Twist in search for missing Victorian lovers who vanished on a camping trip follow 'new information'


Baffling twist in search for missing Victorian lovers who vanished on a camping trip as police move to remote tracks after ‘new information’ – weeks after two shovels were discovered

  • Search for missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay returns to Wonnangatta 
  • Police announced they will return to Victorian region where pair were last seen
  • Investigators said it’s ‘the result of information obtained from previous searches’
  •  Mr Hill, 74, and Ms Clay, 73, vanished from Wonnangatta Valley 13 months ago

The 13-month-long desperate search for Victorian campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay will return to the area where they disappeared.

Victorian police announced on Monday they would return to the Wonnangatta area on Monday ‘as a result of information obtained from previous searches’.

Two shovels were found during a search of the Mt Hotham area on April 14, about 100km from Wonnangatta, which are still being examined.

The search will now focus on the area along the Dargo High Plains Rd, Cynthia Range Track, Herne Spur Track and the Wonnangatta Track.

Mr Hill, 74, and Ms Clay, 73, went missing from the Wonnangatta Valley in March last year.

Russell Hill (pictured) and Carol Clay mysteriously disappeared during a camping trip in the Wonnangatta Valley in Victoria's East Gippsland region last year

Carol Clay (pictured) went missing on a camping trip with Russell Hill  on March 19 last year

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 

Police believe Mr Hill left his Drouin home on March 19 and picked up Ms Clay from her home in Pakenham in his white Toyota Landcruiser.

Mr Hill was last heard from on March 20 via HF radio, stating he was at Wonnangatta Valley.

Campers found Mr Hill’s car with signs of minor fire damage at the duo’s campsite near Dry River Creek Track in the Wonnangatta Valley the next day.

Their campsite had been destroyed by fire.

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

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 

A number of searches have been conducted in and around the Wonnangatta Valley during the past 12 months, including on April 4 this year with cadaver dogs.

Police conceded at the time it was unlikely Mr Hill and Ms Clay were still alive.

They continue to investigate whether the pair met foul play.

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.

The latest twist in the baffling cases comes a week after detectives uncovered two shovels while trawling through bushland at an ‘incredibly remote’ location at Mount Hotham in the Victorian Alps.

Detective Acting Inspector Tony Combridge of the Missing Persons Squad  told reporters ‘somebody was involved’ in the pair’s baffling disappearance

Mr Hill (pictured) had left his Drouin home on March 19 for a camping trip along the Dargo River in Victoria's northeast and planned to leave the region on March 26

Russell Hill and Carol Clay (pictured) were last heard from on March 20 last year

Russell Hill (left) and Carol Clay (right) were last heard from on March 20 last year 

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