Update after search for missing mum concludes

A phone found during the search for Samantha Murphy is understood to have belonged to the missing mum.

Ms Murphy was going for a run in Ballarat East on February 4 when she vanished.

Her body has not been located.

On Wednesday a mobile phone was found on the bank of a dam during a “targeted search” of a Buninyong property.

7News has reported confirmation of the link between the Ballarat woman and the discovery of an iPhone, which was encased in a teal phone case.

The phone discovery is one of the most significant developments in the case as investigators continue to search for her body.

A spokesman for Victoria Police would not confirm whether the item belonged to Ms Murphy.

A Victoria Police spokesman confirmed detectives from the Missing Persons Squad located “some items of interests” during the renewed search in Buninyong.

“The area has been cordoned off and those items will now be forensically tested,” they said on Wednesday.

Police confirmed the search in the Buninyong location had concluded on Wednesday and would not continue on Thursday.

Patrick Orren Stephenson has been charged with Ms Murphy’s murder.

He is yet to enter a plea.

Police allege he acted alone.

Speaking to Sunrise on Thursday morning University of Newcastle criminologist Xanthé Mallett said the discovery of a phone, if undamaged and did belong to Ms Murphy, could be a breakthrough.

“Samantha Murphy has been missing for 116 days now, so almost four months,” he said.

“If it does transpire (the phone) is hers, they may not have got as much information as they could have done if it had been found earlier.

“It really depends on the quality of the phone and how damaged it is. Remember, it has been outside.”

However, Dr Mallett said assessing the phone could take weeks.

“They will be working on them quickly but it is not going to be short term. We are not talking days, we are talking weeks at the earliest.

“Whether it has been for four months or if it transpires it is Samantha’s or longer, we really don’t know yet. We are going to have to wait and see exactly what condition that phone is in.”