EXCLUSIVE: Samantha Murphy sent messages to colleagues and close friends warning she felt unsafe. “Someone is following me… I don’t know what to do,” she texted hours before leaving home. Her friends urged her to stay indoors, but she refused, determined to maintain her routine. Investigators say the messages provide insight into her fear and her family’s inaction. Click below to read every message and the timeline that police now rely on heavily.👇

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‘Resolution’: Vow in search for missing mum

Police will spend a second day in a renewed search for missing mum Samantha Murphy, who disappeared while going for a run in Ballarat in February last year.

Specialist detectives carried out a targeted search of Enfield State Park – about 30km south of Ballarat, where the mum was last seen – on Wednesday.

Nothing new was found during Thursday’s search, but officers are expected to be out again on Friday.

The mother of three, 51, vanished while completing her morning run through the Canadian State Forest about 7am on February 4, 2024.

There is a fresh search for missing mum Samantha Murphy.

In March 2024, 23-year-old Patrick Orren Stephenson was charged with Ms Murphy’s murder.

He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear in the Supreme Court on April 8.

Police have conducted numerous searches in the Ballarat region since Ms Murphy’s disappearance, including the bushland of the Enfield State Park, Canadian State Forest and Buninyong Bushland Reserve.

In May 2024, detectives recovered Ms Murphy’s phone from the bank of a dam near Slaughterhouse Road on the outskirts of Ballarat.

Police and SES volunteers continue the search for Samantha Murphy in Enfield State Park. Picture: NewsWire /Mark Stewart

Search teams combed through Enfield State Park in a renewed search to find Samantha Murphy. Picture: NewsWire /Mark Stewart

Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations Bob Hill told the media search teams were combing the bushland.

“Closure is required for the family, for the loved ones,” Deputy Commissioner Hill said.

He said police had searched in the Ballarat area before but to no avail.

SES crews joined the search at Enfield State Park. Picture: NewsWire /Mark Stewart

Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations Bob Hill said police would search bushland in the Enfield State Park. Picture: NewsWire / David Geraghty

“We will continue to focus on that investigation until we get a resolution,” he said.

“This is another search that is based on more intelligence that would indicate that we need to conduct more work in that area.

“We will continue our focus in that area.”

On Wednesday night, detectives from the Missing Persons Squad confirmed the renewed search.

Police received intelligence that led them to search the area. Picture: NewsWire /Mark Stewart

Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations Bob Hill said Samantha Murphy’s family and loved ones needed closure as a new search for her continued. Picture: NewsWire /Mark Stewart

“Since February 2024, police have regularly undertaken a range of inquiries and small-scale searches as part of the current investigation,” a statement read.

“We are not in a position to supply further specific details of today’s operational activity at this time.”
Members of the public have been advised to not assist with the search.

Samantha has been missing for 12 months. (Image: Social Media)

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It’s been 12 months since Michael Murphy and his three kids last saw his wife Samantha Murphy as she left their Ballarat home for a run on the morning of February 4, 2024.

“On that particular day, I was outside and thought she’ll be coming up the road pretty soon,” her husband Mick told media shortly after her disappearance. “Then she didn’t return.”

After leaving her Ballarat East home at 7am, Samantha jogged through Woowookarung Park to the rural suburb, Mt Clear, about 14km away from her actual home.

Now the case is at a standstill, Victoria Police theorise the 51-year-old was killed by Patrick Stephenson, 23, who was arrested and charged with murdering Samantha on March 6, 2024.

Patrick, son of AFL player Orren Stephenson and his wife Whitney, pleaded not guilty to the charge on November 14, 2024, and elected to fast-track his trial in the Victorian Supreme Court.

A directions hearing is expected to occur within the coming months as police continue to piece together what happened to Samantha.

Stephenson also pleaded guilty to previous driving offences on January 16, following a motorcycle crash in October 2023, just months before Sam went missing.

HOPING FOR ANSWERS

Police have not found Samantha’s remains. Stephenson pleaded not guilty.
As pre-trial preparation continues alongside the police investigation into Samantha’s disappearance. The director of the Australian Missing Persons Register, Nicole Morris, hopes the proceedings bring some answers for Samantha’s family.

“It’s very difficult to say whether Samantha’s family will know the truth,” she tells Woman’s Day.

“I know the police are still working very hard to find her remains and hopefully if she is found they may have more answers, forensically, about what happened on that fateful day.”

CARRYING THE PAIN

Michael and daughter Jess are still hoping for answers. (Credit: Newspix)
Nicole, who founded the register in 2005 says the families of missing persons carry that pain forever.

“Having a missing person is an ambiguous loss, you know you have lost them, in a sense that you don’t know where they are, but the brain can’t process that,” she shares.

“You have a loss, but you don’t know why you have that loss.”

Since Samantha disappeared, Victoria Police have conducted multiple extensive searches in bushland and on properties around Ballarat.

On May 29, police divers located Samantha’s phone, credit cards and her licence in a small dam on a far near Buninyong, about 5km south of the mobile tower where her phone last pinged.

Police also searched for two days in Enfield State Park near Grenville in September, but failed to find anything of interest.

At the time, a spokesperson for Victoria Police said the investigation remained ongoing, and declined to provide any further information.

In a missing persons case, Nicole says it’s crucial the community doesn’t speculate online about what happened.

“What was distressing to see about Samantha’s case was the early widespread accusations that her husband was the killer,” she says.

“We know that he had nothing to do with it, and is a grieving husband.”

She says the families of missing persons see everything posted as they seek answers, and misinformation can spread easily.

But she adds, “Sharing missing persons posts is vital because the more people they reach, the greater the chance of them being read by someone who might have vital information.”
Samantha has been missing for 12 months. (Credit: Instagram)

KNOWING IS EVERYTHING

According to The Missing Persons Coordination Centre, 99 percent of the 56,000 people that were reported missing in 2023 were found alive and well.

Nicole says for the remaining one per cent, like Samantha, the families are often left wondering why their loved one disappeared.

“To know what happened is everything,” Nicole says.

“That tangible proof of someone’s fate is often what is needed to accept they are finally gone.”