The disappearance of Samantha Murphy has gripped the nation for more than a month, but today Victoria Police charged a man with her murder. The 22-year-old appeared in Ballarat magistrates court this afternoon and he will remain in custody until April. But the search for Samantha Murphy is continuing, and police say the accused man has given them no information about the whereabouts of her body.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Five weeks after Samantha Murphy set out for a run from her Ballarat home, police have
00:07 charged a man with killing her.
00:09 We will be alleging that murder occurred at Mount Clare on the day she disappeared.
00:15 At 6am yesterday, police took a 22-year-old Scotsburn man into custody.
00:20 He was interviewed and several search warrants were executed before he was charged with one
00:24 count of murder early this afternoon.
00:27 We're saying this was a deliberate attack on Samantha.
00:32 The Murphy family was told about the arrest last night.
00:35 They were under intense scrutiny at the outset.
00:38 They have been cooperative with us, they have provided everything we needed and they have
00:44 had no involvement whatsoever in this matter.
00:47 Police don't yet know where Samantha Murphy is and are desperate to find her.
00:52 He has not disclosed to police where Samantha's body is.
00:56 It's a search that spanned more than a month and involved hundreds of police, emergency
01:01 services and the Ballarat community.
01:04 Samantha Murphy left her home on the morning of February 4th to go for a run.
01:08 Initial searches centred on the Canadian State Forest tracks before mobile phone signals
01:14 focused the search on Mount Clare.
01:16 But nothing was found and the trail appeared to go cold until this morning when news of
01:21 the arrest broke.
01:22 The reason why we can't tell you who the alleged murderer of Samantha Murphy is, is
01:27 because of a suppression order issued by the magistrate late this afternoon after his lawyer
01:32 raised issues about his mental health and his right to a fair trial.
01:36 The interim order will be challenged in court tomorrow by multiple media outlets.
01:41 The wider Ballarat community continues to grieve.
01:44 This has been an extremely tough time for our community but we will rally, we will have
01:51 the arms wrapped around and to support one another.
01:55 We are very desperate for her to be found.
01:58 We really want answers for her family.
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