Overseas experts called in to help solve missing campers mystery
It has been about six months since Russell Hill and Carol Clay went missing in a remote area of Gippsland’s High Country. Yet what happened to them still remains a much-talked about mystery — now police have made a bold move to help the investigation along.
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Police have turned to overseas and interstate experts in their bid to solve the disappearance of High Country campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay.
It is six months this Sunday since the friends disappeared while on a trip to the remote Wonnangatta Valley in eastern Victoria.
It is feared they met with foul play some time after setting-up at the Dry River Creek site on March 20.
Detective Insp. Andrew Stamper of the missing persons squad said he could not go into detail about the nature of the foreign assistance sought.
But he said investigators had been quietly making progress in recent months.
“We’ve learnt a lot along the way. We know a lot more than we did six months ago,” Insp. Stamper said.
Mr Hill, from Drouin, and Ms Clay, of Pakenham, left on March 19 for their trip away, staying the first night at Howitt High Plains.
Ms Clay had told friends she would be returning on March 28 or 29.
Mr Hill radioed a friend soon after arriving at Wonnangatta to say all was well, but he and Ms Clay disappeared some time that night or in the morning.
A dominant theory is that the friends were murdered at Dry River Creek and taken from the scene.
One potential scenario is that a fire which destroyed their tent and some camp furniture was lit in an attempt to destroy evidence.
But police have been at pains not to be locked into a single line of inquiry.
“You still can’t discount other theories,” Insp. Stamper said.
Despite the open-minded stance, Insp. Stamper said he could not see Mr Hill, 74, and Ms Clay, 73, turning their backs on friends and family by staging their own disappearance.
“You can only do that (vanish) for so long,” he said.
Mr Hill’s Toyota four-wheel-drive, which singed by the fire, was found at the scene but the DJI Mavic drone he took away has not been recovered.
Its flight logs have yielded no more information.
Search teams spent more than 30 days scouring the area in the period before winter set in, without success.
Investigators are still trying to identify each of the estimated 200 people who were in the Wonnangatta Valley on March 19 and 20.
Despite receiving information from members of the community, investigators have maintained their appeal for anyone who was in the area at the time to get in touch, even if they saw nothing.
“It’s vital that we identify and eliminate all travellers through the area at that time,” Insp Stamper said.
“We know there were vehicles in the area at the time with Victorian, NSW,
Tasmanian, Queensland and South Australian registrations, so potentially there are people now interstate who have some information or need to contact us with their details.”
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit the website www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
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