Specialist tech detection dogs have been brought in to join the search for missing mother Samantha Murphy as detectives resume a new hunt of bushland for her remains.
Ms Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her home at Eureka Street in Ballarat East at about 7am on February 4 to go for a run in the vast Woowookrung Regional Park.
A new search area in Buninyong Bushland Reserve will be explored by technology detector dogs on Thursday after a fruitless eight-hour search on Wednesday.
The specialist dogs are supplied by the Australian Federal Police who say the canines can sniff out memory storage devices such as USBs, hard drives, mobile phones, storage device cards and SIM cards.
The dogs are considered to be the most elite of all sniffer dogs and capable of detecting the microns-thin coating that protects computer circuit boards.
Their noses are so sensitive, they can track down tiny SIM or memory cards buried in walls or even hidden in fruit.
Specialist detection dogs will join the search for Samantha Murphy as police continue to scour bushland for her remains (pictured, officers search bushland on Wednesday)
Ms Murphy, 51, was last seen leaving her home at Eureka Street in Ballarat East at about 7am on February 4 to go for a run in the vast Woowookrung Regional Park
The specialist dogs were famously used during a search of the Leongatha home belonging to accused murderer Erin Patterson last November.
One of the dogs, Georgia, found a USB, a micro secure digital card and a SIM card while another dog, Alma, detected a mobile phone, five iPads, a trail camera, a secure digital card and a smart watch.
These items were not found during initial searches by officers, AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw told a senates estimates earlier this year.
Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Shane Patton told ABC Radio the dogs would be tasked with finding Ms Murphy’s phone and Apple Watch.
‘We’ll be going to a different location but we will also use assistance from the Australian Federal Police today in technical detection dogs,’ he said.
‘We don’t have the capacity – we are trying to get that capability – to run a dog that can detect a SIM from a mobile phone and that type of thing.
‘We still haven’t recovered her phone and watch. We’ll use all those specialist skills.’
Victoria Police on Wednesday said fresh intelligence had led them to a new search area in bushland surrounding Buningyong Bushland Reserve
The specialist dogs were famously used during a search of the Leongatha home belonging to accused murderer Erin Patterson last November (pictured)
Victoria Police on Wednesday said fresh intelligence had led them to a new search area in bushland surrounding Buningyong Bushland Reserve.
The Missing Persons Squad, Search and Rescue Squad, the Mounted Branch, the Dog Squad and the Public Order Response Team all assisted on Wednesday.
Previous searches based on phone data saw investigators launch searches in the outskirts of Ballarat and the Mount Clear area.
The development comes after Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, was charged over Ms Murphy’s murder after he was arrested on March 6.
The new search area is less than 3km from the Scotsburn home Stephenson had been house-sitting with his girlfriend at the time.
Mr Murphy on Thursday made a heartfelt appeal for any information that could help locate his wife’s remains.
More to come.