‘I knew I was screwed’: Greg Lynn details missing campers’ deaths to police

Former airline pilot Gregory Lynn told police he hid the deaths of two campers because he knew he “was screwed”.

A Supreme Court jury was on Monday shown the video of Lynn’s detailed account to police of how Russell Hill and Carol Clay were killed at Bucks Camp in the Wonnangatta Valley on March 20, 2020.

Greg Lynn and the dead campers, Carol Clay and Russell Hill.Credit: Monique Westermann

A composed Lynn can be seen in the footage drawing diagrams for police to explain what happened and using a map to show where he took the pair’s bodies.

Lynn, 57, said his initial interactions with Hill at the remote Bucks Camp site were cordial until he became aware the elderly camper was flying his drone near their campsite.

He claimed Hill had accused him of hunting too close to camp and said he was going to take the pictures to police. Lynn said that in retaliation, he began playing loud music from his car stereo, and admitted to police it was a “childish thing to do”.

The hunter said he then saw Hill take one of Lynn’s guns, a Barathrum Arms shotgun and magazine of ammunition from the accused man’s Nissan Patrol.

“I confronted him and said: ‘Give it back, what are you doing?’” Lynn recounted.

“He said he was going to take that to the police with him.

“Then, when I advanced towards him, he had the mag in the shotgun at this stage, he pulled the action back, and he let a couple of rounds go into the air.

“I immediately ran around the back [of the car] ... fearing I might be going to cop the next one.

The alleged murder weapon.Credit: Victoria Police

“I saw the barrel of the shotgun appear over the bonnet, and to try and disarm him, I jumped up, I grabbed the shotgun barrel.

“I had the left hand on the stock, right hand on the barrel and we wrestled. The shotgun was pointed over this way, and it was discharged. My hand was not on the trigger. It was on the barrel.”

Lynn said the shot travelled through a mirror of Hill’s Toyota LandCruiser ute and struck Clay in the head.

Hill immediately let go of the gun and Lynn told police he, Lynn, returned to his car to lock the weapon away.

“In the meantime, he had been with Ms Clay. He [Hill] advances towards me with a knife in his right hand,” Lynn said.

“He first takes a swing with his left hand, I blocked that.

“He pushed me over back onto the ground and the knife went into his chest. He rolled over and I got off him. He drooled a little bit, then he stopped moving.”

Lynn said he checked the pair for a pulse, but they were “clearly dead” and “from here, I panicked”.

He used one of the detectives in the recorded police interview to demonstrate how each confrontation unfolded.

The burnt Bucks Camp crime scene.

Lynn told police he then moved the pair’s belongings into their tent and torched the campsite, burnt grass where Clay’s body had lain bleeding and washed splatter from the ute. He took the drone and the pair’s phones before bundling Hill and Clay’s bodies into his own box trailer and driving them to another site, where he disposed of them.

“I wanted to disguise the whole thing,” Lynn said. “I took the credit cards out, I thought of making it look like a robbery, but I thought that was silly.”

Lynn said he twice returned to the bodies for a look and expressed surprise that they hadn’t been found. He said when COVID-19 lockdowns ended in November 2020, he thought, “I’ve got to finish this” and burnt the remains.

“That’s the truth, and it’s the best I can give you, and it’s not going to be much relief for the families – there’s nothing to see, nothing to be found,” he told police.

“It is what it is.”

Lynn said he also disposed of Hill and Clay’s phones and in another location burnt the drone, the knife that killed Hill and Hill’s car keys.

When asked why he hadn’t come forward to police at the time, Lynn said: “I just guess that in an attempt to hide it, I thought I might be able to just move on and continue with my life and family, my career, and these sporting clubs that I really enjoyed.

“But even if I’d have come to you with this evidence back in March 2020, it still would have been an absolute disaster, as bad as it is now, but an absolute disaster, and that is why I tried that pathway which was wrong. I know that, but I’m not making excuses for it. But that’s the logic of it.”

Lynn said to police he told no one, including his wife, about what happened.

He said the evidence police had against him was compelling, but he believed the version of events he had provided “will tick every one of those boxes”.

When asked if talking to police made him feel better, Lynn said: “I guess so, I just wish it never happened. I just wanted it to go away when it did [happen], and it has been stressful.”

Lynn said he became convinced he was on a watch list as scrutiny increased around the Hill and Clay disappearances.

“I know that I’ve been on the radar for a while, too many people have said too many odd things to me,” he said.

“Like The Truman Show when everyone knows what’s going on, but you don’t.”

Lynn has pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming Hill, 74, and Clay, 73, died accidentally.

The prosecution disputes his account and says the pair were killed with murderous intent.

The trial continues.

A new podcast from 9News, The Age and 9Podcasts will follow the court case as it unfolds. The Missing Campers Trial is the first podcast to follow a jury trial in real time in Victoria. It’s presented by Nine reporter Penelope Liersch and Age reporter Erin Pearson.