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Phone found during search undergoing forensic testing
ABC NEWS (Australia)
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5/30/2024
Forensic testing is being carried out on a phone found in a dam during a search for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy.
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00:00
It was a large search effort here on the Bunnyong Mount Mercer Road and surrounding farmland
00:06
yesterday.
00:07
We saw the missing persons squad specialists with sniffer dogs and also an excavator brought
00:11
in to clear scrubland as police conducted a large search through here.
00:15
It led them to the dam behind me where yesterday afternoon they did find a phone that they
00:20
believe could belong to Miss Murphy.
00:22
There was cheers, hugging, high fives among the investigators when they found the phone
00:27
yesterday because it is potentially such a big breakthrough in this case.
00:31
It has dragged on for close to four months now.
00:34
The 51-year-old mother of three going for an early morning run back in February and
00:38
then disappearing seemingly without a trace.
00:41
It of course sparked national interest when we saw so many people going out and searching
00:46
for Miss Murphy with no leads as to her whereabouts.
00:49
We saw two months ago local man Patrick Oren-Stevenson charged with her murder but that still hasn't
00:55
led to the discovery of her body.
00:58
Police here yesterday sent divers into the dam.
01:01
It's a small shallow dam and that didn't seem to stir up any further leads but hopefully
01:06
the phone does lead to some closure for Miss Murphy's family.
01:10
So Nicholas, what's expected with the search today?
01:15
Police we understand won't be returning here today.
01:18
They've completed their search of this area.
01:20
They were here until right at the last light yesterday.
01:23
The focus very much now is on the forensic side of things, confirming if the phone is
01:28
Miss Murphy's and then seeing what information can be gleaned from it.
01:31
Of course it's been out here now for some four months.
01:34
The investigators say they are very much focused on finding Miss Murphy's body even though
01:40
this case has dragged on for so long.
01:43
And then further in the year we are yet to see Mr. Stevenson face court, facing that
01:48
murder charge.
01:49
He is due to appear next in August.
01:51
[BLANK_AUDIO]
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