Police will not return to the area where they found what is believed to be missing mother Samantha Murphy’s phone.
On Wednesday, Victoria Police search teams were seen celebrating after finding a mobile phone next to a dam on farmland near where the mother-of-three’s mobile phone was last connected to a Mobile phone tower in Buninyong region.
The dam is about 15 kilometers from Ballarat East, where Murphy ran his last race on February 4.
A police officer answers a phone believed to be that of missing mother Samantha Murphy.
The phone appeared to contain identification inside a wallet.
A police spokesperson confirmed the The Missing Persons Team had said it would not send search teams back to the region on Thursday.
“There is no update on the forensic evaluation of the items,” the spokesperson said.
The decision to stop the search will be a further blow to the Murphy family, who have not yet addressed the dramatic discovery of the mobile phone.
While police remain tight-lipped about confirming the ownership of the recovered phone, police teams at the scene showed their delight at the discovery as a television helicopter captured the moment from above.
Aerial footage from the scene showed officers locating the mud-spattered mobile phone in a wallet at the water’s edge, prompting jubilant celebrations among detectives nearby.
Video captured by the helicopter showed police hugging, patting each other on the back and shaking hands as they examined the phone, which was contained in a wallet that appeared to still have identification cards inserted.
Samantha and Mick Murphy in happier times
Police divers scoured the dam in brutally cold conditions.
The dam is located next to a major highway leading out of the region.
It is understood that the phone had been located. by a police technology detection dog.
A team of police divers was then sent into the water to search the small dam for further possible evidence.
Police were also seen using a metal detector to scan the water’s edge while an excavator was brought in to clear a path through thick bush for investigators.
tThe property owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, said police contacted him about three weeks ago for permission to access his land.
The man said officers returned Wednesday and told him they were going to conduct a search along the highway.
“A dog found something on the shore and they came over and asked me and my wife to make a statement,” he said.
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.
Patrick Orren Stephenson charged with Samantha Murphy’s murder
The man said police were interested in the levels of his quarry.
“I haven’t seen anything suspicious out there. We don’t have cameras. But yeah, I think one of those tech dogs found it,” he said.
The man said detectives came and spoke to him about a month after Ms Murphy disappeared, but only returned in recent weeks.
“They just asked me if I had seen anything suspicious,” he said.
Police allege that Ms. Murphy was murdered the day she disappeared in the Canadian State Forest, but no trace of her has been found since she disappeared.
In early March, Ballarat man Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, was charged with her murder.
Police have launched multiple bushland searches as part of their investigation since February.
Last month, police brought in specialized cadaver dogs from New South Wales to unsuccessfully search the Victorian bush in multiple locations among the dense undergrowth.
Teams of officers focused their search on Enfield State Park, 30 kilometers south of Ballarat, but another search team was also working 25 kilometers away, in thick bushland in the Durham Lead Nature Conservation Reserve.
The Durham Reservoir is a short distance from the dam where police recovered the phone on Wednesday.
Stephenson is due back in court on August 8 on charges of driving and murder.