Found Deceased Australia - Russell Hill, 74, & Carol Clay, 72, Wonnangatta Valley, 20 March 2020 #2

[they'll get you]

What if Russell had a dashcam installed?


Is this Russell’s hat on the dash?

Personal belongings (circled) were left in Russell Hill's vehicle, which sustained fire damage when his tent went up in flames


If that’s his hat then I assume they didn’t walk off during the day although he wore a cap in many photos.



I consider ‘personal belongings’ to be things like wallet etc. would you leave your ‘personal belongings in full view night or day? Nope, I’d put wallet under out of sight if it wasn’t in my pocket & it’s not needed when camping.

 

[they'll get you]

Hmm ... they might have done. Hadn't thought about that. To check the timing of the trip perhaps, see what CCTV cameras they could see along the way, see who may have seen Russell's vehicle from their usual vantage point, check the fuel usage.

It’s a possibility they went camping with someone else who is denying ever being there? Any cameras along the route checked to ‘place’ the other vehicle being in convoy or travelling toward the same area?

I recon the cops know who it was and they are crossing some T’s before pouncing, like they did with Ristevski. Whatever vehicle could’ve moved Russell & Carol which might lead them to their bodies.
Phone pings?

The person could be known or might be a couple of drunken yahoos who accidentally shot them. Some idiots will shoot at anything that moves and don’t realise how far a bullet travels.
I dunno but I’d bet the cops do.

 

[JLZ]

"On the night of March 20, while Russell and Carol were camping in the Wonnangatta Valley, Russell spoke to three or four club members including Robbie."
Four people have gone missing within a 60km radius in the past year. Their fate remains a mystery

Hopefully these are all trustworthy people who would not all be in a conspiracy to lie about the communications, and have confirmed.

Yes, they likely could have stopped ... I usually need to stretch my legs on the way to/from an outback town we visit (about 6 hours away). In fact, we often stop overnight and do it in two shorter drives, if we have plenty of time to spare.

No, I think a conspiracy between four or five of them is out of the question, between two unlikely, and on the whole I think it was Russell on the transmission. But if it wasn't him, I don't necessarily think all four or five of them would have picked that. It was coming in on Russell's signal, it was in character for him to be where he said he was, they didn't know these were to be his final words. So if I was investigating, I'd like to eliminate the outside chance that up to a couple of them are guilty and the remainder mistaken, or even that Russell was transmitting from somewhere else. I don't know if that's technically possible--would there have been something on his signal apart from his words to show he was in the Wonnangatta region?

 

[JLZ]

What if Russell had a dashcam installed?

Interesting.

 

[JLZ]

If the drone was stolen, everything possible wiped, and resold. And the new owner connected it to the internet. Would there be anything perhaps deep in its uploaded data to associate it with its former identity? And any way to search for that? Find the drone, trace its provenance back to the thief. Would take overseas inquiries I would think.

 

[SouthAussie]

If the drone was stolen, everything possible wiped, and resold. And the new owner connected it to the internet. Would there be anything perhaps deep in its uploaded data to associate it with its former identity? And any way to search for that? Find the drone, trace its provenance back to the thief. Would take overseas inquiries I would think.

Yes, I was wondering the same thing. Does a drone have a certain IP address or something similar?
And if Russell registered the drone for warranty purposes (and why wouldn't he, expensive item, brand new) this would have identified that specific drone to that specific owner.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I wonder if Button Man sold anything at like a Farmers Market. I'm sure there would be those who would buy handmade artison works.

Re Button Man being THE one. I don't think so.
Seems to me he thought he'd found the perfect sort of isolated spot, so when he came across anyone he'd be less than friendly to them.

The disappearance of Russell and Carol has now put the area well and truly under the spotlight which I doubt very much is what he would want.

I am actually surprised that no friends or family have been there doing searches of their own, like on some other cases here.

 

[SouthAussie]

I wonder if Button Man sold anything at like a Farmers Market. I'm sure there would be those who would buy handmade artison works.

Re Button Man being THE one. I don't think so.
Seems to me he thought he'd found the perfect sort of isolated spot, so when he came across anyone he'd be less than friendly to them.

The disappearance of Russell and Carol has now put the area well and truly under the spotlight which I doubt very much is what he would want.

I am actually surprised that no friends or family have been there doing searches of their own, like on some other cases here.

I think that there may be others who live a solitary life in those remote areas, or spend a lot of time there.


Russell’s friend of almost 30 years, Robbie Ashlin, says it was on the King Billy Track about a year earlier that Russell and another mate had an encounter with a bushman who has been dubbed the Button Man.
Robbie says Russell encountered a man who was “agitated” and “let them know he didn’t want them to be camping there”.
Inspector Stamper says police have spoken to a number of people who live in or spend time in the bushland around the Wonnangatta Valley, including some with “concerning and anti-social habits”.
Four people have gone missing within a 60km radius in the past year. Their fate remains a mystery

 

[Midwestmom2019]

Not much point in having one and not taking it with you...they are small enough to fit in a pocket comfortably.

Ever forget your cell phone? Not often, but it happens. In a rush, excitement, old age forgetfulness? Forgot to take mine out of the car last week. Thankfully not too often, but it happens.

 

[they'll get you]

Over dinner tonight I told my partner the condensed version.
Affair wife didn’t know of.
Couple in their 70’s - gone.
Tent burnt yadda yadda.

Partner said immediately ‘the wife’.
I like to know if Russell had any male children as the boys like to protect the mum.
I thought it was interesting.

The wife had an extra beef, one a girlfriend, the other the husband.

 

[SouthAussie]

Over dinner tonight I told my partner the condensed version.
Affair wife didn’t know of.
Couple in their 70’s - gone.
Tent burnt yadda yadda.

Partner said immediately ‘the wife’.
I like to know if Russell had any male children as the boys like to protect the mum.
I thought it was interesting.

The wife had an extra beef, one a girlfriend, the other the husband.

That does seem to be the Occams Razor.

The police and media have been very careful not to reveal the makeup of the families. Only that Carol has grandchildren, and we have seen a pic of Russell holding (presumably) a grandchild and seen a statement describing him as brother, husband, dad, and pa.

Missing's Family Speak - 99.5 & 99.9 Gippsland's TRFM - Local / National News

 

[trujac]

Over dinner tonight I told my partner the condensed version.
Affair wife didn’t know of.
Couple in their 70’s - gone.
Tent burnt yadda yadda.

Partner said immediately ‘the wife’.
I like to know if Russell had any male children as the boys like to protect the mum.
I thought it was interesting.

The wife had an extra beef, one a girlfriend, the other the husband.

Why now would RH and CC's affair matter to anyone? It had been going on for decades...RH's wife must have been asleep at the wheel if she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary between her husband and CC--after all, RH and CC as teenagers were lovers before RH married his wife--and RH and CC went onto to include their spouses in social activities with each other for over 30 years--hardly a recipe for a jealously blowout decades later when all parties are in their 70s...And to cap it off, the only thing RH's wife had to say publicly when told her husband was missing with their family friend CC..."that silly bugger."

 

[TootsieFootsie]

We don't really know anything at all about either of their families.
I can only think that any of them being involved has been ruled out by the Police.

 

[Estelle]

I find it strange also that only Carol's friend has come forward so far to speak on TV and none of the family members on either side have ever done any searching - possibly due to the lockdown. But usually you find at least one family member prepared to come on TV crying and asking them to come home, etc. as they were only deemed to be missing in the early days.

Perhaps none of the family members approved of the relationship on either side but they all really knew about it. As they probably knew each other over the years, I wonder if the wife, her children or Carol's children contacted the other to ascertain what Carol or Bill had told them and they assumed they were together.

Carol herself pretended to family she was going off camping alone. I find it difficult to believe that a woman like Carol would go alone.

However, was the wife honest when she claimed that she thought he was going on these camping trips alone? Maybe at least one family member had found out about it, decided to follow them, confront them, there was a fracas and someone took action.

Another thought: Was Carol actually divorced or just separated? Had she gone through property settlement - hence her new purchase of real estate?

Motive? Protection of family assets, disapproval of infidelity and the secret relationship and jealousy.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Yes but when this happened, weren't all her friends surprised that she would go camping.
I think they didn't know she was camping, hence their surprise. I wonder what she told them she was doing.

Carol herself pretended to family she was going off camping alone. I find it difficult to believe that a woman like Carol would go alone.

 

[SouthAussie]

Why now would RH and CC's affair matter to anyone? It had been going on for decades...RH's wife must have been asleep at the wheel if she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary between her husband and CC--after all, RH and CC as teenagers were lovers before RH married his wife--and RH and CC went onto to include their spouses in social activities with each other for over 30 years--hardly a recipe for a jealously blowout decades later when all parties are in their 70s...And to cap it off, the only thing RH's wife had to say publicly when told her husband was missing with their family friend CC..."that silly bugger."

She's unlikely to say "Oh yes, I thought something was going on. He has hardly been around since he's been retired, when he should have had so much more time with me. Always off camping and doing other things. So I followed him and found out where he was going .... to Carol's place. I took his drone and hid it. We had a huge blowup. I was really upset. My kids know that I am upset. Anyway, he's dead now, so I am packing up his stuff."

IMO

 

[SouthAussie]

We don't really know anything at all about either of their families.
I can only think that any of them being involved has been ruled out by the Police.

There is a daughter, Russell's wife mentions her in this article.

Wife of missing camper Russell Hill found out via a news report that police believe he was murdered | Daily Mail Online

Interesting headline to the article. The family hadn't been told by police - or a police liason officer - that they think the couple (or Russell) were murdered. But police told the media that they think foul play is involved. I wonder why that would be? Police (imo) usually advise families of what is going to break in the news, so the family is not shocked and upset.

What did Russell's wife say? "I've got nothing more to say about anything".

I don't think police have ruled anything out. They haven't stated anything along those lines. Just that they "want to find out what happened to Russell and Carol".

IMO

 

[trujac]

The outline in my post of RH and CC's family dynamics was covered in news reports...and speaks volumes, imo, to the unlikelihood that anyone in their family is tied to their disappearance. Additionally, it still seems like LE is grasping at straws trying to construct a plausible thesis for RH's and CC's disappearance by casting a huge geographical investigative net in hopes of catching circumstantial evidence that will lead them to some conclusive findings...what they need to find is RH and CC's remains--that will be the definitive explanation as to what happened to RH and CC, imo.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Thanks South, I must have missed that there was a daughter.

There is a daughter, Russell's wife mentions her in this article.

 

[SouthAussie]

The outline in my post of RH and CC's family dynamics was covered in news reports...and speaks volumes, imo, to the unlikelihood that anyone in their family is tied to their disappearance. Additionally, it still seems like LE is grasping at straws trying to construct a plausible thesis for RH's and CC's disappearance by casting a huge geographical investigative net in hopes of catching circumstantial evidence that will lead them to some conclusive findings...what they need to find is RH and CC's remains--that will be the definitive explanation as to what happened to RH and CC, imo.

We know nothing about the family dynamics.
We do know that Russell seemed to spend a lot of time away from home.

IMO