EXCLUSIVE
Police have brought in cadaver dogs from New South Wales to scour the Victorian bush in several locations in search of missing mother Samantha Murphy.
Search teams on Thursday resumed their search for the remains of the mother of three in several places in the dense undergrowth covering a vast expanse of countryside.
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 nature reserve is just south of Buninyong, where Ms Murphy’s phone was last detected by mobile phone towers at 5pm on the day she disappeared.
Cadaver dogs were brought in from New South Wales to help find Samantha Murphy’s body.
A helicopter was seen hovering over the dense forest just before 2pm on Thursday, as search teams delved into the thick undergrowth.
Ms Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her home in Eureka Street, Ballarat East, to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest on the morning of February 4.
The last search is about 20 kilometers south of the Murphy family home and was not made public when police first announced the resumption of the search Thursday morning.
A statement said detectives would be searching Enfield State Park 30 kilometers away, but police later admitted that searches were underway at several sites simultaneously.
Thursday was the first time search teams used highly trained cadaver dogs, brought in by New South Wales Police, since the investigation began.
They are specially trained to be able to sniff out human remains and corpses, even in extreme conditions.
Police on bikes have also been used to help cover the wide area of the increasingly desperate search for Ms Murphy’s remains, more than eight weeks after she disappeared.
Officers had previously carried out unsuccessful search efforts in Buninyong Bushland Reserve in March.
Teams scouring the area include those specializing in missing persons, search and rescue, the public order response team and the mounted branch.
The terrain has been described as treacherous, with search teams not only having to navigate through dense bush, but also hidden mine shafts.
Unlike a search conducted last month, Murphy’s family was informed of Thursday’s search in advance.
Police on dirt bikes travel through the mountains in search of Samantha Murphy’s body
Police have investigated mine shafts in the search area.
A cadaver dog on the hunt for Samantha Murphy’s body
WhatsNew2Day Australia had last month seen Murphy’s husband searching alone for his missing wife in an area where police had previously been searching.
It is still unclear what new information prompted police to conduct new searches Thursday.
In March, detectives charged shopkeeper Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, with Ms Murphy’s murder.
They claim he killed her in Mount Clear the day she disappeared.
Stephenson is the son of Orren Stephenson, who played 15 AFL games for Geelong and Richmond between 2012 and 2014.
Acting Detective Superintendent Mark Hatt described Thursday’s effort as an “extensive” large-scale search that was based on targeted searches in other areas.
“I want to reassure members of the Ballarat community that police remain focused on doing everything possible to return Samantha to her family,” he said.
Samantha Murphy went for a run on February 4 and never came home
Mick Murphy and his daughter Jess asked for Samantha Murphy to return home on February 8, but police allege she was already dead.
Patrick Orren Stephenson has been charged with the murder of Samantha Murphy
The western regional Victorian town has been rocked by a series of tragedies this year, including the disappearance of Ms Murphy, a mine collapse that claimed the life of miner Kurt Hourigan, the death of mother-of-five Rebecca Young children, and forest fires in the surrounding areas.
On April 5, Hannah McGuire, 23, was also found dead in a burned-out car in nearby Scarsdale.
Her ex-boyfriend Lachlan Young has been charged with her murder.
Ms McGuire had only bought a house with Young a year earlier before she was allegedly murdered.
McGuire’s death has left Ballarat locals furious, with plans organize a demonstration in the city center on Friday night as an act of solidarity to end violence against women.
A description of the event on social media said women do not feel safe in Ballarat.
Cadaver dog searches for clues in search for Samantha Murphy
The thick bush where search teams entered on Thursday