had any arguments with her husband before her disappearance.
“My first thought (when she disappeared) was that they might have had a blue or something, but (John) seemed to think no,” Allan said.
“He believes there are no money worries or anything like that. He doesn’t know of any problems.
Mick and Samantha Murphy’s house ‘worth a lot of money’, uncles say
Ms Murphy had maintained regular contact with her parents, regularly catching up with them on weekends when she was not working.
Allan and Janice insist that someone sinister is responsible for Mrs. Murphy’s disappearance.
‘I think someone has been watching them since they bought that house. “Because it’s worth a lot of money,” Allan suggested.
But with no demands for cash and Ms Murphy’s bank accounts presumably intact, it is a long shot.
“If she was going to get angry somewhere, she would have taken some money, right?” Allan said.
On the morning Ms Murphy disappeared, she was captured on her own CCTV system wearing a tan/brown t-shirt and black half-length leggings.
Allan and Janice dismissed suggestions that Murphy could have organized his own disappearance.
‘She would have taken some clothes or something… the cars were still at home (in the CCTV image). She would have gotten one of them,” Janice said.
‘She just disappears after walking out the front door. It just went like that.
The couple reiterated that Murphy would never have turned off his mobile phone, which police believe went off in thick undergrowth about 20 kilometers from their home.
—That phone hasn’t been turned off since you had it. Then all of a sudden it goes off,” Allan said.
Samantha Murphy disappeared without a trace on February 4
Last week, Missing Persons Unit Superintendent Mark Hatt said police were still working to determine who may have been in the area where Ms Murphy’s phone lost communication with mobile towers.
His mobile phone had rung in the nearby suburb before it got dark.
Allan said the task may have been complicated by several phone towers in the area going offline.
“That day half of the repeaters were out of service; everything went through Buninyong,” he said.
As time passes, the family is coming to grips with the fact that Mrs. Murphy may not be found alive.
‘She’s not lying somewhere hurt. You would be looking for a body,” Allan said.
Anyone with information about Ms Murphy’s disappearance is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.