A bizarre case of two elderly lovers who vanished on a camping trip in the remote Victorian bush over a year ago continues to generate wild conspiracy theories.
Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, went missing from the Wonnangatta Valley in the Victorian Alps in March last year.
A number of theories about their mysterious disappearance have emerged, but investigators from the missing persons squad have long maintained the pair, who were in a secret affair, were set upon by unknown attackers.
Victorian police announced on Monday they would return to the remote area ‘as a result of information obtained from previous searches’.
The search will now focus on the area along the Dargo High Plains Road, Cynthia Range Track, Herne Spur Track and the Wonnangatta Track.
The latest development comes a week after detectives uncovered two shovels while trawling through bushland at an ‘incredibly remote’ location at Mount Hotham.
Investigators are still trying to determine how Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, disappeared while camping in the rugged bushland of the Wonnangatta Valley in Victoria’s East Gippsland region on March 19, 2020
The pair had been involved in a secret affair for years and had gone on the camping trip before their site was found burned to the ground two days later
Russell Hill and Carol Clay (pictured) were last heard from on March 20 last year and had told friends she was heading away and was expecting to return by March 29
Detective Acting Inspector Tony Combridge of the Missing Persons Squad said at the time police believed ‘somebody was involved’ in the pair’s baffling disappearance.
They continue to investigate whether the pair met foul play.
Mr Hill left his home in Drouin, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, on March 19 last year and collected his Ms Clay from her home in the southeastern Melbourne suburb of Pakenham in his white Toyota Land Cruiser.
They travelled through Licola, spending one night at Howitt High Plains before heading into Wonnangatta Valley and vanishing without a trace.
Mr Hill was last heard from on March 20 over high frequency radio telling friends he was in Wonnangatta Valley, while Ms Clay had told friends she was heading away and was expecting to return by March 29.
Authorities found the couple’s campsite burnt out near Mr Hill’s car days later, before it was discovered their sleeping bags, phones, and his drone were also missing.
Detectives have believed since December that their attackers torched their campsite to destroy forensic evidence of a crime.
The pair went missing in the Wonnangatta Valley, more than 200km north east of Melbourne
Fire forensics expert Greg Kelly experimented with tent fibres and ropes to see if the fire could have taken hold accidentally, but said the materials burned slowly and extinguished themselves.
There were also no burn marks across the doors of the nearby car doors, the rubber tyres weren’t melted, and the esky – which was underneath the car – was intact.
An earlier school of thought from police was that Mr Hill and Mrs Gray were ambushed or shot by deer hunters
Mr Kelly said the scene suggested the fire was short and hot, which was likely caused by an accelerant – such as the gas canisters inside the tent.
Cadaver dogs, which specialise in locating human remains, were sent to the region but failed to find any trace of the pair.
An earlier school of thought from police was that Mr Hill and Mrs Gray were ambushed or shot by deer hunters.
A number of friends agreed, with their bodies then dragged away in their sleeping bags.
Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper last month said officers were chasing all leads and had zeroed in on a driver of a white ute that was seen in the valley a day before the pair disappeared.
‘It might seem like only a very small possibility that those in the white ute will have information about Russell and Carol’s disappearance but we can’t afford to leave any stone unturned,’ he said.
The ute remains unaccounted for, along with the couple’s sleeping bags, prompting speculation they may have been used as body bags.
The vehicle was spotted at a public ‘long drop’ toilet in the Valley the day before the camping companions last made contact with friends.
Police have also noted the toilet at the campsite had been unused, suggesting the couple had not had time to settle in before they disappeared.
Mr Hill’s best friend Rob Ashlin speculated the pair could have been slain by illegal hunters after his drone – which Mr Hill was flying that day – unwittingly captured illegal activity.
The drone, though to be a breakthrough in the year-old case, was handed in to Victoria Police at East Gippsland last weekend but officers confirmed it wasn’t the DJI Mavic belonging to Mr Hill.
Police are confident the pair did not fake their own deaths and do not believe it is case of murder suicide
High country musterer, Lachlan Culican, who helped police during the search, also believes the pair may have accidentally witnessed illegal hunters in the area.
He was shocked by the the sheer quantity of dead deer in the area where their scorched campsite was found, explaining he saw a new carcass every ‘200m or 300m’.
Mr Ashlin, who was friends with Mr Hill for 30 years, also suggested there might be someone sinister lurking in the mountains.
He had a friend who was hunting deer in the region and set up camp for the night with someone else.
As they sat around the fire, they saw a person standing at the edge of the light, staring at them.
‘One of them shot over to his vehicle and this person who was standing there just wandered behind the shadow of a tree and was gone,’ he said.
In May last year, a bizarre theory surfaced when locals made a connection between the couple’s disappearance and an ‘oddball loner’ living in the Victorian Alps, who had been questioned over a number of mysterious disappearances.
Known as ‘Buttons’ or ominously, ‘the Button Man’, the expert bushman became a person of interest after concerns about his odd behaviour was raised by locals.
He is understood to have earned his nickname due to his hobby of using deer antlers to make buttons – which he then uses as large ear piercings.
‘Being creepy is not illegal,’ a police source told Daily Mail Australia at the time.
The source confirmed there was nothing to indicate the mysterious loner had killed the couple.
‘We don’t think they’re in Queensland living (a secret) life. They’re too old really to drop off the grid and why would they?’ the source said.
A number of searches have been conducted in and around the Wonnangatta Valley during the past 12 months.
Police are confident the pair did not fake their own deaths and do not believe it is case of murder suicide.
Detectives continue to appeal to anyone who was in the Wonnangatta area around the time of the campers’ disappearance to make contact.
They also want to speak to anyone who was in the Howitt Plains and Zeka Spur Track area on March 19-20, and the Wonnangatta Valley and Wonnangatta Station area from March 20-24.
