Police have called in more than a dozen detectives from specialist units to assist in the investigation into the disappearance of mother-of-three Samantha Murphy, almost three weeks after she vanished without a trace.
Ms Murphy’s mysterious disappearance during an early morning run on February 4 has generated hundreds of leads, with officers now focusing on known violent criminals living near her home in Ballarat, in the region of Victory.
Additional detectives in what has become the highest priority police investigation in Victoria include staff from Melbourne’s sexual crimes, counterterrorism, fraud and armed robbery divisions.
They have traveled to Ballarat because of their experience with difficult investigations, rather than a suggestion of a link to terrorism or sexual crimes, the Herald of the sun reported.
While it has been almost two weeks since police ended the official search, dozens of local community members are still conducting their own searches.
Last week, police changed the status of Ms Murphy’s (pictured) disappearance to “suspicious”.
Searchers continue to look for clues into the disappearance of missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy.
The group of volunteers is looking for “answers, solutions, clues and evidence that can help bring Sam home.”
The ground team has been “continuously searching for Samantha.”
The group will meet this weekend, as the desperate mission enters its fourth week.
“The number of mothers and women, there have been fathers and other people participating in the group chats, which is absolutely fantastic, but a lot of the driving force, a lot of the community, a lot of the people participating are women. ,’ said Cristie-Lea King A current issue on Wednesday night.
The community mood in Ballarat remains “grim”, with Ms Murphy’s disappearance continuing to impact the daily lives of many locals.
“I think it’s certainly been felt and talked about,” Ms. King said.
‘Last night, as I was getting out of my car, I suddenly heard a noise.
“I shouldn’t think about it or worry about it, but it creates a feeling that until we get answers you don’t know what happened.”
He added that the group refused to give up hope that Ms Murphy would be found.
“Until there is an answer, we won’t give up hope if it’s there,” Mrs King said.
“Nobody knows until there’s evidence, but realistically it’s about getting large numbers and large groups together to do everything we can.”
‘If there is evidence, we want to be able to find it. If there’s anything that can help authorities, we want to be able to help,” she said.
While police have publicly said they have no leads, sources told A Current Affair they believe the missing mother may no longer be in the area around her home.
“The fact that they’ve backed off the search I think they obviously know things that we may not know,” criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro told the programme.
‘It has clearly affected the community, they are clearly concerned about the situation and they are clearly very supportive of the woman who disappeared.
Police still have no clear theory about what happened to Ms Murphy, almost three weeks since she returned home and was never seen again.
Volunteer investigator Cristie-Lea King (pictured) said they are looking for “answers, solutions, clues and evidence that may help bring Sam home.”
It is understood they believe Ms Murphy arrived at the area of ​​the woods where she regularly ran.
There are no witnesses, no CCTV or dash cam footage to help solve the mystery, which is very rare in an age where consumer surveillance technology plays a vital role in many police investigations.
The only solid lead has been that his mobile phone “pinged” from a tower in Buninyong, on the southern fringes of Ballarat, later on the day of his disappearance.
The phone hasn’t rung since.
The area I was running through, a bushland around Woowookarung Regional Park, has many old mine shafts.
However, it is likely that they would have already found her if she fell from one of them.
The theory that Mrs. Murphy would disappear by her own choice has been discussed, but there is no evidence to suggest that is what happened or that she would do that to her children.