Welcome Kath! Like you, I was a long time lurker.
Thanks for posting that link.
I must say, I thought the interview was quite underwhelming and I would have to say, confusing; and I thought the discussion here on Websleuths has been much more insightful!
There are many, many, things Mr Silvester did not mention that are in the public domain and I felt Mr Silvester had not really looked at this and assembled the information.
For instance, that Mr Lynn had been under surveillance for quite some time, certainly from earlier this year and some press said from last year.
And that the police said in March they had identified all vehicles in the valley at the time, except a white dual cab ute; but shortly after (
thanks JudgeJudi for finding the article), police said it too had been accounted for after the occupants came forward.
Then in October - November, police they said all vehicles, bar one - a blue Nissan 4WD - had been eliminated (
thanks to Theodora for highlighting that distinction).
Police had been searching specific areas, around the
Cynthia Track and Herne Spur, in about April this year. They said they were acting on specific information obtained from their investigation, "As a result of information obtained from previous searches", suggesting analysis of data. But both those tracks are part of the east wards exits from the valley, suggesting that the police were aware of the route the perpetrator took out of the valley and that the police had other information.
And police revealed, I think it was late October, that from mid last year, they knew that Mr Hill and Ms Clay were both dead and had been murdered.
Mr Silvester said police were despondent that this would be solved and looked at it as a "cold case". That is not so. It was never a cold case.
And, police were saying from mid last year that they would solve it. Given the amount of mobile phone data, dash camera footage, drone footage from other campers, the cameras at Mt Hotham (and apparently at Dargo and Licola too), fact there is really only three ways into and out of the valley - one of which is blocked - the confidence of police in solving it was not misplaced.
The announcements in late October or early November were designed to put pressure on the person who was their prime suspect. Moreover, Police said they spoke with Mr Lynn "last year". Police said they had conducted about 1,000 interviews -
and one witness, who says a blue Nissan in the vicinity of Mr Hill and Ms Clay's camp was interviewed by police more than once - this man was known to people involved in the search and to police, by no later than 01 April, 2020, and so it would make sense that they spoke with Mr Lynn last year, as part of identifying and eliminating from the investigation anyone in the valley. The arson squad detectives were examining the camp site from early April, 2020 and it seems police were highly suspicious of the fire and disappearance from a day or two after they became aware of it, which was about 27 March. Within weeks they would also have known about the late night vehicle movements. How they came to identify the Myrtleford gate has not been revealed, but bizarrely, the area there has mobile coverage and the motorist's phone would have been pinging off the mobile towers. When people disappear, one thing police do is grab all mobile phone tower metadata records....
Apologies for the long rant; but I guess I'm trying for a re-cap so we here can see that this was a brilliant piece of investigation, bringing together a range of resource and a vast array of information. I think that is the story. How did the police manage all this disparate information and in it extract the wheat from the chaff?
Amazing.
) but I have only just finally made an account. Long time lurker first time poster.
