Major update in search for missing mum

Police have deployed an excavator in a renewed “targeted search” for missing Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy, several months after her disappearance.

Detectives from Victoria’s Missing Persons Squad and a range of specialist police are involved in the current search in the Ballarat area.

Aerial photos captured by Channel 9 show the excavator in action.

Ms Murphy, 51, disappeared while on a morning jog in Ballarat East on February 4.

Her remains have not been found.

In a statement, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said they were not in any position to specify details of the current search.

They asked members of the public not to attend the search.

“Samantha’s family has been advised of the search,” the spokeswoman said.

“Since February, police have regularly undertaken a range of enquiries and small-scale searches as part of the current investigation.”

Ms Murphy was last seen leaving her Eureka St home in Ballarat about 7am of February 4 to go for a 14km run through the nearby Woowookarung Regional Park.

Police believed she had reached the Mount Clear area, adjacent to the park, about an hour after leaving home, but had not been seen or heard from since departing.

Subsequent searches by police and volunteers have failed to locate any trace of the missing mum.

In February, a huge group of volunteers combed through bushland after gathering at Ballarat’s Eureka Stockade Memorial Park – some bringing metal detectors and even a sniffer dog.

Patrick Orren Stephenson, the son of former AFL player Orren Stephenson, has been charged with Ms Murphy’s murder.

Police allege he acted alone.

“He has been charged with murder so, by definition, we are saying this was a deliberate attack on Samantha,” Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said in March.

Later that month, police launched a targeted search of Buninyong Bushland Reserve involving a range of specialist units including mounted officers, dog squad and motorcyclists.

The search area was highlighted in “intelligence derived from a number of sources,” a police spokesperson said at the time.

More to come.