Police searching for missing mother Samantha Murphy have sent specialist rescue teams to investigate abandoned local mine shafts as the main search comes to an end.
The mother-of-three disappeared after going for a morning run at around 7am last Sunday near her home in Ballarat, country Victoria.
CCTV footage captured her leaving the house in her running gear and was believed to be heading towards nearby Woowookarung Regional Park.
Her husband Mick Murphy, 53, raised the alarm when she never returned in time for a pre-planned family lunch at 11am
Police, the Country Firefighters Association, State Emergency Service volunteers and hundreds of locals have organized a huge search for the beloved mother.
But not a single trace of her has been found anywhere.
Now police have revealed that specialist rescue teams and divers have been sent to search for the 51-year-old man in the abandoned mine shafts littering the Goldfields area.
Samantha Murphy, 51, (pictured) disappeared while out for a run at 7.30am at the beautiful location of Woowookarung Regional Park near Ballarat, Victoria, last Sunday and has not been seen since.
Specialist rescue teams and divers have been sent to search for the 51-year-old man in the abandoned mine shafts littering the Goldfields area, police have revealed.
This map shows the locations of dozens of treacherous mines and shafts dotting the Goldfields around Ballarat, including the area currently being searched.
It is feared that he has strayed from the forest paths where he normally runs and fallen down one of the treacherous wells that are often hidden by bushes.
But locals have also said that mine shafts could be used to hide his body if he is the victim of a criminal act.
The police are also inspecting the countless local prey in the surrounding farmland to see if there is any trace of it there.
“There are many unused mines in the area,” admitted Crime Command acting superintendent Mark Hatt.
‘At the moment we have a police search and rescue squad involved in the operation (for that). They have been involved in the search since day one.
“It is a challenging area and terrain within the search operation area… it is also thick and rugged bush terrain.”
Detectives from Victoria Police’s Missing Persons Squad have now taken control of the search as the ground search narrows.
They have also called in an army of telecommunications technology experts to try to reconstruct Ms Murphy’s movements from the phone data they have at their disposal.
Superintendent Hatt confirmed Ms Murphy was carrying an Apple Watch and her mobile phone with her when she disappeared.
Mum-of-three Samantha Murphy (pictured leaving home on Sunday) was caught on CCTV wearing her running gear and an Apple Watch on the day she went missing.
Detectives from Victoria Police’s Missing Persons Squad have now taken control of the search as the ground search narrows.
But he was reluctant to share information about what the phone data had revealed so far.
“We are not commenting on that at this time,” he said. “We are still working with our expert telecommunications technicians to help us with that.”
It is understood that a local cell tower recorded a ping from Ms Murphy’s phone on Sunday after she disappeared, but police declined to say more about the timing or location of the phone.
“We can’t respond to that at this time,” Superintendent Hatt said. “Obviously, that’s what will happen with our telecommunications technicians.”
Locals have speculated that contact with her phone could have been cut if it fell or was thrown into a deep mine shaft.
Goldfields maps show dozens of abandoned alluvial and reef gold mine shafts, but locals say hundreds, or even thousands, of more uncatalogued mines dot the bushland, some of which remain unused and overgrown for years. generations.
“Some sink for kilometers and the sides are unstable,” said a local prospector.
“Many are covered, but I have seen them fall in on themselves when the rain and the years take their toll.”
Samantha Murphy left her Ballarat home at 7am on Sunday to go for a run in the nearby state forest and did not return home, nor has she been seen since.
Her husband Mick Murphy, 53, (pictured at the search scene) raised the alarm when she never returned in time for a pre-planned family lunch at 11am
Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina said mine shafts should be a priority for police as concern grows for Ms. Murphy as she remains missing.
“For all we know, she may have been injured in a mine shaft,” he told Nine’s Today program on Saturday.
“That is an avenue of investigation that needs to be examined and eliminated.”
He also emphasized the need to quickly follow up on any information that was discovered through GPS tracking on Ms. Murphy’s phone and watch.
“(It’s) absolutely crucial up front because obviously battery life is an issue,” he said.
‘They would depend a lot on the GPS coordinates through your smartwatch and/or Apple Watch and also the phone.
“Those are the two crucial elements they will look at.”
On Thursday, her husband broke his silence to plead for anyone with information to come forward.
“People don’t disappear into thin air,” he added. “Someone has to know something.”