Beers, bread rolls and KFC: Campsite’s remnants of teen festivities marred by death

The campsite where a 15-year-old from Picton spent his final hours before being allegedly killed by a 32-year-old Narellan man, still has remnants of teenage festivities.

In the shadow of an abandoned bridge fallen into disrepair, just a short climb from the road, it was the kind of quiet campsite any teenager would dream of where a 15-year-old from Picton spent his last hours with his mates.

The teenager, allegedly murdered by 32-year-old Narellan man Jacob Grieg, had been camping with a large group of friends on a sandy bay beneath Maldon Suspension Bridge over the Nepean River at Wilton.

View of the campsite where a 15 year old boy is thought to have been camping with a group of friends before being found dead, Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

View of the campsite where a 15 year old boy is thought to have been camping with a group of friends before being found dead, Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

A rocky outcrop overhanging the sand provided shelter, with graffiti both recent and decades-old pointing to the popularity of the local swimming and fishing spot.

A reusable IGA shopping bag filled with beer bottles and cans hung on a post nearby, and left behind at the site were the ashy remains of a campfire, an empty vape box and instructions for assembling a tent in Chinese.

Plastic sleeves containing pre-made sandwiches and hot chips from KFC were also left behind, along with a KFC bag stuffed with blue disposable gloves the likes of those used by police investigators.

View of the campsite where a 15 year old boy is thought to have been camping with a group of friends before being found dead, Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

The site is just a five minutes climb down from the roadway, on an easy trail lined in parts with a wooden railing.

Further upstream, by the weir, a small blue canoe floated against the rocks.

Locals out for a walk and a dip on a hot, sunny Sunday parked their cars by a locked gate a few hundred metres up the road.

Further up the hill, by the side of the road, was the only remaining sign that something grisly had unfolded there two days earlier - two bunches of roses, one white, one red.

Originally published as Beers, bread rolls and KFC: Campsite’s remnants of teen festivities marred by death