Victoria Police Chief Addresses 'Suspicious' Circumstances in Samantha Murphy's Disappearance

Victoria’s Police Chief, Shane Patton, has acknowledged the concerning circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy, ten days after she went missing.

Since Saturday, when the police announced a reduction in the search efforts in the bushland where Ms. Murphy frequented, there has been no public commentary from the authorities.

Chief Commissioner Patton, during a press conference on Wednesday, expressed concern over the lack of new leads in the investigation led by the Missing Persons Squad.

He stated, “It’s certainly unusual when we haven’t been able to locate any trace of her or any other evidence within that period of time,” further adding, “It’s suspicious, whether that means there’s foul play involved or not, I don’t know, but obviously detectives are investigating a matter where a woman’s been missing for a significant period of time.”

Despite detectives visiting the Murphy family home on Wednesday morning and spending over an hour inside, there have been no significant breakthroughs in the search for the mother of three, despite extensive community efforts and a multi-agency operation.

Ms. Murphy, aged 51, reportedly left her Eureka St home for a run at around 7 am on February 4th but never returned.

In response to veiled criticisms of the police response, Commissioner Patton emphasized that the Missing Persons Squad had been involved “since the start” and that the investigation had been thorough from the beginning.

Victoria Police stated that there was currently no evidence suggesting foul play, but the prolonged absence of any trace of Ms. Murphy remained suspicious and concerning.

Detectives are actively pursuing hundreds of pieces of information, including reviewing CCTV footage, and conducting targeted searches of the local area.

Ms. Murphy’s daughter, Jess, urged the Ballarat community to continue their search efforts, stating, “Mum’s a really strong woman and she’s far too determined to give up this fight.”

Her father and husband, Mick, emphasized the need for the community’s support in finding Ms. Murphy, stating, “People just don’t vanish into thin air. Someone’s got to know something.”

The mysterious circumstances surrounding Ms. Murphy’s disappearance have led to intense speculation locally and nationally, with retired homicide detective Charlie Bezzina suggesting that the decision to scale back search operations indicated undisclosed information known to the police.

The local community has been through a range of emotions since Ms. Murphy’s disappearance, from disbelief to hopefulness, according to local church minister Mark Scherring.

However, amidst a lack of concrete information, online sleuths on social media pages have turned on each other, with the ‘Find Samantha Murphy’ page shutting down after gathering over 20,000 members.

Creator Cindy Hobbs thanked the supporters and stated that the group had “served its purpose,” urging members to delete themselves to speed up the process of shutting down the page.

Investigators have appealed to residents for any CCTV or dashcam footage covering specific areas last Sunday, in hopes of uncovering more information regarding Ms. Murphy’s whereabouts.