Police have found a mobile phone on the banks of a dam in what appears to be a major breakthrough as they continue the search for missing mum Samantha Murphy.
The 51-year-old was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street, in Ballarat, Victoria, to go for a run in the nearby Canadian State Forest on the morning of February 4.
In early March, local man Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, was charged with her alleged murder.
On Wednesday, police launched a new search in the hunt for her remains with the focus on a dam at a property south of Buninyong, approximately 14km from her home.
Aerial footage from the scene showed officers locating the mud-splattered mobile phone in a wallet at the water’s edge, prompting jubilant celebrations among detectives standing nearby.
Video captured by the ABC showed police hugging, backslapping and shaking hands in the wake of the discovery, which was believed to have been found by a police tech detector dog.
A team of police divers were then sent into the water to scour the small dam for any further possible evidence.
Police celebrated after finding a cellphone during the search for Samantha Murphy
It’s been more than three months since beloved mother-of-three Samantha Murphy went missing and her family are no closer to knowing where her body may be. Ms Murphy is pictured with her husband Mick.
Daily Mail Australia understands police are still searching for other key pieces of evidence, such as Ms Murphy’s missing watch and headphones, or possibly a murder weapon.
Later, police were seen using a metal detector to scan the edge of the water as an excavator was brought to clear a pathway through thick bush for investigators.
In a statement issued shortly after the mobile phone was found, police said they had located some ‘items of interest’ during the search for the missing mum.
‘The area has been cordoned off and those items will now be forensically tested.
‘At this stage we are not providing further information about the items until that testing has been completed.
‘The items were located during today’s targeted search, which involved investigators and other specialist units from across Victoria Police and assistance from the AFP.’
The owner of the property, who wished to remain anonymous, said police contacted him about three weeks ago asking for permission to access his land.
The man said officers returned on Wednesday where they told him they were going to perform a line search along the road.
‘A dog found something on the banks and they came up and asked me and my wife to make a statement,’ he said.
The man said police were interested in the levels of his dam.
‘I hasn’t seen anything suspicious out there. We don’t have cameras. But yeah I believe one of those tech dogs found it,’ he said.
The man said detectives came and spoke to him about a month after Ms Murphy vanished, but only returned again in recent weeks.
‘They just asked me if I’d seen anything suspicious,’ he said.
Daily Mail Australia understands police are still searching for other key pieces of evidence, such as Ms Murphy’s missing watch and headphones, or a possible murder weapon.
The dam where the mobile phone was discovered sits on the edge of a property in Buninyong
As part of today’s search, an excavator was used to clear scrub near the dam and the dog squad was also involved
Police allege Ms Murphy was killed on the day she went missing in the Canadian State Forest but no trace of her has been found since she vanished.
Stephenson, who remains in custody, is yet to enter a plea.
Since February, police have launched multiple searches in bushland as part of the investigation.
Last month, police brought in specialist cadaver dogs from New South Wales to scour the Victorian bush at multiple locations in dense scrub without success.
Teams of officers focused their search within Enfield State Park, 30km south of Ballarat – but another search team was also working 25km away in thick scrub in the Durham Lead Nature Conservation Reserve.
In early March, Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, was charged with her alleged murder
Just weeks ago, Ms Murphy’s husband Mick Murphy told Channel 9 he had never stopped searching for her.
‘On that particular day, I was outside and thought she’ll be coming up the road pretty soon,’ he said.
‘Then she didn’t.’
Mr Murphy said he searched daily, either by driving through town or spending two hours walking through a pine plantation.
‘Sometimes I go for a drive and it might not be anywhere particular, or I go for a walk for two hours. It varies every day,’ he said.
‘It’s very good for my mind and if I sat at home I wouldn’t do myself any favours.’
Missing Persons Unit Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt has previously stated police would never give up looking for Ms Murphy.
‘I want to assure those in the Ballarat community that police remain focused on doing everything we can to return Samantha to her family,’ he said last month.
It comes as Ms Murphy’s accused killer was hit with new charges in relation to an alleged drug and alcohol-fuelled bender last year.
Stephenson has received drink and drug driving charges after he allegedly crashed a motorbike into a tree on the night of October 1 following the AFL grand final.
He has also been also charged with careless driving.
Daily Mail Australia doesn’t suggest that Stephenson has been involved in any wrongdoing, only that charges have been laid.
He has not yet entered a plea to the new charges.
Stephenson is due to face court again on August 8 over the driving and murder charges.
