Missing campers: Car checks key to solving mystery

One meticulous move is helping police narrow down the list of suspects in the case of missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay.

Police have checked hundreds of vehicles in their quest to narrow down the list of suspects in the case of missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay.

Mr Hill, 74, and Ms Clay, 73, were last seen on March 20 last year.

The Sunday Herald Sun understands the vehicle process of elimination has been a key line of inquiry for detectives trying to work out who was in the Wonnangatta Valley when Mr Hill and Mrs Clay disappeared. 

Thousands of information reports have been examined in one of the biggest missing persons squad investigations in the state’s history.

The inquiry into the High Country mystery has intensified in recent weeks, with police confident they can get answers for the families of the missing campers.

Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper, the head of the missing persons squad, this week indicated that someone covered their tracks.

The search for Carol Clay and Russell Hill is one of the biggest missing persons squad investigations in Victoria’s history.

Mr Hill left his Drouin home on March 19 before collecting Mrs Clay from her home in Pakenham in his white Toyota Land Cruiser.

The pair then travelled via Licola, spending one night at Howitt High Plains before heading into Wonnangatta Valley on March 20.

Mr Hill was last heard from the next day via HF radio, stating he was at Wonnangatta Valley in the Victorian Alps.

Campers found Mr Hill’s vehicle with signs of minor fire damage at their campsite, which was completely burnt out, near the Dry River Creek Track in the Wonnangatta Valley on March 21.

Since then police have conducted extensive searches of the area including missing persons squad detectives, local police, the search and rescue squad, air wing and dog squad.

Investigators last month told the Herald Sun they were making significant headway in the complex inquiry.

They are confident of finding answers and believe whoever is responsible is in no position to relax.

“They should be very uncomfortable,” Detective Acting Sergeant Brett Florence said.

“We will leave no stone unturned until we do (get a result).”

Police searching Wonnangatta Valley. Picture: Drone footage supplied by Victoria Police

Inspector Stamper has previously said he believes the bodies of the missing pair remain within the 1.6 million square hectares of the Wonnangatta Valley.

“My belief is they are still in that broad area,” he said.

He said the valley had “quite a history”, with a number of mystery disappearances and murders that have left police scratching their heads.

“The place has quite a mysterious history,” Insp Stamper said.

“There were some murders back there well over a hundred years ago and there have been some other disappearances in the broader area of the high country – we haven’t identified any connections between any of those.”

In April police searched an area of Mount Hotham 80km away.

Detectives found two shovels in thick bush off the Great Alpine Road on April 14.

But police could not link the shovels to the pair’s disappearance.

Police want to speak to anyone who was in the Wonnangatta area around March 20, including campers, day trippers, hunters, fishermen or trail bike riders, regardless of whether they saw or heard anything.