Found Deceased Australia - Russell Hill, 74, & Carol Clay, 72, Wonnangatta Valley, 20 Mar 2020 #6 *charges*

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BrumbyJack said:
What’s going on in the “exact location photos in the Mercury article from 2 Dec?
No Cookies | The Mercury

Any thoughts on why there are a couple of extra’s in one of the shots? I thought they were just the same spot from different angles (which they are), but one photo has an extra log on top and extra stick laying down?
Credited to the same photographer.
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I could not make head or tails of those photos. The burnt logs and branches and whether they were before or after shots.
 
Motomike and Brumby Jack, I am sure can answer these queries.
Some of the photos of the burnt camp site show a blue tarp. I think that might be from the investigators, as in the screen grabs below. Do you know what it is?
Just speculating, but if it is from the police, I wonder what it is concealing or protecting?
Also some photos show a burnt tin drum - it had been in the fire - and it has a piece cut out of it. Do you know what that is? There's a screen grab below.
The Ch.9 documentary, Under Investigation had a young chap who is a cattle musterer giving his recollections. He said that near the camp site were the remains of many deer that had been killed and butchered.
Motomike: When you visited the site, were there any carcasses? And is it usual to find carcasses in the valley, especially near camp sites?
Finally, there is a screen grab showing an aerial shot of the site (with blue tarp). On the top of Mr Hill's 4WD is a wire or possibly a rope. Could this be the antenna for his HF wireless, that I think you said, Motomike, appeared to be missing?
Mr Hill is presented as a careful and methodical person. I wonder if it would be in character to just leave this wire (or rope) on top of his vehicle? If he was in the habit of stowing his gear after use, then not stowing this gear may indicate he was interrupted before he could accomplish this task. That may indicate he was interrupted around 19:00 (radio call finishing at 18:40). That would make sense, given the portaloo had not been used. And also possibly they had not yet eaten.
Just wondering….

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Arboreal said:
For a man who likes the outdoors, spending 23 hours a day in a cell is not going to make him happy. I know the authorities keep a close eye on people in remand, but I hope he does not do an Epstein.
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Sorry, but I don't care one way or another about people who kill. They just cost the taxpayer money and breath our air. And one day they get out of jail.
 
Would like to see a clear pic of it, looks like it could even be a home-made hard floor camper? Not sure which way it would fold out but there’s definitely something going on at the back, looks like a curved bar but can’t figure it out, it hasn’t got the skids but anyway that’s just a guess. As to why he’d take it, instead of just throwing down a swag is anyone’s guess, unless he was out there for a week or so maybe. Bit more comfy.

CyberHound said:
Who tows a trailer in the bush that is not a camper anyway?
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ScottToorak said:
Ladies & Gents. Two things are on my mind.
1. The date of disappearance being the 20th March may be pivotal in the mindset of the alleged killer. It was immediately prior to this date that his career would have been thrown into a spin by the onset of covid 19 restrictions that would have no doubt affected his ability to Pilot and aeroplane. Going from earning big $$$ to either being stood down or knowing you will be stood down to earn 0 would be hard to stomach for anyone.
2. The bike on the back of the 4wd that was towed away by police. I do wonder whether the bike was a means of transportation that would not have been tracked that could have taken GL to the buriel site. i.e. GL whilst riding stumbles across the remains of the deceased in his bush pursuits by chance and then claims his dna is at the site through pure chance!. Is that why the police pounced to stop any chance of that happening?. I think GL is a very thoughtful SK and police know he is and have known it was him for some time but were waiting for him to trip up and he didn't. Hence, it was time to end his game by arresting him and charging him.
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Hey @ScottToorak
1. Yep, agreed and quite possible regarding that time in the accused's life.
2. I don't think when the accused went camping (just prior to his arrest) that contaminating the bodies with dna was really on his mind....after all, if the accused is the perpetrator then he would already know his DNA is possibly all over the bodies. I do see your line of thinking here and agree on your last sentence.

Regarding being a SK.... the accused needs to have killed at least on three separate occasions to be considered a SK I believe ? ...and I wouldn't have thought the LE would wait to try to prove this over getting justice for Carol and Russell.

JMO
 
That blue tarp, I’ve seen a photo somewhere when it wasn’t there, so my guess is that it was either to lay out the recovered items on, or maybe to cover the scene at night so nothing (animals) disturbed it..? Will see if I can hunt up the pic.

As for the drum, could be something as boring as a drum he tipped upside down to protect the battery if it rained? A tin bucket of any sort is always handy, but the bit checked out likely means it probably had a specific purpose. Motormike would have a better idea what Russell might’ve used it for.

Arboreal said:
Motomike and Brumby Jack, I am sure can answer these queries.
Some of the photos of the burnt camp site show a blue tarp. I think that might be from the investigators, as in the screen grabs below. Do you know what it is?
Just speculating, but if it is from the police, I wonder what it is concealing or protecting?
Also some photos show a burnt tin drum - it had been in the fire - and it has a piece cut out of it. Do you know what that is? There's a screen grab below.
The Ch.9 documentary, Under Investigation had a young chap who is a cattle musterer giving his recollections. He said that near the camp site were the remains of many deer that had been killed and butchered.
Motomike: When you visited the site, were there any carcasses? And is it usual to find carcasses in the valley, especially near camp sites?
Finally, there is a screen grab showing an aerial shot of the site (with blue tarp). On the top of Mr Hill's 4WD is a wire or possibly a rope. Could this be the antenna for his HF wireless, that I think you said, Motomike, appeared to be missing?
Mr Hill is presented as a careful and methodical person. I wonder if it would be in character to just leave this wire (or rope) on top of his vehicle? If he was in the habit of stowing his gear after use, then not stowing this gear may indicate he was interrupted before he could accomplish this task. That may indicate he was interrupted around 19:00 (radio call finishing at 18:40). That would make sense, given the portaloo had not been used. And also possibly they had not yet eaten.
Just wondering….

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BrumbyJack said:
Would like to see a clear pic of it, looks like it could even be a home-made hard floor camper? Not sure which way it would fold out but there’s definitely something going on at the back, looks like a curved bar but can’t figure it out, it hasn’t got the skids but anyway that’s just a guess.
Click to expand...

If it is/was a fold out camper of sorts, then that should make it even more identifiable if indeed he did sell it to someone via Gumtree.

So far, the only distinctive feature that I've read about is that is said to have been fitted with off road wheels. (I took that to mean maybe a set of wheels matching the Nissan Patrol, but who knows?)
 
Arboreal said:
Motomike and Brumby Jack, I am sure can answer these queries.
Some of the photos of the burnt camp site show a blue tarp. I think that might be from the investigators, as in the screen grabs below. Do you know what it is?
Just speculating, but if it is from the police, I wonder what it is concealing or protecting?
Also some photos show a burnt tin drum - it had been in the fire - and it has a piece cut out of it. Do you know what that is? There's a screen grab below.
The Ch.9 documentary, Under Investigation had a young chap who is a cattle musterer giving his recollections. He said that near the camp site were the remains of many deer that had been killed and butchered.
Motomike: When you visited the site, were there any carcasses? And is it usual to find carcasses in the valley, especially near camp sites?
Finally, there is a screen grab showing an aerial shot of the site (with blue tarp). On the top of Mr Hill's 4WD is a wire or possibly a rope. Could this be the antenna for his HF wireless, that I think you said, Motomike, appeared to be missing?
Mr Hill is presented as a careful and methodical person. I wonder if it would be in character to just leave this wire (or rope) on top of his vehicle? If he was in the habit of stowing his gear after use, then not stowing this gear may indicate he was interrupted before he could accomplish this task. That may indicate he was interrupted around 19:00 (radio call finishing at 18:40). That would make sense, given the portaloo had not been used. And also possibly they had not yet eaten.
Just wondering….

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I dont think the blue tarp belonged to Russell. I think it may have been used by the police to arrange the artifacts from the burnt out campsite so nothing got lost. MOO
I did not see any deer carcasses in any of the trips I have made into the valley mainly because I didnt venture into the bush area on the east side of the river where a lot of the deer hunting goes on. I would not expect too many deer to be shot in the open country in the bottom of the valley, and if they were they would be cleaned up by the shooters as it the right thing to do. Other campers in the area would not like having a deer carcass on the door step.
The rope on top of the canopy is not part of his antenna. The antenna was a 40m long piece of wire with a feed line attached in the center. I think they are ropes used to tie to the top of the tent poles on the awning of the tent that was quite close to the passenger side of the vehicle. You can see the end near the back of the cabin is quite blackened. If you find the picture from the passenger side of the vehicle you can see a small piece of burnt rope tied to the hitching rail of the canopy. This lines up pretty well with where one of the tent poles on the awning would have been. MOO

Edit: forgot to mention the drum. It was a 20l Castrol oil drum with the top cut off and a square taken out of the side. It was used as a windbreak for a single burner stove on top of a gas bottle. The square was to gain access to the gas control on the burner. Russell used this many times when I camped with him mainly to boil water for tea /coffee or washing up etc. He also had a 2 burner gas camping stove he would set up in the side of the canopy to cook on. Never cooked in the tent.

Edit 2: here is the pic attached
 

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OwlHeart said:
Yes. It is a commonly used method of intimidation in domestic violence.

I've uploaded an informative diagram on the methods of control domestic violence perpetrators use.

The part about harming pets is under the 'INTIMIDATION' heading.

I'm hoping WS mods allow it as it is good to know the signs so that we may possibly help someone and as the GL RH CC case is beginning to show, perhaps even murder could be prevented.
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Thank you for posting this, OwlHeart. So important.
I agree - certainly if we could help someone who is in a DV situation, we could potentially prevent a murder. Too common, unfortunately.
 
JBowie said:
I have the same question about towing any form of trailer especially having read how treacherous and unforgiving some of the bush tracks are.
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Maybe he intended to take a deer carcass home to have stuffed or a head with antlers. Not many other reasons to take a trailer in there.
I have seen 4WD campers in there before but it would be a challenge to get in there towing anything I think.
 
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