00:00 Just over a month after Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy went missing, a 22-year-old Ballarat
00:08 man is in custody after being arrested by police investigating Ms Murphy's disappearance.
00:15 Now no charges have been laid at this point and police have not disclosed where this man
00:20 is being held in custody.
00:22 I can reveal though that police say the man has no connection to the Murphy family.
00:28 Now as we await further updates from police, this arrest and indeed this man being in custody
00:35 marks a significant development in this investigation which police have previously described as
00:41 a top priority.
00:42 As much of the community is aware, on February 4th Ms Murphy went for her regular morning
00:49 run.
00:50 She was known to run around her Eureka Street home around the Wurrukarung State Forest,
00:56 also known as the Canadian State Forest.
00:59 And when her family raised that alarm around 11am on the 4th of February when she didn't
01:05 turn up to a brunch date, it really sparked a huge search by both authorities and the
01:11 community.
01:12 Now police, when the missing persons squad took over the investigation, which was on
01:19 February the 10th, they said that the on-ground search was being scaled back.
01:24 But then just a couple of weeks ago on February 23rd they ramped up that search again in the
01:29 Mount Clear area after new phone data came to life.
01:33 And the following day hundreds of community members ran their own search just trying to
01:37 find any trace of the 51-year-old woman.
01:41 Now police remain tight-lipped on any further leads in this investigation but we do know
01:46 that they continue to appeal to anyone who might have information about Ms Murphy's disappearance
01:52 as they continue to work through some 12,000 hours of CCTV and around 700 pieces of footage.
02:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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