Samantha Murphy: alleged killer of Ballarat woman may be named as search for body continues

The man accused of murdering Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy has been revealed as 22-year-old Patrick Stephenson, after the lifting of a legal order preventing him from being named.

The son of ex-AFL footballer, Orren Stephenson, has been charged with the murder of Murphy, a mother of three, who went missing on 4 February after going for a run. Police are still searching for her body.

The 22-year-old from Scotsburn attended St Patrick’s College and moved with his family to Ballarat in 2002.

His father made his debut in the AFL in 2012 at age 30 and in an interview with afl.com.au talked about how he returned home as much as possible when he was training in Melboune.

“Patrick last year was rolling around the rooms with the Geelong Cats and this year he’s rolling around with the Richmond Tiger boys,” he said.

“He wouldn’t pass it up for quids. He loves it and the girls have had a lot of fun with it as well. It’s a massive bonus that we can share these pretty good times in our lives with our kids.”

In 2019, Stephenson was photographed by the Ballarat Courier with his teammates from the Redan Under 19s team, to help promote Looking After Our Mates, a program to discourage drink-driving.

Five weeks since Murphy vanished after leaving her Ballarat East home, police on Thursday charged Stephenson with murdering the mother-of-three at Mount Clear.

Samantha Murphy. Photograph: VIC POLICE

He appeared in Ballarat magistrates court on Thursday, where his name was concealed.

Stephenson’s lawyer had argued releasing the name could cause prejudice to the man’s right to a fair trial and said his client had been suffering poor mental health since he was arrested.

The court lifted an interim order on Friday.

Stephenson has been remanded int to custody and will next face court on 8 August. His lawyer, David Tamanika, on Thursday told the court that it was his client’s first time in custody.

Detectives from the missing persons squad arrested Stephenson, who they said was not linked to the Murphy family, at about 6am on Wednesday.

“We are alleging a deliberate attack that has caused the death of Samantha,” the police commissioner, Shane Patton, told reporters.

On Thursday, Murphy’s husband, Michael, spoke of his relief over the development, describing the past few weeks as “shithouse” and told of how the community had rallied around his family.

“[It’s] like someone let a pressure valve off,” he told reporters.

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“God, the adrenaline with everything that’s been going on, it’s just [been about] trying to be brave for everybody.”

He said while they had been putting on “a brave face”, the family was “doing as good as we can”.

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast on Friday morning, the Ballarat mayor, Des Hudson, said the arrest had offered some “closure”.

“I think the fact that Sam was a mum, had young kids, or young teenagers, and just disappeared without any trace, it really sparked the emotion of our community and communities from everywhere,” Hudson said.

“Samantha will never come home to her family [and] they will never have a beautiful mother, a beautiful wife to be with them as [they] go forward.”

Police and specialist detectives were continuing a search for the body of Murphy.

“Investigations will continue at a very heavy pace,” Patton said. “Doing everything we can to locate Samantha’s body for the family is absolutely vital.”

Police said they were not looking for anyone else at this stage in connection to the alleged murder.

Anyone who has information, including CCTV or dashcam footage from the time Murphy went missing, has been asked to come forward.

Weeks of extensive searching began around Ballarat after Murphy disappeared, with emergency services workers joined by hundreds of locals.

Murphy’s disappearance was out of character as she had been described as mentally and physically fit, and was training for an upcoming race by undertaking 15km runs.

A vigil will be held in Ballarat on Friday evening near the Murphys’ home.