Detectives investigating the unsolved case of two missing campers who disappeared in March 2020 have come forward with some new information as the case continues to unfold.
Yesterday, Victorian police arrested a 55-year-old man at a campsite near Victoria’s Arbuckle Junction and took him in for questioning over the disappearance of friends Carol Clay and Russell Hill.
Hill and Clay disappeared on March 20, 2020 while out camping in Wonnangatta Valley, which sits in north-eastern Victoria.
The vehicle of the couple and their burnt-out campsite were found shortly after, but the couple have since remained unfound, with no answers as to how they disappeared. The only real lead so far has been a dark blue Nissan Patrol which was camping nearby at the time, which detectives believe they have found.
Today, detectives allege that their main suspect may have completely painted over the Nissan Patrol to avoid suspicion, and the vehicle was taken in for investigation. The car is now a faded beige, which police say would explain how nobody suspected anything for over a year.
“Detectives from the Missing Persons Squad have arrested a man as part of the investigation into missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay,” Victoria police said in a statement.
“The investigation into the matter remains ongoing and further information will be released when operationally appropriate to do so.”
“It’s really hard, it’s not getting any better not knowing. It’s just unknown, he just disappeared and you’re just stuck in the middle,” Debbie Hill, daughter of Russell, said last month.
“I really don’t believe he could be alive, he wouldn’t hide.
“You just hope someone will speak up if they know something to help the situation, we just hope that if someone is thinking twice about saying something but they know something to just mention it to CrimeStoppers,” she continued.
“We just want to know what happened and where he is.”
More to come.
