State and federal police are braving wet conditions and combing rugged terrain in a renewed search for the body of missing mother Samantha Murphy.
The 51-year-old Ballarat woman left her Eureka Street home for run in the Canadian State forest on the morning of February 4 but never returned.
Detectives from the Missing Persons squad, with specialists from Victoria Police, NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police, began a new search in Grenville, south of Ballarat, on Tuesday.
Grenville is roughly a 10-minute drive from Buninyong, where Ms Murphy’s phone was found buried in the mud on the edge of an agricultural dam in May.
Scores of officers set out in soggy conditions on Wednesday with dirt bikes, police vehicles and dogs to search the area, which shoulders on bush, farmland, several timber plantations and the Yarrowee River.
“Since February, police have regularly undertaken a range of inquiries and small-scale searches as part of the current investigation,” Victoria Police said in a statement.
“We are not in a position to supply further specific details of today’s operational activity at this time.”
Ms Murphy’s disappearance led to an outpouring of grief in the Ballarat community and the nation, leading to an influx of volunteers joining the earlier searches.
Police have asked the public not to help this time.
Police in March charged 23-year-old tradesman Patrick Orren Stephenson with the murder of Ms Murphy.
Stephenson will face court in November, after prosecutors asked for a delay to go through an extensive evidence brief including reams of CCTV footage.
Stephenson is the son of Orren Stephenson, who played 15 AFL games for Geelong and Richmond between 2012 and 2014.
Ms Murphy’s family has been advised of the search.
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