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

[srper2]

Welcome @Fox Mulder = the truth
Great first post
Regarding yours and other Websleuths assertions that she didn’t seem the type to’rough’ it. I find it amusing (but not in a sarcastic/sleight against any of you), because I am always referred to as being very glamorous and well made up , well presented etc yet I am more of what I term ‘ a boy ‘ than I am a girl’ inasmuch as I have a motorbike licence and I enjoy most male oriented activities than I do female ones and before I am jumped upon for being sexist or stereotypical, I’m not saying it in an insulting way, I am merely trying to make a point that just because she looks like the type who would much prefer to spend time in a beauty salon than she would out camping in the bush, doesn’t mean that’s the case.
In respect of murder/suicide and having investigated a few such cases, without going into any professional detail, this case does not IMOO have any of the hallmarks of a murder /suicide that I would expect to see. I think something nefarious has occurred and unfortunately , they met their end, and are just waiting to be found to enable a proper burial.

I understood that it was CC's friends etc. who had said the were surprised she had gone camping as they thought it was unusual for her to want to do that, rather than making assertions, more that WS's were referring to the info. supplied in the news reports?

 

[Midwestmom2019]

All of our ideas have been discussed a kazillion times. The only rock that has not been turned over is what his 27 year friend knows, suspects or was told by Russell. Hopefully he told LE and was not afraid for his life if it involves criminals. There may be more info later, but right now we’re at the end of our searches. Until something new is revealed, and chased down, it’s a cold case. Sorry, but that’s it.

 

[Estelle]

Hi Sleuths,
Another newbie here! I've been following this since the start and you've got some well thought out possibilities on the fate of RH & CC.

Just to add my 2 bobs worth, I wonder if RH really did go camping for the 2 days, the week or so prior to their fateful trip. Could it be that RH was helping CC move house or he just went over there to stay the night and the camping was a decoy? I recall seeing in a previous post that she'd only just moved into her new unit.

That is an excellent idea as CC's neighbour had seen RH a lot and she had only been there one week! Maybe this is when someone discovered their relationship or became suspicious of his movements

 

[SouthAussie]

That is an excellent idea as CC's neighbour had seen RH a lot and she had only been there one week! Maybe this is when someone discovered their relationship or became suspicious of his movements

Does anyone have a link to this 'one week' information? I looked and looked last night and couldn't find that info.

I recall reading a few days ago in one of a zillion articles I read that Carol moved 'late last year' (of course, I couldn't find that link again either, but I will look again when I have time).

 

[TootsieFootsie]

This could possibly be the source of the bought the house one week before.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...days-before-camping-trip-20200422-p54m7y.html

Grandmother missing with man bought new home days before camping trip

A woman who went missing with a family friend on a camping trip in Victoria's high country last month was happily talking to friends about her grandchildren and had settled on a brand new property in Melbourne's south-east a week before the pair's mysterious disappearance.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

What I've never got is how the new neighbour could have "seen Russell many times" ?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Oh right I must have missed this bit from the above article before.

"Ms Clay, a mother of three who separated from her partner several years ago, had for several months been living by herself in a new Pakenham home when she left with Mr Hill to go camping"

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...days-before-camping-trip-20200422-p54m7y.html

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I still don't get something. If settled is the official term used in buying property.
If you only "settle" on a property the week before, how can you have already moved in before the settlement date.
Unless it was agreed upon by the sellers ?

And aha, separated for two years. Around the time that Russell retired maybe ?

 

[Satchie]

What I've never got is how the new neighbour could have "seen Russell many times" ?

IMO, 'she had just bought a house', means she'd made an offer and it had been accepted, with a proposed closing/move in date. It didn't say she'd just moved in, which for us older people is an exhausting process that leaves your life in total disarray and unable to even contemplate a camping trip since you can't find anything you'd need.

So, I think they interviewed her long term neighbour.

MOO

 

[Black-Cat]

What I've never got is how the new neighbour could have "seen Russell many times" ?

Yes and when it says friends of CC they would really just be Neighbours who would have been watching her move in and possibly have introduced themselves..... hardly close

 

[Estelle]

What possibly could have happened is that CC purchased the house several months ago with a deposit and the owners wanted a delayed settlement so she asked them if she could move in and pay them rent until the house was settled. So CC may not have had to move the previous weekend and had been living there for months hence her neighbour had seen RH there many times.

The other word mentioned which raised alarms for me is that CC was described as being SEPARATED for two years but not divorced. Often the property settlement can take place before the divorce so that makes sense to me. I wonder whether it was an amicable property settlement as this can cause a lot of angst? I would like to know more about CC's husband as she could be still married - officially.

 

[Estelle]

Yes and when it says friends of CC they would really just be Neighbours who would have been watching her move in and possibly have introduced themselves..... hardly close

No one report was from her new male neighbour and the other was from her female friend who knew CC who through the Country Women's Association.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Oh that's right. Come to think of it I have heard of people paying rent and moving in earlier than the settlement date.
Also I think sometimes it suits the seller to not have the house be empty.
Not sure why a seller would want a delayed payment but I'm sure there is a good reason behind it.
I think it's probably the buyer who asks for the delayed settlement.

 

[SouthAussie]

Oh that's right. Come to think of it I have heard of people paying rent and moving in earlier than the settlement date.
Also I think sometimes it suits the seller to not have the house be empty.
Not sure why a seller would want a delayed payment but I'm sure there is a good reason behind it.
I think it's probably the buyer who asks for the delayed settlement.

Okay, so this all makes more sense now. Thanks for the links.

It does sound as if Carol moved into the Pakenham property late last year then. 'Rental with option to buy' is what I think it is called. Possibly with settlement to happen when Carol received settlement from her divorce - which could have been one week before she went missing.

Hmmm ... does that put a potential angry suspect on the table?

IMO

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Must be awful to be living with someone who is pining away for someone else.
That is if either of their spouses suspected anything or were they the last to know ?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

An article with a photo of Carol and others in 2016.
I was hoping to see if she had a ring on her wedding finger, but her hand is holding a plate so hard to tell.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...vernment-houses-open-day-20160126-gmdx07.html

Victorians make themselves right at home at Government House's open day

 

[TootsieFootsie]

DBM

 

[Kemug]

Carol first joined the CWA at Berry's Creek in 2001, having moved there "with her family" in 2000 - according to an article called "CWA's no cupcake affair" - this is from an article published in the Pakenham Gazette on March 25, 2013. Certainly sounds an amazing woman.

 

[SouthAussie]

Carol first joined the CWA at Berry's Creek in 2001, having moved there "with her family" in 2000 - according to an article called "CWA's no cupcake affair" - this is from an article published in the Pakenham Gazette on March 25, 2013. Certainly sounds an amazing woman.

Good find, Kemug.
Here's the link ... in case others want to read it.

CWA’s no cupcake affair | Berwick Gazette

 

[Black-Cat]

Oh that's right. Come to think of it I have heard of people paying rent and moving in earlier than the settlement date.
Also I think sometimes it suits the seller to not have the house be empty.
Not sure why a seller would want a delayed payment but I'm sure there is a good reason behind it.
I think it's probably the buyer who asks for the delayed settlement.

Yes that’s right, more likely the buyer wanting a delay if waiting on a financial settlement with husband IMO