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Samantha Murphy’s husband says he immediately knew the phone found next to a dam on the outskirts of Ballarat yesterday belonged to his missing wife.
An iPhone found yesterday near Slaughterhouse Road, south of Buninyong, was confirmed today to have belonged to the 51-year-old mother.
The dam was only five kilometers from the telephone tower where her cell phone had last pinged.
Her husband Mick Murphy was called after police made the discovery.
He told 9News today that he immediately knew it was hers.
Now, investigators hope data from the device can lead them to her body and finally bring closure to her loved ones.
“The physical properties of the phone will obviously be damaged, but what’s behind it, those ones and zeros of data, will be recoverable,” cybersecurity expert Nigel Fair told 9News.
“It’s a game changer for the investigation.”
The phone was found in a wallet containing identification cards, which are also being treated as important evidence.
Police divers searched the dam itself for Murphy’s body, but she has yet to be found.
9News understands police will return to the area to look for clues and determine how her phone ended up on the rural property.
“Of all the waterways to investigate, they chose this one, I believe pretty strongly, for a reason,” criminologist Tim Watson-Munroe told 9News.
9News understands he is still not cooperating with police.
Detectives from the Missing Persons Unit, along with a range of specialist resources including the Federal Police, spent hours yesterday searching south of Buninyong.
9News’ helicopter captured video of officers cheering and hugging after they found the phone in a wallet-like cover next to the dam around 12:25 p.m.
Police said they have “regularly undertaken a range of inquiries and small searches as part of the ongoing investigation” since Murphy disappeared.
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