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

[bancam]

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

A very random “what if” but... what if Niels Becker is alive and well and living off the grid in the general area? And either the couple or their drone stumbled upon him (or vice versa) and he really really didn’t want to be found? Becker only went missing late last year in this same general area, and according to his family, friends and Police he was fit, resilient, very intelligent, well prepared and “had been training a lot” for his five day hike up there. They’ve never found a trace of him.

Fit hiker may have succumbed to hypothermia in Victoria's high country, police say

Lots of abandoned mineshafts, a few high country huts, vast places to hideout or set up a makeshift camp or a more permanent shelter in Oct/Nov as it was heading into summer (still pretty cold at night though). Russell knew this area well too by all accounts.

Pretty random, I know, but stranger things have happened.

Without wanting to hijack this thread: here is a news clip of Becker’s parents describing his independent nature, how 6 months of planning went into him taking this solo hike (to coincide with his 39th birthday) and how he was a prolific writer of poetry about this specific area/Mt Buller. And curiously he didn’t even own a mobile phone. Not exactly your ordinary 39yo/weekend adventure hiker.

9 News Melbourne

 

[CanuckSleuth79]

That isn't Russell's wife in the video. It says later in the video that it was a friend of Carol's.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Police continue to search for Russell Hill and Carol Clay
Russell left his Drouin home on a touring trip on 19 March and planned to visit various campsites along the Dargo River with his route exiting the region at Dargo on 26 March.

He was making regular check-ins to friends via radio daily between 6 – 6.30pm.

Russell worked in the logging industry for some time and is familiar with the area.

The 74-year-old was last heard from on 20 March via HF radio where he advised he was having radio transmission issues.

 

[bancam]

That isn't Russell's wife in the video. It says later in the video that it was a friend of Carol's.

Oops, thanks, and sorry to confuse. It’s times like this I need a comment ‘delete’ button. That tv clip is so ambiguous by not labelling who they’re interviewing, but you’re absolutely correct. They say towards the end that “Dorothy has known Carol for around 15 years” but I simply took that to mean Carol was not unknown to her (assuming she being interviewed was the wife). A subsequent name check here identifies Dorothy clearly as the friend of Carol and names the wife as Robyn. My bad.

 

[Andieinsyd]

A puzzling scenario. I hope there are some answers soon.

A very random “what if” but... what if Niels Becker is alive and well and living off the grid in the general area? And either the couple or their drone stumbled upon him (or vice versa) and he really really didn’t want to be found? Becker only went missing late last year in this same general area, and according to his family, friends and Police he was fit, resilient, very intelligent, well prepared and “had been training a lot” for his five day hike up there. They’ve never found a trace of him.

Fit hiker may have succumbed to hypothermia in Victoria's high country, police say

Lots of abandoned mineshafts, a few high country huts, vast places to hideout or set up a makeshift camp or a more permanent shelter in Oct/Nov as it was heading into summer (still pretty cold at night though). Russell knew this area well too by all accounts.

Pretty random, I know, but stranger things have happened.

Without wanting to hijack this thread: here is a news clip of Becker’s parents describing his independent nature, how 6 months of planning went into him taking this solo hike (to coincide with his 39th birthday) and how he was a prolific writer of poetry about this specific area/Mt Buller. And curiously he didn’t even own a mobile phone. Not exactly your ordinary 39yo/weekend adventure hiker.

9 News Melbourne

Very interesting thoughts!

 

[Panda]

Interesting how at 1:24 and 4:23 of this tv clip, from the Nine Network’s (perhaps aptly named) A Current Affair show, Russell’s wife automatically talks in the past tense about Carol - i.e. “she was” rather than “she is” - as though she is no longer alive.

This is despite the reporter and others interviewed consistently talking about the missing couple in the present tense. And bearing in mind they’ve only been missing for a little over a month under strange circumstances, so it’s a little early to have written them off as dead.

Also odd that the reporter opens by saying they only have one photograph of Russell and “know little about him” when moments later they have his wife of 50 years sitting in front of the camera for interview.

The woman they were interviewing was NOT his wife. The woman is a friend of Ms Clay's who has know her for around 15 years.

 

[Panda]

Oops, thanks, and sorry to confuse. It’s times like this I need a comment ‘delete’ button. That tv clip is so ambiguous by not labelling who they’re interviewing, but you’re absolutely correct. They say towards the end that “Dorothy has known Carol for around 15 years” but I simply took that to mean Carol was not unknown to her (assuming she being interviewed was the wife). A subsequent name check here identifies Dorothy clearly as the friend of Carol and names the wife as Robyn. My bad.

I hadn't read this post before I replied to say the woman was not his wife. Apologies for bringing it up again.

 

[Panda]

Interesting how at 1:24 and 4:23 of this tv clip, from the Nine Network’s (perhaps aptly named) A Current Affair show, Russell’s wife automatically talks in the past tense about Carol - i.e. “she was” rather than “she is” - as though she is no longer alive.

This is despite the reporter and others interviewed consistently talking about the missing couple in the present tense. And bearing in mind they’ve only been missing for a little over a month under strange circumstances, so it’s a little early to have written them off as dead.

Also odd that the reporter opens by saying they only have one photograph of Russell and “know little about him” when moments later they have his wife of 50 years sitting in front of the camera for interview.

Interesting that the wife wasn't in the interview. The reporters would have tried to contact her and ask for her input in the interview but it appears she didn't want anything to do with it.

You would have noticed that there are a lot of large, open spaces where they camped to practise with the drone. As I mentioned before, if the drone crashed, it wouldn't have crashed far from the campsite. I wonder if the police set up a perimeter around the campsite to search for the crashed drone. I also wonder if they used metal detectors in their search. It's so annoying how little the police give away in cases like these.

 

[Seriallyaddicted]

It did mention that Ms Clay had settled on a new house in Melbourne ... maybe Mr Hill was going to leave his wife of 50 years to be with Ms Clay and someone found out about it .... I wonder if she had children ... what his kids thought .... or like someone mentioned earlier they stumbled on a an illegal crop ... My Opinion Only....

I’m wondering if he was using the drone and found an illegal cannabis crop in the bush. There was someone at the crop at the time who saw the drone overhead and then made there way to the campsite to confront them and murdered them and burnt the campsite and buried them somewhere else.

 

[Panda]

I’m wondering if he was using the drone and found an illegal cannabis crop in the bush. There was someone at the crop at the time who saw the drone overhead and then made there way to the campsite to confront them and murdered them and burnt the campsite and buried them somewhere else.

Hmmm. Well, firstly, how would the cannabis drug crop grower know exactly where they were camped? Secondly, how would they have murdered two people without leaving a trace of evidence that they were murdered at the campsite and then managed to have disposed of the bodies? And why on earth would they have bothered to have burnt the campsite? The police have already stated they didn't find any accelerants at the scene that would have indicated the fire was deliberately lit.

Police aren't total idiots. If there was any evidence, they would have found it. They would have scoured the area for any additional tyre tracks, for example. For someone to dispose of two bodies would require them moving the bodies, which would be a mammoth task in itself, let alone actually murdering two people at the scene without leaving any evidence whatsoever.

To get away with murdering two people and disposing of their bodies in those circumstances would call for a criminal mastermind, not some isolated, cannabis smoking hippy who's attempting to cover up his homegrown crop. Apart from which, the campers are in an Alpine area, which is too cold to successfully grow cannabis, unless you have a sophisticated indoor setup, requiring a significant amount of electricity, of which there is none in that area, given it's in a National Park.

What's your theory on how the campers were murdered, moved and buried elsewhere without leaving any evidence?

 

[bearbear]

depending on mental health, could murder suicide be likely?
i guess their bodies would have been found by now though?

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Vital new evidence discovered after pair mysteriously disappear from campsite

A missing drone could hold the key to unraveling the mysterious disappearance of an elderly pair in Victoria's high country.

With little other evidence found at the scene – police have remained stumped as to whether the pair simply got lost, met with foul play or even ran off to start a new life together.

Vital new evidence discovered after pair mysteriously disappear from campsite

As Hill is an experienced bushman and logger who worked in the area, could they have fallen down a mining shaft? Could the drone have landed near a shaft and fell in, Hill tried to retrieve it and fell, injuring himself badly, Clay tried to assist and also fell.
The getting lost doesn't seem feasible to me, so foul play, they've run off or death by misadventure most likely scenarios, imo.

Mining

 

[Seriallyaddicted]

Hmmm. Well, firstly, how would the cannabis drug crop grower know exactly where they were camped? Secondly, how would they have murdered two people without leaving a trace of evidence that they were murdered at the campsite and then managed to have disposed of the bodies? And why on earth would they have bothered to have burnt the campsite? The police have already stated they didn't find any accelerants at the scene that would have indicated the fire was deliberately lit.

Police aren't total idiots. If there was any evidence, they would have found it. They would have scoured the area for any additional tyre tracks, for example. For someone to dispose of two bodies would require them moving the bodies, which would be a mammoth task in itself, let alone actually murdering two people at the scene without leaving any evidence whatsoever.

To get away with murdering two people and disposing of their bodies in those circumstances would call for a criminal mastermind, not some isolated, cannabis smoking hippy who's attempting to cover up his homegrown crop. Apart from which, the campers are in an Alpine area, which is too cold to successfully grow cannabis, unless you have a sophisticated indoor setup, requiring a significant amount of electricity, of which there is none in that area, given it's in a National Park.

What's your theory on how the campers were murdered, moved and buried elsewhere without leaving any evidence?

The climate is perfectly fine to grow a summer crop and the timing of when they are there is around the time of a harvest at the end of the growing season.

Maybe they weren’t murdered at their campsite, maybe they were ‘rounded up’ and taken away to be executed elsewhere. Maybe the criminal went through their belongings to make sure they got what they wanted (drone, phones etc) and then torched the tent to get rid of any touch dna they might have left.

I just think the drone is involved. It might be they lost the drone and went looking for it and got lost. I just think that the cannabis crop is another explanation and also includes the burning of the tent etc.

 

[Black-Cat]

Yes the wife of 50 years was pretty quick to seem to ‘know’ he was not coming home and packed up his things. Maybe wishful thinking after she discovered the affair..... or she knew he wasn’t to be found.... I think they were kidnapped, murdered and gotten rid of nowhere near the area ..... the burning of the campsite just done to confuse the authorities..... MOO

 

[Black-Cat]

Cannabis crop or mine shaft also probable ....

 

[Panda]

Vital new evidence discovered after pair mysteriously disappear from campsite

A missing drone could hold the key to unraveling the mysterious disappearance of an elderly pair in Victoria's high country.

With little other evidence found at the scene – police have remained stumped as to whether the pair simply got lost, met with foul play or even ran off to start a new life together.

Vital new evidence discovered after pair mysteriously disappear from campsite

As Hill is an experienced bushman and logger who worked in the area, could they have fallen down a mining shaft? Could the drone have landed near a shaft and fell in, Hill tried to retrieve it and fell, injuring himself badly, Clay tried to assist and also fell.
The getting lost doesn't seem feasible to me, so foul play, they've run off or death by misadventure most likely scenarios, imo.

Mining

I think your theory has some merit. Although unlikely, I think it is possible.

 

[TatianaBarbie]

Vital new evidence discovered after pair mysteriously disappear from campsite

A missing drone could hold the key to unraveling the mysterious disappearance of an elderly pair in Victoria's high country.

With little other evidence found at the scene – police have remained stumped as to whether the pair simply got lost, met with foul play or even ran off to start a new life together.

Vital new evidence discovered after pair mysteriously disappear from campsite

As Hill is an experienced bushman and logger who worked in the area, could they have fallen down a mining shaft? Could the drone have landed near a shaft and fell in, Hill tried to retrieve it and fell, injuring himself badly, Clay tried to assist and also fell.
The getting lost doesn't seem feasible to me, so foul play, they've run off or death by misadventure most likely scenarios, imo.

Mining

I'm confused - I read the article, but couldn't find what the vital new evidence was. Have they found the drone? Have they found a way to find the drone? Have they found the video files from the drone?

 

[watergirl62]

I'm confused - I read the article, but couldn't find what the vital new evidence was. Have they found the drone? Have they found a way to find the drone? Have they found the video files from the drone?

A missing drone could hold the key to unraveling the mysterious disappearance of an elderly pair in Victoria's high country.

I think that's it.
'Journalism' is a big umbrella.

 

[Profplum]

A thing that i found interesting from an earlier news article is that the police found the keys to the vehicle in its ignition, i am not sure i would do that and then go off for a walk and risk being stranded out there if the vehicle gets stolen.
Makes me think they were possibly at the camp when whatever happened.

 

[Panda]

A thing that i found interesting from an earlier news article is that the police found the keys to the vehicle in its ignition, i am not sure i would do that and then go off for a walk and risk being stranded out there if the vehicle gets stolen.
Makes me think they were possibly at the camp when whatever happened.

I missed that information. It's not unusual when camping to leave the keys in the ignition, in fact, it's more the norm (unless you have a "paranoid" type of personality or are so used to removing the keys, that it would be a habit to remove them from the ignition when camping). It also depends how busy the camping area is, however, given the camping areas span a large distance (meaning, people don't camp next to each other but rather camp quite a distance from anyone else), it would be quite normal. Theft of vehicles isn't a major concern when camping here. Also, if Mr Hill was a seasoned camper (as he seemed to be) and was used to logging in the area, it would be normal to leave the keys in the vehicle. As you can imagine, going off in a vehicle logging, you wouldn't bother to remove the keys, also if you were "stopping and starting" moving around an area when logging, it would be very tedious to constantly remove the keys, you'd just leave them in the ignition.

I would be more interested to focus on the fire that occurred. They must have been a fair distance from the fire, otherwise one would think they would have returned immediately to the campsite upon seeing smoke/flames and get in the vehicle to leave.