The heartbroken husband of missing Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy has given a sad public update on her life almost seven months after her alleged murder.
The mother of three disappeared without a trace on the morning of February 4 after leaving her home on Eureka Street in Ballarat East, Victoria.
Her family reported her missing later that day after she failed to show up for a family lunch.
Ms Murphy’s husband Mick has now taken to social media to confirm his heartbreaking acceptance that his beloved wife will never be returning home.
Mr Murphy’s Facebook profile now lists his marital status as “widowed”.
The revelations of the harrowing change come just under seven months after Ms Murphy embarked on her final, fateful run.
Mr Murphy had frequently appeared on the social media platform on his wife’s Facebook page.
The body shop owner is also known to use the site to track vintage car sales and to sell his own collection of classic cars.
Samantha Murphy disappeared in February and is now presumed dead
Mick Murphy changed his marital status to widower
Ms Murphy had enjoyed a holiday in Bali in 2017 with her husband and three children, during which her husband was featured prominently on his own Facebook page.
The couple had been inseparable in life, and Mr Murphy and his daughter faced the media just days after his wife disappeared in the hope that she would return home alive.
The sad Facebook status update indicates that the Murphy clan has accepted Ms Murphy’s fate even though her body was never found.
On May 29, police found what appeared to be Ms Murphy’s phone, raising hopes that they may soon be close to finding her remains.
The phone was recovered on the muddy banks of a dam located along the Buninyong-Mount Mercer Highway, in the same region where the phone last connected to a cell tower before it went dark.
An image of the device removed from the scene showed what appeared to be an Apple iPhone contained in a wallet filled with identification cards.
The dam is about 15 kilometres from Ballarat East, where Ms Murphy set out on her final drive early that summer Sunday morning.
Samantha Murphy’s husband, Mick Murphy, during a demonstration against male violence
Samantha and Mick Murphy in happier times
Aerial footage from the scene showed police officers hugging each other, slapping each other on the back and shaking hands as they examined the phone.
Mr Murphy later confirmed he instantly recognised his wife’s phone when he saw the dramatic television images.
His wife had long used such a wallet to protect her phone and store her various credit and ID cards.
She had appeared in a Facebook photo alongside Mr Murphy in a happy snap from their latest trip to Bali.
It remains unclear what was on that phone or what, if any, help it provided investigators in finding Ms. Murphy’s body.
Forensic testing is ongoing on the phone as police work to obtain data from it in an attempt to gain further leads.
Reports indicate that the phone was in near-perfect working condition.
Police are remaining tight-lipped about the progress of the investigation, saying only that the search for Ms Murphy’s body is continuing.
Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, is accused of murdering Ms Murphy while she was out jogging on Sunday.
The last disturbing image of Samantha Murphy alive on the day of her final race
Police celebrate after finding what is believed to be Ms Murphy’s phone in a dam
Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, is accused of murdering Ms Murphy while she was out jogging on Sunday.
Stephenson, who was arrested five weeks after Ms Murphy was allegedly murdered, is understood to have not told police where her body is located.
He is due to appear at a preliminary hearing in Ballarat Magistrates Court in August.
Stephenson is the son of former Richmond and Geelong AFL player Orren Stephenson and is not known to the Murphy family.
