Samantha Murphy’s husband Mick immediately knew the phone found by officers this week belonged to his wife when he received a call from police informing him of the discovery.
A 22-year-old man has been charged with murder over the disappearance of Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy.
Detectives on Wednesday could be seen high-fiving and hugging each other after locating the phone in Durham Lead, just south of Ballarat, during a “targeted search” for the remains of the 51-year-old mother-of-three.
Aerial footage of the search showed sniffer dogs and an excavator being used, as about a dozen officers scoured an area along Slaughterhouse Road and Buninyong-Mt Mercer Road, south of Buninyong.
Police officers celebrate by hugging and patting the search dog after they found a clue in the Samantha Murphy disappearance in Buninyong. Picture: 9News
Samantha Murphy’s husband revealed he knew it was his wife’s phone as soon as police called to tell him of the discovery. Picture: 9News
It is understood a dog trained to sniff out technology located the phone, which was in the mud on the banks of the dam.
The phone was inside a wallet case, reportedly with Ms Murphy’s credit cards and licence tucked into the adjacent side.
Mr Murphy told Nine News he immediately knew the phone, inside a teal-coloured case, belonged to his wife.
Victoria Police have still refused to say whether the phone belonged to Ms Murphy until the forensic testing has been completed.
Concerns have been raised about whether data on the phone will be recoverable, given it may have been outside and exposed to the elements for 116 days.
However, experts have largely agreed that the phone data should still be able to provide tracking information, helping to piece together Ms Murphy’s final hours.
Victoria Police divers searched the dam where the phone was found on Wednesday afternoon. Picture: NewsWire / Ian Wilson
The dam is about 5km away from where Ms Murphy’s phone pinged on the day she disappeared and was allegedly murdered.
Ms Murphy, who was last seen leaving her Ballarat East home about 7am on Sunday, February 4 to go for a run, was allegedly murdered by 22-year-old Patrick Stephenson in Mount Clear that very same day.
It is understood Stephenson, who was arrested five weeks after Ms Murphy was allegedly murdered, has not told police where the mother-of-three’s body is.
He is due to appear for a committal hearing at the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court in August.
Stephenson is the son of former AFL Richmond and Geelong AFL player, Orren Stephenson and is not known to the Murphy family.