The husband of missing Victorian mother Samantha Murphy has revealed he didn’t realize anything was wrong until long after he was waiting for her back home.
Mick Murphy said Samantha, who disappeared while out for an early morning run on February 4, had been training for a marathon and he knew her runs had become longer so he was not worried when she did not return to time.
“On that particular day when he disappeared, I thought he’d just gone for a little more run,” she said. The Ballarat Courier.
‘He loved to go running in the mountains, he went out every day at 5.30 in the morning on weekdays. I never called her because it was her time. She liked to do it herself,” Mr Murphy said.
No trace of the mother-of-three has ever been found and the location of the last phone sent by Ms Murphy was Mount Clear, about 5km from her home, on the day she disappeared.
Police allege Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, “deliberately attacked” Ms Murphy and charged her with murder on March 7.
He was taken into custody and police allege he has repeatedly refused to co-operate with them in the search for Ms Murphy’s remains.
It’s been 55 days since she went missing and police said Tuesday there are no new updates on the search.
Mick Murphy (pictured at an ‘Enough is Enough’ rally in Ballarat this month) said he didn’t initially realize his wife was missing because she had been doing longer runs training for a marathon.
Mr Murphy said Samantha was a “very determined” woman and had been running in the Ballarat Marathon on Saturday.
Mr Murphy said his wife would have run in the Ballarat Marathon, which held its inaugural race on Saturday.
In a touching gesture, many of the hundreds of runners wore yellow clothing in his honor.
The yellow refers to his favorite AFL club, the Richmond Tigers, whose colors are yellow and black.
Murphy said the mother-of-three would have been front and center among the contestants because she was so strong-willed when she set herself a challenge.
Not long ago he marked his 50th milestone by completing a 125-kilometre solo trail walk in Apollo Bay on Victoria’s south coast.
“(That’s how determined she is), she’s a pretty strong woman,” Murphy said.
The push to wear yellow during the Ballarat Marathon was instigated by former Greens Senate candidate Sissy Austin.
Austin, a keen marathon runner, had been attacked by a stranger while running in the Lal Lal State Forest, 20 minutes south-east of Ballarat in 2023.
“Many women are organizing this event for Samantha… followers are encouraged to wear a pop of lemon yellow,” she wrote on social media.
“It’s been an incredibly challenging few months for runners in the Ballarat community; training for a marathon while feeling terrified has been very difficult.”
“Myself and my amazing physiotherapist, coach and team members will travel to Wadawurrung country and run the full or half marathon event.”
Many of the hundreds of runners in the Ballarat Marathon (pictured) wore yellow clothing in honor of Ms Murphy.
Former Greens Senate candidate Sissy Austin led the push to wear yellow as part of her Take Back the Track campaign, which pushes for greater safety for women.
Earlier this month, Ms Austin had organized an Enough is Enough rally in Ballarat to protest action against violence against women.
Mr. Murphy attended the event.
‘If you see something that’s not right, speak up. Let the authorities know,” he told the crowd.
He also revealed through tears that this month he will go out to look for his wife.
‘Sometimes I go for a drive and it may not be anywhere specific, or I go for a two-hour walk. It varies every day,’ she said.
‘I stayed at home, it wouldn’t do me any favors.
“You know, for someone so good to leave the community, it’s pretty hard; she was always good to us and a good mother.”
“You won’t hear a bad word about her, she was a good mother, she cared and always looked out for everyone.”
