EXCLUSIVE
A former schoolmate of Samantha Murphy’s accused killer has revealed he had big dreams in high school to change the world by inventing a solution to combat climate change.
Patrick Stephenson, 22, who is the son of former AFL player Orren Stephenson, was charged this week with allegedly murdering the 51-year-old mother-of-three on February 4 after she left her home in Ballarat to run in the morning.
The development – four weeks after Mrs Murphy’s disappearance – has shocked country Victoria town, where both the Stephenson and Murphy families are well-known and respected members of the community.
As the search continues to find Ms Murphy’s body, a graduate of Damascus College, who attended the school with Stephenson for two years, said he was also surprised by his former schoolmate’s arrest.
The man, who was a grade older than Stephenson, said they were in the same roll call class and that the alleged killer was friends with his younger brother.
Patrick Orren Stephenson (left) is accused of murdering Samantha Murphy on February 4
“He was super into IT (information technology) and he was always tinkering with cars and tools and stuff – interested in mechanics and science,” the schoolmate said.
‘We both took part in a science fair (at school) and we worked on robots together. He would ask the teachers for extra time to go and use the workspaces and tools.’
The former pupil said Stephenson was outgoing and a keen rower who was a member of the school’s sports team.
Outside of school, Stephenson would sometimes visit his family’s home to hang out with his younger brother, where the pair would ‘work on things in the shed’.
But his most vivid memory of Stephenson was his ambitions to tackle air pollution caused by the transport sector.
And the former student thought he seemed tenacious enough to succeed.
“I remember him talking about how he wanted to come up with a solution to make cars more environmentally friendly to reduce carbon emissions,” he said.
‘He seemed passionate about it, like he wanted to pursue it later in life.
‘You know, like “wow, he could be the next Elon Musk”.
Stephenson attended Damascus College (pictured) in his senior years of high school
The remains of Victorian mother Samantha Murphy (pictured) have yet to be found
Stephenson started secondary school at St Patrick’s College before transferring to Damascus College for years 10-12.
He graduated in 2019 before starting work as an electrician, like his father, who is a local electrician and telecom technician.
Police say Stephenson and Ms Murphy were not known to each other, but she worked in St Francis Xavier Primary School’s uniform shop around the same time he attended the school.
Mrs Murphy’s eldest daughter, Jess, who is also 22, was also a member of the same school community.
While Jess attended different high schools than Stephenson, Ms. Murphy’s younger daughter is a current student at Damascus College.
Over the past few weeks, the high school has publicly thrown their support behind the distressed Murphy family as they frantically search for their missing mother and wife.
“As the search continues for Samantha, Damascus College extends our prayers and support to the Murphy family,” the school wrote in a Feb. 9 post.
‘As a community we have seen and heard Michael (Ms Murphy’s husband) and Jess about the latest news and our hearts are full as we remain steadfast in hope.
Despite his big teenage tech dreams, Stephenson (pictured with his girlfriend) took up a trade after leaving school
‘In times of challenge and uncertainty, we may experience mixed emotions and we recognize the sadness and vulnerability that the Damascus community may feel at the moment.
‘We keep the Murphy family in our hearts and prayers as we pray for a positive outcome.’
Former student Stephenson would be arrested just four weeks later on March 6 while at home at a property with his girlfriend in Scotsburn, 19km south of Ballarat.
Police will allege Stephenson murdered the mother in Mount Clear – about 5km from her home in Ballarat East – while she was on a morning run through Woowookarung Regional Park.
Victoria Police say they do not believe anyone else is involved and have seized a number of items – including a car and CCTV footage from local pubs – as part of the investigation.
Over the past month, police and dozens of volunteers have launched extensive searches throughout the area, but no trace of Ms Murphy has been found.
Stephenson has been in custody since being charged on Thursday and has not disclosed the location of her body to detectives.
A gag order on Stephenson’s identity was lifted by a Victorian judge on Friday.
His case will return to court at a later date.