Australia - Russell Hill & Carol Clay Murdered While Camping - Wonnangatta Valley, 2020 #7

[TootsieFootsie]

Allegedly murdered campers made divorce pact before deaths, friend says

The friends of a man who was allegedly murdered while camping with his childhood sweetheart have told a jur...

www.9news.com.au

 

[Cedars]

... if true, that combination of personalities would rather quickly generate friction to say the least.

I like your post but, IMO, every aspect of the defendent's story has been selected to make him look entirely peaceful and innocent of any aggression, whatsoever. He was not associated with any 'friction', except to get his property back/defend his life.

He was a pure Buddha, calmly enjoying his campsite, gun(s), knife. Even after a woman was allegedly killed with his gun, this jetbuddha went back to his campsite to continue his peaceful, non-harming meditations.

IMO, there was one person who may have been 'grumpy' and expressed that verbally but was not violent, and owned no weapons ... and there was another man who was a big fan/collector of weapons, belonged to a gun club, etc. People are not that inconsistent.

But apparently, only after he'd found himself, a completely frictionless innocent, involved in this 'pickle', did the defendent's ruthless instincts spring into action, to burn down the campsite, steal their stuff, utterly obliterate their remains, and lie, lie, lie.

Perhaps the drone part is true.

JMO

 

[TootsieFootsie]

When someone is on trial for a murder, or anything else, of course their lawyer is going to do anything they can to have their client found not guilty.

That includes painting them in the best light they can.

 

[AussieIan]

I think GL respraying his car TWICE is very suspicious too when we consider that other persons have gone missing in the surrounding areas. The lengths that GL went to break up and burn their bones into small fragments after returning multiple times to their bodies is concerning.

He seems cunning, manipulative, calculating and controlling from everything I have read about him.

It's got a pretty simple explanation imo, he originally resprayed the car to the colour he wanted, intending to keep it, then he killed 2 people and thought changing the colour would help hide it.

 

[AussieIan]

Hill - one to not back down from an argument - is angry at Lynn’s music and comes over to Lynn’s campsite to have another go at him.

While Hill has been painted as such in the media, It's worth noting a friend of his was in these earlier threads and was pretty emphatic that while Hill didn't suffer fools, he would be conscious that he was very far from civilization and people, especially some hunting types you find out backwater can be dangerous and the friend thought it unlikely that Hill would have been an aggressor or escalated a conflict. He seemed confident that RH would have backed down in a confrontation as he would be taking into account his location, his age, Carol and unknown threat from someone with firearms.

 

[SouthAussie]

A couple of things from this recap of this week of the trial ... (paraphrased)

- So far, 15 witnesses have been heard

- GL allegedly returned to the place where he dumped Russell and Carol eight months after he dumped them, to burn their remains.

I hadn't realised that he waited 8 months to destroy Russell's and Carol's remains so totally.
I wonder when the police first questioned him about being in the area at the time.
The 60 Minutes show about the case wasn't until April 2021, as far as I can see.
Something must have made GL nervous enough to return and commit all of that destruction of the remains.

I guess we may find out as the prosecution's case develops over the next few weeks.

imo

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/v...ws-story/72427908167c4f83f6140421a3a46c25?amp

 

[JBowie]

Something must have made GL nervous enough to return and commit all of that destruction of the remains.

If you mean in Nov 2020 (i.e. 8 months after the killings), then I'm guessing he maybe thought searchers/hunters with dogs may find the remains in the condition that he had left them.

It's interesting that the prosecutor said that it was unknown how Hill was killed. This leaves open the possibility the struggle with a knife may be a fiction created by Lynn.

 

[Awakening]

A couple of things from this recap of this week of the trial ... (paraphrased)

- So far, 15 witnesses have been heard

- GL allegedly returned to the place where he dumped Russell and Carol eight months after he dumped them, to burn their remains.

I hadn't realised that he waited 8 months to destroy Russell's and Carol's remains so totally.
I wonder when the police first questioned him about being in the area at the time.
The 60 Minutes show about the case wasn't until April 2021, as far as I can see.
Something must have made GL nervous enough to return and commit all of that destruction of the remains.

I guess we may find out as the prosecution's case develops over the next few weeks.

imo

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/v...ws-story/72427908167c4f83f6140421a3a46c25?amp

I wondered if he planned to go back much sooner but was hampered by the various lockdowns at the time.

 

[Awakening]

If you mean in Nov 2020 (i.e. 8 months after the killings), then I'm guessing he maybe thought searchers/hunters with dogs may find the remains in the condition that he had left them.

It's interesting that the prosecutor said that it was unknown how Hill was killed. This leaves open the possibility the struggle with a knife may be a fiction created by Lynn.

I think he probably was killed by the knife.

I think this is what Lynn said in his police interview because he didn’t know what evidence the police might have.

If Lynn lied and said Russell was accidentally shot when wrestling for the gun after Carol had been hit, but if police had evidence of a knife attack, his whole story falls to pieces.

 

[JBowie]

but [if] police had evidence of a knife attack

Going by what the prosecutor has said, it seems that police didn't.

IMO, it may be a concocted tale. Lynn could well have shot Hill and then Clay.

IMO, he's deliberately destroyed everything he could at the scene of the crime and at the burial site in order to be able to make up his own version of events.

I don't buy any of what he says about the deaths. In my mind, he's an outright murderer.

 

[Awakening]

Going by what the prosecutor has said, it seems that police didn't.

IMO, it may be a concocted tale. Lynn could well have shot Hill and then Clay.

IMO, he's deliberately destroyed everything he could at the scene of the crime and at the burial site in order to be able to make up his own version of events.

I don't buy any of what he says about the deaths. In my mind, he's an outright murderer.

But when Lynn was arrested and in his 4 day police interview, he wouldn’t know what evidence police had.

I’m assuming this is when Lynn first told the story we are hearing in court. His defence lawyer attempted to get this interview excluded from the trial, and quite frankly, I can see why.

 

[JBowie]

I'm wondering if police took Lynn back to the crime site and have him reenact his version of events while being videoed. I'm guessing no, as I haven't heard that mentioned.

 

[Bats]

Going by what the prosecutor has said, it seems that police didn't.

IMO, it may be a concocted tale. Lynn could well have shot Hill and then Clay.

IMO, he's deliberately destroyed everything he could at the scene of the crime and at the burial site in order to be able to make up his own version of events.

I don't buy any of what he says about the deaths. In my mind, he's an outright murderer.

I get the feeling the prosecutors are concentrating on how Carol died as they probably have strong evidence of this.

I suspect the forensic evidence may show a different story of how Carol died to what GL is saying. In my mind the story of a bullet ricocheting and killing Carol is totally sus. In fact, GLs story of how they both died is extremely suspicious in my mind...

We'll see how that plays out in the coming weeks no doubt.

 

[SouthAussie]

I get the feeling the prosecutors are concentrating on how Carol died as they probably have strong evidence of this.

I suspect the forensic evidence may show a different story of how Carol died to what GL is saying. In my mind the story of a bullet ricocheting and killing Carol is totally sus. In fact, GLs story of how they both died is extremely suspicious in my mind...

We'll see how that plays out in the coming weeks no doubt.

Yes, they haven't yet revealed under which section of the ute's canopy that the police found blood stains and other matter from Carol. If it is even possible that the evidence got into that place from Carol being hit by a ricochet.

And I wonder how many times the police tried to get a shotgun slug (or buckshot) to ricochet off a side mirror. Or did the ammunition they (presumably) tested go right through the side mirror from whatever distance this alleged "accident" occurred?

Also, how much traceable google searching did GL do in concocting his story?

imo

 

[SouthAussie]

Looks like there is no side mirror left on this side of Russell's ute. What happened to it?
I wonder if the police found it among the burned remains of the tent.

Police investigating Russell Hill and Carol Clay’s disappearance want to find this four-wheel drive

Police are trying to find a blue Nissan Patrol that was seen in the area where Russell Hill and Carol Clay disappeared in March 2020.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Sabex]

Why was Mr Lynn keeping his weapon loaded when not actively hunting?

When moving or storing firearms it's crucial to unload them. To not do so is criminally negligent.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Hi Everyone. Almost missed that this had started.

I agree the accused story is total nonsense.

Also hi to @JudgeJudi if she is around

Hi @mrjitty. I haven’t posted on WS for 10 months due to trying to survive the vicissitudes of life and nearly missed this trial too.

Greetings to all the gang.

 

[SouthAussie]

It sounds as though, today, the witnesses are describing their thoughts and actions when they came across the burned campsite.

(paraphrased)
A father and his 11-year old son came across it on 25th March. They went right up to the campsite because the father was afraid there may have been someone inside the burned area.
A civil engineer and his family came across it the day after Russell and Carol disappeared. They looked at it from their car, then returned later to look at it more closely. This man noticed the damaged side mirror and the esky full of fresh-ish food.

Both of these witnesses contacted the police about what they had seen.

Also testifying was the camper who heard a 4WD with a trailer at midnight drive past his camp near the river crossing on the Wonnangatta Track. The crossing had been closed on the other side.
As the vehicle with trailer tried to turn around, the brake lights kept shining on the camper's tent.

The first officer to attend the valley - following the missing persons report - stayed about an hour. The police returned the next day after hearing the reports about the burned site. Other than the burned site, they didn't feel that they saw anything unusual.

‘Alarming for a young kid’: What a father and son found at missing campers’ abandoned site

A burnt campsite, an Esky full of food, a handbag on the passenger seat of a car. The first people to come across Russell Hill and Carol Clay’s campsite have described the scene to a jury.

www.theage.com.au

 

[JudgeJudi]

My feeling always with these kinds of cases is that we have to first consider whether the defendant's assertions are in any way credible. The prosecution does not have to disprove every wild theory from the defence.

In this case, I think the defendant is not at all credible, given his efforts to stage the crime scene, dispose of the bodies and evidence, and then effectively evade from justice for an extended period of time.

In such a case, his version should simply be discarded, except where corroborated by solid evidence.

There is simply no evidence to corroborate the idea that CC was killed in an accident for example. Indeed quite the opposite. Ditto there is no evidence RH was accidentally killed or in some kind of self defence - in my view. These are nothing more than bare assertions.

Indeed the whole defence seems to be 'why would GL do this" but that is not really a credible defence given we know he did indeed kill the victims and engage in elaborate staging.

I totally agree with all your comments. His version of what transpired that night is the biggest load of codswallop. Burning the bodies is more than a little shocking. I had previously wondered why he didn't just bury them, but I can now think of one reason.

Det Sgt Florence (lead investigator) testified last year that an autopsy was unable to establish a cause of death because the bones recovered were in fragments.

Dann is saying that RH came at his client with a knife, screaming “she's dead”, and was killed when he fell on a knife and it pierced his chest. Really? GL can't prove that because he has no witnesses.

I think it's possible that GL also shot RH. Unless he wanted to remove the bullet from his body, burning it to fragments might be one way of tampering with the evidence.

p.2 #24
Crime scene investigators returned to the couple’s campsite in March 2022 where they allegedly located a piece of human skull, linked by DNA to CC, and a piece of lead near where the couple’s tent had been set up.

 

[JudgeJudi]

I don't know if he requested a lawyer, but he did ask to speak to his wife. His request was allegedly refused.

The request was allegedly refused, with police taking Lynn back to Sale police station for questioning while secretly recording him.

The request was refused because the police were executing a search warrant on his home at that time. If he rang his wife, and if she wanted to protect him in some way by hiding potential evidence, all he had to say was, "Just ringing to let you know that I've been arrested/detained by the police". There's nothing strange about the refusal.