Inside dramatic swoop on missing campers suspect

Compared to some similar operations, which are planned in detail weeks in advance, the arrest of the suspect in the missing campers case was quite peculiar.

Two helicopters carrying members of Victoria Police’s elite Special Operations Group flew out of Melbourne on Monday on an urgent and top-secret mission.

Within hours, they quietly made their way via bush tracks to a remote section of East Gippsland where a middle-aged camper was staying solo in this idyllic part of Victoria.

Their quarry was regarded as an experienced bushman, well-equipped for long stays far from the bright lights.

The camper was also a double-murder suspect. The SOG members – traditionally used for the most high-risk work involving armed offenders – were assigned to take him by surprise and arrest him.

Greg Lynn’s 4WD is towed for inspection by forensics officers. Picture: David Caird

At 5.30pm, the heavily briefed officers made their move, detaining for questioning the 55-year-old who had travelled from Caroline Springs in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

The swoop – the biggest development yet in the Russell Hill-Carol Clay murder investigation – came sooner than had been expected.

It is believed to have been initiated at short notice, for reasons not yet clear, compared to some similar operations which are planned in detail weeks in advance.

There has been a real sense recently that detectives were making progress in this most difficult of investigations.

It has not always been so.

The damaged campsite in the Wonnangatta Valley.

Detectives reveal burnt items from Russell Hill and Carol Clay’s campsite. Picture: David Crosling

Long periods with no public updates helped some form the view that this was an inquiry which may never yield answers for the families of Mr Hill and Mrs Clay.

But the investigation, centred on the remote Wonnangatta Valley, was always going to be a marathon rather than a sprint.

From the early stages, missing persons squad detectives were aware this was a job that required a long-term strategy and a ton of legwork.

The crime scene had very little to offer forensically, beyond a charred tent containing a gas bottle, ruined camp furniture and Mr Hill’s scorched Toyota 4WD.

It had sat exposed to the elements for days before a visitor realised something might be wrong and contacted police.

There were no witnesses in a region where CCTV is almost non-existent and the kind of technological tracking found in the city is much more difficult.

Mr Hill’s drone had vanished and has never been recovered, but there was no guarantee theft was a factor.

Consideration had to be given to possibilities other than foul play.

The idea that the secret lovers had faked their disappearance to set up a new life was always unlikely and became even more remote with each passing day.

The possibility of an accident was also something that needed exploration but the state’s most experienced searchers would find no sign of them. In any case, it was said Mr Hill would never stray too far from his camp.

As all this happened, police – led by detective Inspector Andrew Stamper – knew the process of elimination would be key. Among their first moves was to start working out who was in the valley at the time of the disappearances, and talk to them one by one.

Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper has made repeated calls for help on the case. Picture: David Crosling

Police return to the remote area for a search in March 2021. Picture: Jason Edwards

Carol Clay.

Russell Hill.

By June of last year, Insp Stamper publicly conceded police believed there was “third-party” involvement in the mystery.

His team would spend months navigating a maze of vehicle movements and mobile phone activity to build the case from the ground up.

In March this year, they said they had tracked every vehicle that had been in the area, apart from a white twin-cab ute.

The significance of that information has been recently called into question after police said they were now looking for a blue Nissan four-wheel-drive towing a trailer.

In the same month, police said a drone they had found in the search zone was not the model owned by Mr Hill.

Cadaver dogs were brought in from New South Wales a month later, without success.

Police remove bags of potential evidence during their search. Picture: Jason Edwards

Shovels found near Mt Hotham as part of a separate search effort were found to be not linked to the case.

There was little information for six months then, in October, it became clear the screws were really turning on whoever was responsible.

“They should feel very uncomfortable,” detective Acting Sergeant Brett Florence told the Herald Sun.

The recent release of footage of the blue Nissan Patrol pulling a trailer seemed to ratchet things up even higher.

It was driven from the High Country on the Great Alpine Road in the hours after police believe Mr Hill and Mrs Clay – who were secret lovers – were murdered.

Other vehicle movements remain of interest. Some kind of off-road vehicle was seen near where Mr Hill and Mrs Clay set themselves up on the evening of March 20.

At about midnight, a vehicle with a petrol motor and towing a trailer was on the track that runs alongside the Buffalo River to Myrtleford.

A dark blue Nissan Patrol and trailer seen in the area was the best clue held by police.

A gate was shut on that route because of a bushfire ahead, forcing the driver to make a 20 to 30-point turn to go back.

Investigators still believe the bodies of Mr Hill and Mrs Clay are in the Wonnangatta area, possibly between the Myrtleford track gate and the Great Alpine Rd.

In what may prove a significant seizure, a Nissan 4WD was towed away from Monday’s arrest scene.

It will undergo painstaking forensic examination in the hope it yields vital evidence.

One scenario which has been weighed by police for some time is Mr Hill and Mrs Clay died after an altercation with a camper staying nearby.

A line of inquiry is whether that person then drove all night trying to get out, eventually passing Mt Hotham not too long after sunrise on March 21, 2020.

They will be hopeful Monday’s arrest can help bring justice and answers in a case with so many unknowns.

As Mrs Clay’s sister Jill Walker said on Tuesday this had been the longest of roads and an arrest was a landmark on a long journey with plenty of miles left. “We’ve had to prepare ourselves that there might be things you don’t know,” she said.