Patrick Orren Stephenson has been charged with the murder of Samantha Murphy.
Patrick Orren Stephenson has been charged with the murder of Samantha Murphy.
Police have given a sad update in the hunt for the body of missing Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy, with authorities saying a fresh search in a new area of bushland has ended without any trace of the allegedly murdered woman.
The search for the remains of slain mother Samantha Murphy was narrowed to an area 11km from her hometown of Ballarat as police acted on new information.
Victoria Police shifted focus to Buninyong Bushland Reserve, 11km from the regional city, on Wednesday.
Units from specialist branches of Victoria Police, including the search and rescue squad, mounted branch, dog squad and off-road motorcyclists, all scoured bushland.
Murphy was last seen leaving her home to go for a run on the morning of February 4.
But on Wednesday afternoon, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said the effort had ended for the day.
“Sadly we did not locate Samantha,” she said.
“At this stage there is no search activity planned for tomorrow; however, we expect to continue searching over coming weeks.”
Police are hoping to locate her body more than six weeks since she was last seen.
What we know about alleged killer Patrick Stephenson
Stephenson is the only son of former AFL star Orren Stephenson, who made his debut in 2012 for Richmond before joining Geelong in 2013.
According to the Age, he would often bring his son Patrick to games and hang out at teams’ clubrooms where he would mix with the players.
His son followed in his footsteps and was regarded as a strong AFL player in his own right at a local level.
Patrick Orren Stephenson 22, has been charged with the murder of missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy. The 51-year-old mother of three disappeared on February 4 after going for a run in the Canadian State Forest in Victoria.
Photo / Supplied
The alleged killer was reportedly living between his own home and his parent’s house when he was arrested.
Neighbours who became aware of the arrest were left stunned, with some telling the Age the murder suspect lived a happy childhood and loved being around the AFL scene that his father gave him access to.
“I was totally amazed, I didn’t expect it at all, didn’t know what was going on, particularly when I got home [to the street] full of cars,” a neighbour said.
“They were wonderful, absolutely wonderful neighbours,” said one. “I didn’t really know [the man], I only really know girls.”
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said two weeks ago Patrick Stephenson had not disclosed the location of Murphy’s body and her whereabouts were still unknown.
“The investigation is far from over. We’re doing everything we can to find her body.
“For the family, it’s absolutely vital, and it’s something we’ll be focusing on.”
Police said they don’t believe the man was known to Murphy or to her family.
Stephenson, a tradesman, did not suffer from any drug problems or mental health conditions, his lawyer David Tamanika said.
However, Tamanika was successful in being granted interim name suppression for Stephenson, claiming his client was at risk of self-harm while behind bars.
Stephenson will remain in custody until his next court appearance in August.
Samantha Murphy. Photo / Victoria Police
What police will allege happened to Samantha Murphy
Patton said police would allege Murphy’s murder was a “deliberate” attack, but refrained from providing further details surrounding the circumstances.
“He has been charged with murder so by its definition we are saying this was a deliberate attack on Samantha.
“We are alleging that this is a deliberate attack that has resulted in the murder of Samantha.”
