A date has been set for the trial of Samantha Murphy’s alleged killer after the Ballarat mother disappeared on her morning run.
Accused murderer Patrick Orren Stephenson, 23, is set to face a Supreme Court trial on April 8, 2026.
The trial is expected to last about six weeks.
Pre-trial arguments for the prosecution and defence are likely to begin as early as November, 2025.
Stephenson has pleaded not guilty to Ms Murphy’s alleged murder.
Ms Murphy, a 51-year-old mother of three, vanished after going for a run on February 4, 2024, through the Canadian State Forest in regional Victoria.
Despite numerous police and volunteer searches, her body has never been found.
Followers of the case were given a glimmer of hope the mother would be returned to her family when Stephenson was taken from Melbourne Assessment Prison and walked through part of Enfield State Park, south of Ballarat, last month.
A trial date has been set for the alleged murder of Samantha Murphy (pictured)
Police searched Enfield State Park (pictured), south of Ballarat, last month but found no trace of Ms Murphy
Detectives have not shared what led them to return to the search site.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Stephenson knows the whereabouts of Ms Murphy’s body or that he was involved in her alleged murder.
Stephenson was charged with murder a little over a month after Ms Murphy left her Eureka St home.
He is the son of former Richmond and Geelong AFL player Orren Stephenson and was not known to the Murphy family.
Ms Murphy’s credit cards, driver’s licence, and iPhone were found at the bottom of a dam in Buninyong in June last year.
The phone, which was protected by a teal case, was reportedly in near-perfect condition
More to come…
