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
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
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.”
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.”
