Found Deceased Australia - Russell Hill, 74, & Carol Clay, 72, Wonnangatta Valley, 20 March 2020 #2

[pebige]

I found this interesting as his wife didn't know he was camping with another woman.
Wife of missing camper had no idea he had gone on a trip with another woman | Daily Mail Online

Thread #1

 

[Profplum]

I found this interesting as his wife didn't know he was camping with another woman.
Wife of missing camper had no idea he had gone on a trip with another woman | Daily Mail Online

I agree its all a little strange.
Maybe they went off for a walk and got into difficulty and the fire is unrelated.
The wife says she didn't know about Carol Clay going on the camping trip with him. (she wouldn't would she if its an affair)
The wife Roybn Hill described her missing husband as a "silly bugger".
I also find this story interesting.

 

[Wild Rose]

What kind of trailer was it? Did it have propane tanks on it??? Was his truck parked right next to the fire and only got scorched. Well this is weird.... Did something happen in the trailer and a fire was set to remove evidence?....

 

[Profplum]

Fresh twist in mysterious disappearance of pair as mobile phone is found at their burnt out campsite | Daily Mail Online

It is now believed a mobile phone found on charge at the campsite may have caused the blaze.
Detectives found no evidence of an accelerant involved in the fire.
Mr Hill's 4WD parked nearby with the keys still inside.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Category: | Herald Sun

Specialist missing persons detectives have joined the investigation into the high country disappearance of elderly campers ...

Behind a paywall

 

[mrz]

Pretty crazy! Thanks for sharing..

 

[SAMS]

Alerted mods to revise thread title to include ages/date/loc for accuracy.

• Campers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, were last heard from on March 20
• Their burnt campsite was found in the Wonnangatta Valley in eastern Victoria

 

[SAMS]

Seniors' disappearance from campsite remains a mystery, but possibilities remain open

Two seniors who went camping in Victoria's Wonnangatta Valley almost a month ago are now presumed dead, but police are investigating a range of other possible scenarios.

Key points:

• 73-year-old Carol Clay and Russell Hill, 74, left for a camping trip to the Wonnangatta Valley on March 19 and haven't been heard from since the 20th
• Last month, police officers used drones and helicopters and experienced mountain cattlemen on horseback combed the area before rain stopped the search
• Police say there is a chance that the pair did not want to be found and had left the site alive and together

This week, police with specialist alpine training returned to the area, along the Dargo River, to comb difficult terrain with the hope of finding some answers.

"This time we were able to look in more rugged bushland that we weren't able to search last time," Inspector Craig Gaffee said.“

 

[SAMS]

I found this interesting as his wife didn't know he was camping with another woman.
Wife of missing camper had no idea he had gone on a trip with another woman | Daily Mail Online

Welcome to WS!

 

[TootsieFootsie]

The pair may have become lost, but Mr Hill is an experienced outdoorsman with knowledge of the area.

Police are also examining the possibility the pair disappeared of their own free will, while the scenario they met with foul play has not been ruled out.


Mystery of missing married camper and his female friend deepens in a case that's baffled the man's wife and police - who aren't ruling out foul play

 

[Panda]

Chilling twist in case of married man who vanished with 'glamour queen' friend on a camping trip | Daily Mail Online

"Investigators suspect a number of items may have been taken from the campsite, including a drone that belonged to Mr Hill." "Another possibly police are considering that Mr Hill crashed the drone, worth about $2,000, and left his camp to look for it."

"Despite the new leads of inquiry, Mr Hill's shattered wife of 50 years has lost hope that he will return home and has started packing up his belongings. 'I don't think that he will still be alive,' Robyn Hill told Daily Mail Australia from the couple's Drouin home on Monday."

"'He's always been on the radio. He didn't call for quite a few days and then I started to get worried and thought 'I've got to do something now', 'she told Daily Mail Australia.

Mrs Hill said her husband would routinely broadcast at the same time every night when his other radio chums were on the air.

'They all get on at the same time and once I heard Russell I knew, on the Friday, that he was fine. But then I didn't hear him again.'"

A couple of things stood out to me regarding these missing people.

Who charges their phone in a tent? The vehicle is close to the tent area they had set up. Experienced campers/4WD'ers would charge their phone in the vehicle by means of a USB attachment or an inverter. Alpine National Park is approximately 5 hours + drive from where they lived so it is most likely any phones would have been fully charged upon arriving at the campsite. Alpine National Park is in a "no coverage" area, meaning there's no phone reception, so why would you bother to charge your phone anyway? The wife usually heard from her husband each day via radio. She didn't hear from him after Friday (the day after they arrived at the campsite). In the time that they arrived at the campsite to the time the wife didn't hear from her husband, it is most likely the phone would still be charged.

The other thing that caught my attention was the fact that it appeared some items in the photo showing the burnt out campsite weren't in their original position. In the photo, there's a wooden camping table that doesn't appear to be significantly burnt, yet it's on its side. I'm certainly not a fire expert and it's difficult to see from the photo, but something just looks "wrong" with the fire scene.

The whole situation seems very "off" to me.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

From the article it sounds like she was used to hearing his voice when he was talking to his radio chums.
To me that sounds like he didn't usually contact her personally.
Though It's starting to sound though like foul play , maybe someone shot down his drone and maybe accidentally or by design shot him and then Carol.
And then burnt the tent , after a fight where the table got knocked over.
I've gone between them getting lost which doesn't make sense if he was expererenced, to them starting a new life together to now thinking it's possible that they were murdered. Maybe by someone annoyed by the drone, either by the noise or the fear it would discover something they wanted and needed kept hidden. Maybe drone footage captured them doing something illegal.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Maybe there was something on the table that set alight the tent and contents when the table got knocked over.

 

[10ofRods]

Maybe the new woman found out he was married, flipped the table, burned the tent, started a forest fire and they both ran off into the bush.

While the phone remained on its charger and somehow also started a fire?

What are the probabilities???

 

[TootsieFootsie]

The "new woman" had been a family friend for decades.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

?????????????????????????????

Maybe the new woman found out he was married, flipped the table, burned the tent, started a forest fire and they both ran off into the bush.

While the phone remained on its charger and somehow also started a fire?

What are the probabilities???

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Police say drone could hold vital clues about disappearance of elderly campers

Drouin resident Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, of Pakenham, were long-time family friends who went camping along the Dargo River on March 19.

Missing man Russell Hill a 'meticulous camper' with medical conditions, police say

Police said Mr Hill, a former logger who knew the area well, suffered from various medical ailments, including heart and skin conditions.


Police have also revealed that Mr Hill purchased an expensive DJI brand Mavic drone before the trip and believe it could hold vital clues.

"We still can't find that drone," Acting Inspector Fyfe said.

"If someone has recovered it, we'd really like them to come forward."

 

[Via Marple]

Sydney Morning Herald: 'We are deeply saddened': Families of missing campers ask for public help. https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/we-are-deeply-saddened-families-of-missing-campers-ask-for-public-help-20200422-p54m06.html

They have made statements to the public, but did not appear at the media conference.

 

[1968]

drone causes fire Archives - Fire Aviation

Some thoughts -
Could a rechargeable battery for the missing drone have caused the fire? But if so this still doesn’t explain the drone itself and Russell and Carol being missing.

To me the burn patterns on the car look weird - like there was something rectangular blocking the fire from singing it.

One article I read said Carol was a glamour queen and supposedly not the type to go camping.
The fact they went together and alone and the wife allegedly didn’t know he was with her - well IMO you have to address the possibility they were having an affair or an assignation.

 

[Via Marple]

Police say drone could hold vital clues about disappearance of elderly campers

Drouin resident Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, of Pakenham, were long-time family friends who went camping along the Dargo River on March 19.

Missing man Russell Hill a 'meticulous camper' with medical conditions, police say

Police said Mr Hill, a former logger who knew the area well, suffered from various medical ailments, including heart and skin conditions.


Police have also revealed that Mr Hill purchased an expensive DJI brand Mavic drone before the trip and believe it could hold vital clues.

"We still can't find that drone," Acting Inspector Fyfe said.

"If someone has recovered it, we'd really like them to come forward."

Heart conditions might be the culprit...

They are still there in the bush, I also guess. There is no new life outside, otherwise there would be money records, before or after the disappearance.

Phone might have needed charging after being used for taking photos, for example.

MOO