Samantha Murphy’s husband has revealed that some of his wife’s personal items were found during a search for her body this week.

Channel Seven reports that Mick Murphy confirmed police had uncovered the missing Ballarat mum’s credit cards and driver’s licence, along with her iPhone.

The discovery offers fresh hope in the months-long search for the 51-year-old’s body.

Samantha Murphy was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street, Ballarat, to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest on the morning of February 4.

Channel Nine reports that Mick Murphy said he knew instantly that the phone in a teal wallet case, found on Wednesday, belonged to his wife.

Police informed Murphy when they found the item at the edge of a dam at Buninyong, 11 kilometres from Ballarat.

The breakthrough could bring detectives one step closer to solving the mystery of where Samantha Murphy’s body has been dumped.

Monash University cybersecurity expert Professor Nigel Phair said the find was a “game-changer” for the murder investigation.

“[They can] work out where that phone has been, what else has been around it, and how many times it’s been used – right up until the time it went flat,” he told Nine.

Detectives from the Victoria Police missing persons squad and specialist officers led the search on Wednesday morning. It was described as targeted and also involved the Australian Federal Police.

Footage from multiple media outlets showed police dogs and officers on foot trawling the rural site.

They then focused their attention on an item on the edge of the dam – a phone – with officers taking photos and carefully lifting it from the mud.

The team could be seen hugging and patting each other on the back after making the discovery.

Police in March charged 22-year-old tradesman Patrick Orren Stephenson with the murder of Murphy at Mount Clear on the day she went missing.

He will return to court in August.

Stephenson is the son of Orren Stephenson, who played 15 AFL games for Geelong and Richmond between 2012 and 2014.

Police have launched multiple searches in bushland since February as part of the investigation.

-with AAP