Police investigating the disappearance of missing mother Samantha Murphy have found an object of interest in bushland and declared it a crime scene.
The search for Ms Murphy entered its fourth day on Wednesday, with searches largely concentrated outside the family home in Ballarat East, about 100km northwest of Melbourne.
The mother of three disappeared without a trace after going for a run in a national forest at 7am on Sunday.
Police officers were seen at her home on Wednesday, while state emergency services crews searched the property outside.
But at around 12.30pm a separate search party found a potentially interesting item in nearby bushland and Victoria Police declared a crime scene.
SES crews outside Samantha Murphy’s family home on Wednesday
Police on horseback walk past the Murphy complex on Wednesday
A police car was in the driveway of Mrs. Murphy’s home Wednesday morning
It was not immediately clear which item was involved. Police, SES and volunteers appeared to be leaving no stone unturned in the search this morning.
Volunteers were seen this morning looking under bushes and inspecting undergrowth immediately outside the Murphy home.
A person inside the home gave media outside “the bird” before closing the home’s blinds.
Across the road, officers were seen questioning a neighbor before then searching the rear of his property.
Search crews were also observed conducting similar line searches along nearby Eureka Road.
Mrs. Murphy, 51, had embarked on a 12-mile run through the Canadian State Forest, an area her husband Michael claimed she knew well but never returned.
Mr Murphy, who runs a major repair business with his missing wife, has largely remained tight-lipped since his wife went missing.
Daily Mail Australia has been told media outlets who approached his company on Tuesday were met with a frosty response.
“It’s just up in the air, we don’t know,” Murphy told the newspaper Herald Sun on Tuesday.
‘In the end it’s just a matter of time.’
He was pictured on Tuesday speaking to police as the desperate search continued
Police are questioning one of Ms Murphy’s neighbors on Wednesday
An SES employee searches for clues outside the Murphy complex
Police and SES teams will gather down the road from Ms Murphy’s home on Wednesday
On Wednesday, a concerned neighbor told Daily Mail Australia that Ms Murphy’s disappearance had shocked the community.
“It’s just such a concern because you just don’t know what happened. Is there anyone out there? We just don’t know,” she said.
Some locals are already starting to come up with a series of theories about what happened, while some are concerned about ‘suspicious’ individuals living in the region.
This was preceded by a large-scale search operation the Search and Rescue Squad, local police, more than 100 specialist officers from the dog brigade, mounted unit, solo unit and air wing.
SES crews and teams from Forest Fire Management Australia and Parks Victoria have also joined the search.
The Ballarat community has come together, with a growing number of residents and Ms Murphy’s friends joining the search.
Ms Murphy’s ‘appalled and concerned’ family have serious concerns, describing her disappearance as ‘out of character’.
On the morning Ms Murphy disappeared, she was captured on her own CCTV system wearing a brown shirt and black mid-length leggings.
Ms Murphy, an avid runner, was last seen wearing a brown/maroon shirt and black leggings
The search for missing mother-of-three Samantha Murphy (pictured) has entered its third day
Mrs. Murphy is an administrator at Inland Motor Body Works, which she co-owns with her husband
On Tuesday, Acting Inspector Lisa MacDougall said Ms Murphy’s mobile phone had pinged in Buninyong but “investigations are ongoing to see if (the phone) is still on”.
“It’s clear that phone batteries can run out, but that’s part of the investigation,” she told reporters on Monday.
Mrs Murphy was known to be fit and walked through the national forest almost every day.
“The search area is not completely remote, we are on the outskirts of Ballarat, and it’s not that far from urban areas either,” Insp MacDougall said.
Temperatures rose to a scorching 36 degrees Celsius on Sunday and it is not known whether Ms Murphy had food or water with her.
“It was clear that (Sunday) was a hot day… there is clearly an increased risk there because of the heat,” Insp MacDougall added.
‘It increases the urgency of the search for us and of course we take into account that this has consequences for someone’s health.’
Ms Murphy is described as white, approximately 173cm tall, with a slim build and shoulder-length blond hair.
Anyone who sees her is asked to contact police immediately.
