Part 2: The last verbal contact with RH, discovery of the burnt tent and sightings of RH and CC
At 6:00pm RH joined the regular evening radio club call. The club members talked for about 30 minutes. RH stayed on the line and told Ashlin of his plans for the next day’s trip. It was the last time Ashlin heard from him. RH was happy, no mention of others, CC being with him or anyone else near the campsite. The radio call ended at 6:40pm.
As sunset was at 7:24 pm, there was only a short window of opportunity to cook, fly the drone etc. before it was pitch black. Ashlin was worried by RH’s radio silence over the next few days. He passed on his concerns to Robyn who then reported him missing when he failed to return home, but 5 days had passed. By the time police had mustered a team to the high country, 8 days had passed since the last radio call.
At 2:00pm the next day, a passerby came across the campsite which had been completely destroyed by fire. He took the iconic photo we’ve all seen, but it wasn’t handed to the police for more than a week.
Local contract musterer, Lachlan Culican, had been asked to assist the police search for the couple. What he saw convinced him an intruder had most likely come into the campsite. The car was locked, both their wallets and scattered with membership cards etc were scattered on the floor of the car, but cash and debit/credit cards were missing. He later saw a worker spraying blackberries who claimed he saw RH and CC driving by on Friday night and that a drone had been flying. He said RH flew his drone over his camp that night, which he thought was a bit disrespectful. He was adamant it was RH’s drone.
There was no mobile phone reception and the nearest phone service was a couple of hours away.
Ashlin believes RH would never walk into dense bushland, and if he was injured, he’s sure CC would have tried to call for help over the radio. He believes it’s clear RH faced trouble because of what he saw in the photos of the fire. Everything had been thrown inside the tent and it was set alight. RH would never light an open fire anywhere near his tent and car. It would only be a small fire and would be at least 20 metres away.