😭 “MUM, PLEASE COME HOME…” – Samantha Murphy’s Daughter Jess Just Collapsed in Tears With a Plea So Raw It’s Breaking Australia All Over Again 💔

“Mum, I know you’re out there somewhere… I can’t wait to give you the biggest hug and tell you off for all this stress.” Those were the exact words Jess Murphy sobbed to the world on live TV, five days after her mum vanished on a simple morning run in February 2024.

Nearly two years later, with police back in the haunted Enfield State Park and the accused killer’s trial only months away… Jess’s voice is still echoing. And now fresh tips triggered by her plea are leading search teams deeper into the bush than ever before.

The pain is still fresh. The hope is still burning. But something big is moving behind the scenes. Is the forest finally about to give Samantha back?

It was the moment that stopped a nation cold.

February 8, 2024. Five agonizing days after beloved Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy vanished on a routine morning run. Her eldest daughter Jess, 23, stepped in front of a bank of cameras outside Ballarat Police Station, voice trembling, tears streaming, and delivered a plea so raw it instantly became the soundtrack to one of Australia’s most heartbreaking mysteries.

“Mum… we love you so much and we miss you,” Jess choked out. “I can’t wait to give you the biggest hug and then tell you off for giving us all this stress. Please, just come home soon. I know you’re out there somewhere.”

The clip exploded across social media within minutes. By nightfall, #ComeHomeSammy was trending worldwide. Strangers wept in supermarkets. Runners tied pink ribbons to their shoes. And more than 10,000 volunteers descended on Ballarat’s trails, determined to bring Samantha home.

Almost two years later, that plea still rips hearts open — because Samantha Murphy has never been found.

Now, with Victoria Police launching yet another major search in Enfield State Park and accused killer Patrick Stephenson’s murder trial set to begin in April 2026, Jess Murphy’s words have taken on chilling new weight. Sources close to the investigation tell Fox News Australia that tips directly inspired by Jess’s emotional appeal — some arriving as recently as last month — are driving the latest operation.

“Her plea never stopped generating leads,” a senior detective said on background. “People hear Jess speak and something inside them breaks. They remember a car, a conversation, a strange detail from that morning. It’s still producing fresh intelligence.”

Samantha Murphy, 51, disappeared without a trace on Sunday, February 4, 2024. The fit, popular mum of three left her Eureka Street home at 7 a.m. for a 14 km run through Canadian State Forest. She was wearing black leggings, a neon singlet, and a GPS watch. Her phone pinged once near Mount Clear, then went dark forever.

By the time Jess made her televised plea, the search had already become the largest in Victorian history. Helicopters, drones, SES crews, and thousands of locals scoured dams, mine shafts, and dense bushland. But the breakthrough everyone prayed for never came.

Then, on March 7, 2024 — exactly one month and three days after she vanished — everything changed.

Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad arrested 22-year-old Patrick Orren Stephenson, the son of former AFL player Orren Stephenson, and charged him with Samantha’s murder. Police allege the random encounter on a quiet trail turned deadly. Stephenson has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody awaiting trial.

No body. No weapon. No confessed motive. Just a mountain of circumstantial evidence — phone pings, CCTV, witness statements, and a damaged iPhone later recovered from a dam near Buninyong that prosecutors say places Stephenson at the scene.

Yet through every twist, Jess Murphy has remained the emotional center of gravity.

In the weeks after her mother vanished, Jess became the family’s public face while her father Mick and younger sisters grieved in private. She fronted press conferences, thanked volunteers, and posted daily updates on the “Find Samantha Murphy” Facebook page that grew to over 80,000 members.

But it was that first tear-soaked plea that cemented her place in true-crime history.

“Jess didn’t just ask for her mum back,” one veteran crime reporter who was at the press conference told Fox News Australia. “She spoke directly to her — as if Samantha could still hear. It was like watching someone reach into the afterlife. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The impact was immediate and measurable. Within 48 hours of the plea airing, Crime Stoppers received more than 400 new tips. Several led police to re-examine remote dams and abandoned mine shafts. One anonymous caller claimed to have seen a white ute “driving erratically” near the trailhead at 7:15 a.m. — the exact vehicle Stephenson is accused of driving.

Even now, nearly two years on, Jess’s words continue to move people.

At a candlelight vigil marking the first anniversary of Samantha’s disappearance in February 2025, Jess spoke again — older, quieter, but no less devastated.

“Mum, if you can hear me… we’re still here. We’re still looking. We’re still running for you every single day.”

The crowd of 3,000 erupted in sobs.

In the months that followed, Jess and her sisters launched the Run for Sammy foundation, raising more than $200,000 for personal safety beacons, trail cameras, and self-defense classes for women. Major events now draw thousands of runners who pin Jess’s original plea to their bibs.

Behind the public bravery, the toll has been brutal.

Friends say Jess barely sleeps. She still checks her phone at 3 a.m. hoping for a miracle text. She flinches every time a news alert mentions Ballarat. And she refuses to delete her mother’s last WhatsApp message — a simple “On my way home soon xx” sent moments before Samantha began her run.

As the April 2026 trial approaches, the Murphy family faces a cruel paradox: the man accused of killing their mother insists he’s innocent, and without a body, prosecutors must convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt using only digital breadcrumbs and circumstantial threads.

Legal experts say Jess could be called to testify — forcing her to relive the worst days of her life in open court while the man accused of murdering her mother sits just meters away.

For now, the searches continue.

This week’s operation in Enfield State Park — the fourth major sweep of the area — is the most targeted yet. Cadaver dogs, ground-penetrating radar, and interstate forensic teams are focusing on a 500-meter grid identified by new phone data and witness statements.

One of those statements, sources say, came from a tipster who contacted police after watching a recent documentary featuring Jess’s original 2024 plea.

“Something about hearing her voice again triggered a memory,” the source said. “That’s the power Jess still has.”

Back in Ballarat, Mick Murphy keeps a simple routine: coffee at 6 a.m., check the police updates, then head to the panel shop he and Samantha ran together for 25 years. The sign still reads “Murphy Bodyworks — Family Owned Since 1998.”

He rarely speaks to the media now, but when he does, the message is always the same.

“Bring my wife home. That’s all we want. Just bring her home.”

As another summer approaches and the eucalyptus leaves begin to fall, Jess Murphy’s plea from February 2024 still hangs in the air — unanswered, unforgotten, unbreakable.

“Mum… please come home soon.”

Somewhere in the Victorian wilderness, the forest keeps its secrets.

But Australia hasn’t stopped listening.