Missing mum Samantha Murphy was notably absent from her family’s traditional summer holiday on Victoria’s surf coast in the weeks before she vanished. Ms Murphy, 51, has not been seen since she was leaving her home at Ballarat East at 7am on Sunday to go for a run in a state forest on the outskirts of the regional town, west of Melbourne.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal Ms Murphy and her family had holidayed together at a Torquay caravan park – the gateway to Victoria’s iconic Great Ocean Road – for almost a decade. But this year park dwellers noticed only her husband Mick and their children attended the park, where they stay in a luxury cabin.
‘They usually spend most of January down here,’ a source told Daily Mail Australia. While described as friendly, Ms Murphy was observed to mostly keep to herself while attending the park, which enjoys an active community of regular summer holidayers.
‘They have a nice cabin … she keeps to herself. But Mick is always so nice. Always stops and says hello. We wondered where she was this year.’ On Thursday, Mr Murphy fronted media to call on the public for any information which might help find his wife alive.
‘People just don’t vanish into thin air. Someone has got to know something … whether it be any little thing that you might think is relevant, just call the police, let them know,’ he said. ‘It’ll give us a bit of peace of mind if we get some hope.’
While Mr Murphy did not take any questions from the media, his wife’s childhood friend Virginia O’Loughlan told Daily Mail Australia that Ms Murphy missed the traditional family holiday after becoming sick with Covid-19.
‘There was nothing suspicious about it. There was no family feud. I can understand why people can start to think that, but she definitely had Covid. Another friend of ours had Covid too and they were both talking about it and when they get better they were going to catch up,’ she said.
‘She would have definitely been down there but she didn’t want anyone to get Covid.’ Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Mr Murphy is involved in his wife’s mysterious disappearance, and police have not suggested any foul play.
Ms O’Loughlan said Ms Murphy had been due to catch-up with friends for brunch at 11am on the day she went missing.
On the morning Ms Murphy vanished, she was captured on her own CCTV system wearing a maroon/brown singlet and black half-length leggings.
She was later spotted on a neighbour’s camera running past their property about 7.16am on Eureka Street in Ballarat East, near the intersection of Warrenheip Rd.
That was quarter of an hour after she began her Sunday run. It showed her running northeast towards Yankee Flat Road. Ms O’Loughlan said she did not believe her friend would have ventured into the rugged area where her phone was last ‘pinged’.
‘There’s no way she would have run that far. Absolutely no way. I’m confident of that,’ she said. On Thursday, State Emergency Services volunteers and police again entered the bush in an area between the Canadian Plantation and Yankee Flat Road – about 15kms from Ms Murphy’s home.