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A professional explorer of abandoned mines has claimed those searching for missing Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy may have failed to properly look in some of the many mine shafts in the areas – one of the most obvious places she could be.
Ms Murphy, 51, is believed to have left her Eureka St home in East Ballarat for a run into bushland at about 7am on February 4. She never returned.
Sunday marked exactly two weeks since Ms Murphy’s disappearance, which Victoria Police have labelled “suspicious”.
Police and the community have been combing the streets and bushland in and around Ms Murphy’s home – but there is concern they may have not been looking in all the right places.
Despite the area being littered with abandoned mines, Raymond “Raymo” Shaw, the founder of the Victorian Historical Mine Shaft Chasers, has said there was little to no sign many of the shafts had been searched.
Mine chasers regularly head underground to map old mine shafts and document what’s down there.
Mr Shaw has said he has explored more than 1000 mines, according to the ABC.
He said he and his wife travelled from Melbourne to the area last week to check some 40 mine shafts to see if there were signs of Ms Murphy.
“There wasn’t any disturbance on the surface from emergency services looking for any items that belonged to the missing person in question,” he told the Daily Mail.
“There was no signs of any bushes being moved”.
He said the shafts can often be hidden by foliage, logs or soil and they were hard to find.
“To the untrained eye in a mining district, the common man would walk on by,” he said.
Rogue ‘weirdo’
Mr Shaw said he has met people who have made their homes in abandoned mime tunnels and that person could have attacked Ms Murphy.
He described them as “weirdos who are nice, generally”.
“They will defend themselves, though”.
Husband: “We want Sam home’
On Sunday, Ms Murphy’s husband Michael told 7 News the family were “doing the best we can under the circumstances”.
“We want Sam home please,” he added.
‘She would never switch that phone off’: Family’s theory
Ms Murphy’s uncle and aunt Allan and Janice Robson told the Daily Mail last week that foul play was the explanation that now made most sense.
“It’s just like she’s gone off the face of the Earth. There’s nothing,” said Ms Robson.
“You’d think the police dogs would have been able to pick up her scent. They should have been able to pick up where she ran into that forest.”
The couple said the fact Ms Murphy’s phone hadn’t made communication with a mobile tower since she went missing didn’t bode well.
“She would never switch that phone off … that phone was always hooked up,” said Mr Robson.
He wondered if because she went for a morning run so regularly, she could have been stalked by someone who knew her routine.
A possible motive could have been a robbery that went awry, he told the Mail, as it may have been known that the Murphys were financially secure.
“She would have put up a bloody good fight,” Mr Robson said.
His wife added that if Ms Murphy suspected something was wrong, “I don’t think she’d hang about”.
“She was a runner. She would have got out of that area”.
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