Missing, Murdered Or Faked?

What really happened to Victorian pensioner Russell Hill and Pakenham socialite Carol Clay?

- Brigid Auchettl

In what has fast become one of the most bizarre missing persons cases ever in Australia, there is deepening mystery over whether friends Russell Hill and Carol Clay deliberately disappeared, remain lost in wild Victorian bushland or were tragically murdered.

There are many theories circulating about what really happened to this high society matron and the married pensioner who took her camping in the wilds of Victoria, with his own wife of 50 years Robyn unaware her husband was camping with another woman.

There have been alleged sightings of the couple after they disappeared on March 19, despite police still investigating whether they met with foul play and were murdered after setting up camp at Dry River Creek Track in the East Gippsland high country of Victoria near Wonnangatta.

This beautiful part of the state – think of the breathtaking scenery in The Man From Snowy River – is much loved by bushwalkers, campers, fishermen and hunters, yet Russell, 74, and Carol, 73, may have become the prey this time.

DISAPPEARANCES

They’re not the first to disappear in the area, with a number of people vanishing without a trace in this rugged high country, including the former governor of Barwon Prison, David Prideaux, 50, who disappeared on a hunting trip in 2011.