The mother of three left her Ballarat east home for a run on the morning of the fourth of February and hasn’t been seen since.
The young man was charged with murder and is due to face Ballarat Magistrates Court.
He is not linked to the Murphy family.
Police said the man was arrested at his home in Scotsburn, about 20km south-east of Ballarat, early, on Wednesday morning and was interviewed by police.
“Police are yet to recover Samantha’s body and the investigation remains ongoing,” Victoria Police said.
“Today’s charge follows a significant investigation and extensive searches of the Canadian Forest area over the past month.”
Shortly before the police statement, Murphy’s husband Michael told media charges had been laid over his wife’s disappearance.
He did not go into further details, except to say the situation for the family was a “whole [lot of] unknown”.
“The family’s going OK … I can’t comment on anything at the moment,” he told the Nine Network.
