Regardless of whether it works or not, a mud-spattered phone found in a dam could finally help solve the mysterious disappearance of Samantha Murphy nearly four months to the day she disappeared.
On Wednesday, Victoria Police search teams were seen celebrating after finding the mobile phone at the water’s edge on farmland.
The location is close to where Ms Murphy’s phone last made contact with a nearby tower in the Buninyong region before going silent.
Detectives are understood to believe the discovery could be the key breakthrough they needed in the long search for Ms Murphy’s body.
The dam is about 15 kilometers from Ballarat East, where Ms Murphy was last seen doing her final run on February 4.
Samantha Murphy was allegedly murdered while out for a run Sunday morning.
His muddy phone was found on Wednesday next to a dam
The phone is believed to have been submerged in the dam since February 4, the same day police allege Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, murdered Ms Murphy while she was out for a run on Sunday.
Daily Mail Australia was told this week that detectives from the Missing Persons Unit had suspected the inmate shortly after taking over the investigation, and questioned her owner just weeks later.
The police would not return until early May, when they again asked the owner if he would mind if the police entered his property.
Three weeks passed before Wednesday’s search found the phone.
The dam had been at its lowest level since the summer heat in December.
The owner of the dam, who wished to remain anonymous, suggested that police had no specific information that the phone had been discarded there.
“They started at the other end of the road and kept going up,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“As far as I know, one of the sniffer dogs found him.” A technological dog.
The dam’s location is just around the corner from the Durham Lead Nature Conservation Reserve, which search teams arrived at on April 12.
At that time, the police had also They focused their search within Enfield State Park, 30 kilometers south of Ballarat, and about 5 kilometers from Durham Reserve.
Durham Nature Reserve is just south of Buninyong, where Ms Murphy’s phone was last detected by mobile phone towers at 5pm on the day she disappeared.
The location of the phone confirms the police theory that Murphy’s killer probably dumped it in the dam before heading to Durham Reserve to dispose of his body.
The dam is located next to a main road leading out of the region and is close to the Durham Lead Nature Conservation Reserve.
A police technical dog (pictured) is believed to have made the discovery at the dam.
An excavator was used to clear blackberry bushes next to the dam on Wednesday.
Search teams are expected to venture into the thick terrain again in the coming weeks as forensic technicians work to extract data from the muddy phone.
The phone could contain information ranging from an indication of the actual location where Ms Murphy died to video footage or images of her last moments alive.
While extracting data from a waterlogged phone is difficult, it is not impossible with the right amount of experience and financial backing.
It is understood Victoria Police will spare no expense to extract what they can from the phone, including possibly sending it overseas to international experts in the field.
“Slice” analysis has traditionally been chosen as an effective data recovery method for damaged devices, including water damaged phones.
In an article titled ‘Forensic Analysis of Water Damaged Mobile Devices’ published by the Netherlands Forensic Institute, experts say that data recovery is very possible.
But this is not achieved without difficulties.
“It must be taken into account that a longer immersion time generates more corrosion of the metal, which makes the device recovery processes much more difficult,” the article states.
“If handled properly and proper procedures are carried out in a forensic laboratory, there is a high probability of restoring the water damaged mobile device to its operational state to carry out a successful forensic data recovery.”
If the phone is a newer model, it might even be “waterproof,” meaning it is hermetically sealed so it can be used in water.
But that doesn’t usually mean spending months on end in a muddy dam.
The search for Samantha Murphy’s body
Police divers searched for Ms Murphy’s body inside the dam on Wednesday.
Murder accused Patrick Orren Stephenson
Whatever can or cannot be extracted from the phone will likely send search teams back into nearby bushland to resume the search for Ms Murphy’s body.
In April, Victoria Police brought in cadaver dogs from New South Wales to scour the dense forest covering a vast expanse of countryside.
It was the first time search teams used highly trained cadaver dogs, brought in by New South Wales Police, since the investigation began.
They are specially trained to be able to sniff out human remains and corpses, even in extreme conditions.
Police on bikes have also been used to help cover the wide area of the increasingly desperate search for Ms Murphy’s remains, more than eight weeks after she disappeared.
Officers had previously carried out unsuccessful search efforts in Buninyong Bushland Reserve in March.
It is still unclear what new information triggered Wednesday’s new search.
Police entered thick brush in April in an area about 25 kilometers from where Samantha Murphy disappeared.
Specialized dogs capable of finding corpses have been brought in to assist in the search.
In March, detectives charged Stephenson with Murphy’s murder, alleging he killed her in Mount Clear on the day she disappeared.
Stephenson is the son of Orren Stephenson, who played 15 AFL games for Geelong and Richmond between 2012 and 2014.
Stephenson is understood to have refused to co-operate with police and reveal what they claim to know about the location of Ms Murphy’s body.
Missing Persons Unit Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt has assured the community that his detectives will never stop searching for Ms Murphy’s body.
“I want to reassure members of the Ballarat community that police remain focused on doing everything possible to return Samantha to her family,” he previously said.
Anyone with information about Ms Murphy’s disappearance is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.