Moment police officer thought he had found missing campers

A police officer sent to investigate the disappearance of two elderly campers has revealed in court the moment he believed he had found them alive. 

Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to the murders of secret lovers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, in the Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria’s Alpine region, in March 2020.

On Tuesday, Sergeant Matt Turner told the jury he had been dispatched to the area on March 28 after being told Mr Hill’s vehicle and burnt campsite had been located there. 

The crime scene services officer drove into the bush that afternoon with his partner and onto the Wonnangatta Track where the couple were last seen alive. 

‘As we drove into the flat area of the valley we saw two people who were probably in their 60s and we thought, “We’ve solved it already. These are the missing people”,’ he told the jury. 

But the police officer’s hopes were quickly dashed after he stopped to speak with the hikers. 

‘They weren’t the people who were missing so we proceeded on until we found the camp ground,’ Sergeant Turner said. 

Upon arriving at the scene, Sergeant Turner took a series of photographs of the campsite, which at that point police believed may have been the result of an accident. 

Haunting images showed the inside of Mr Hill’s beloved Landcruiser, his wallet open and strewn on the driver’s side footwell. 

On the passenger seat, Ms Clay’s handbag and other personal items remained untouched, but her green-coloured purse was also discarded in the footwell. 

When the officer opened Ms Clay’s purse, he found her licence and Medicare card neatly positioned within clear sleeves within it. 

Her smiling licence image was shown to the jury, which on Tuesday was reduced to 14 members after one fell ill and needed to be discharged. 

Other images showed the burnt remains of the campers’ tent, which contained a destroyed solar panel, gas cooker, gas cylinders, buckets and an electronic tablet. 

Beside the fire-damaged 4WD were several empty cans of bourbon and coke.  

About 30 metres from the scene, Sergeant Turner took a series of images that captured the idyllic river next to where their alleged killer is believed to have set up his own camp. 

When the policemen finished capturing the scene on camera, Sergeant Turner said he felt obligated to return the secret hidden key he had used to enter Mr Hill’s vehicle back to the spot he had found it. 

The jury had previously heard police were able to enter Mr Hill’s locked car after learning of the key’s location from his wife, who had reported her husband missing when he failed to make contact via his long distance radio. 

‘(The key) was left with the vehicle just in case they came back and they needed the vehicle to go,’ Sergeant Turner said. 

‘If they were lost in the bush and came back to the vehicle, we didn’t want to have taken the spare key with us and have them stranded with no vehicle.’

The court heard the officers placed distinctive police tape in a cross-shape across the rear of Mr Hill’s car before leaving.  

‘I left the scene just after 7pm. I put some police tape across the back of the vehicle so if they did come back to the vehicle they’d know that police had been there,’ Sergeant Turner said. 

He also hoped the tape would give comfort to the campers that their wallets hadn’t been stolen.  

‘If they thought that their wallets had been stolen they’d know the police had been there, they could ring police,’ the officer said. 

Detectives claim Lynn killed the elderly campers before placing their bodies in his trailer and dumping them at another location within the bush.

On Wednesday, the court heard Lynn claimed Mr Hill and Ms Clay were killed in a ‘tragic accident’.

His barrister Dermot Dann, KC told the jury Mr Hill stole Lynn’s shotgun after he became enraged about Lynn playing loud music on the night he was killed.

‘He went towards Mr Hill to try and get the gun back – to take control of the gun,’ Mr Dann said.

The jury heard that as Lynn tried to wrestle the firearm away from Mr Hill, the gun discharged and Ms Clay was hit in the head.

‘A struggle developed over the knife. Mr Lynn trying to defend himself – they’re locked in this struggle – and as part of that struggle the two men fall to the ground and the knife goes through the chest of Mr Hill,’ said Mr Dann

The court heard Mr Hill and Lynn had argued earlier in the day about Lynn hunting for deer so close to other campers.

The jury has heard Lynn admitted to covering up the campers’ deaths because he was afraid of being pinned with murder. 

The trial continues.