The final hours of allegedly murdered secret lover campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay have been revealed.
The badly burnt remains of Ms Clay, 73, and Mr Hill, 74 were located by Victoria Police Missing Persons Squad detectives on November 30, 2021 – just days after the arrest of former Jetstar pilot Gregory Lynn.
On Monday, the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard the elderly lovers had visited a graveyard in the remote wilderness and buzzed other campers with a drone.
Russell Hill (pictured, right) and Carol Clay (left) are alleged by police to have been murdered during a camping trip in March 2020
Gregory Lynn, 55, (pictured) was charged with the murder of secret lovers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73
Russell Hill (pictured with his missing drone) is believed to have filmed campers in and about the area where he was allegedly murdered
The daughters of slain camper Russell Hill, Colleen and Debbie, eye balled his alleged killer in court on Monday
Weed sprayer Robert Williams told the court he believed he had spoken to Mr Hill in the wilderness in the days before he was allegedly murdered.
He described Mr Hill as a ‘grumpy old bugger’ who later buzzed him with a drone.
‘I was getting droned out,’ he later told police.
Mr Williams said he saw the drone hovering over other people’s campsites, which he believed were being filmed.
Mr Hill had taken a drone with him on the trip, but it has never been found.
The court heard deer poachers were known to hunt in the area, with gunshots routinely echoing through the night.
The campers were allegedly shot by Lynn before their bodies were burnt and dumped in bush graves.
Campers Damir Javor and Goran Miljkovic had seen the couple as they parked their vehicle at a camp site believed to be shared by Lynn.
Mr Miljkovic told the court he had seen the couple as they drove slowly down a forest track within the Wonnangatta Valley in the Victorian Alps.
‘They appeared to be a grandma and grandpa out for a drive,’ he said through the aid of a Serbian interpreter.
The pair had been stuck behind the elderly couple as they drove slowly along the track to their campsite, which already had two vehicles parked there.
One of those cars was a white Landcruiser, the other was described as a blue Nissan Patrol – the same type of vehicle seized by police when they arrested Lynn on November 22 last year.
Mr Miljkovic said he saw the elderly couple park their car up close to the two vehicles already at the site.
He described the move as ‘strange’ given there was plenty of room for them to park elsewhere.
Mr Miljkovic told the court he saw the elderly couple again the following day as they returned from a graveyard situated in the remote bushland.
The pair had been headed back to their ute, which was parked by the river.
The charred remains of the couples’ tent were found by fellow campers a day after they vanished
Ms Clay was on a romantic camping trip and had confided in her sister about the romance
The drone Mr Hill is believed to have flown over the area he was allegedly killed. It has never been found
The burnt out remains of Mr Hill’s Toyota Landcruiser was found at their campsite near Dry River Creek Track on March 21 that year.
Lynn appeared in court from behind bulletproof glass.
He had been arrested at a remote campsite in Arbuckle Junction, 1.5 hours south of Wonnangatta in the state’s east in November 2021.
Dressed in a black suit, Lynn took notes throughout the preliminary hearing, which will determine if he is to face a Supreme Court of Victoria jury trial.
Lynn’s flight attendant wife and the families of both Mr Hill and Ms Clay watched the hearing via videolink.
The court heard prosecutors were keen to have the contents of Lynn’s initial record of interview and his original statement to police suppressed over fears they may be inadmissible when the matter goes to trial.
In a late development, Lynn had been presented with a bundle of folders containing transcripts of conversations he had on prison phones while awaiting trial.
The hearing is expected to run until early next week.
Footage of the search showed plain clothes officers sifting through dirt by hand as an excavator worked ahead turning the soil over and digging up the packed ground
A previous hearing was told Victorian homicide detectives had compiled a 773-page brief of evidence against Lynn.
Lynn has employed high profile criminal barrister Dermot Dann, QC to defend him.
Mr Dann said he was eager to cross examine ballistics expert Paul Griffiths, who is due in court next week.
‘Mr Griffiths is an important witness dealing with the bullet trajectory and so forth,’ he said.
Mr Hill’s family were not aware that he would be spending the weekend with his lover, Ms Clay
The court previously heard 11 witnesses will be called to give evidence in the preliminary hearing.
The court heard the police brief contained mountains of transcripts of secret recordings of Lynn captured by detectives as part of ‘Operation Lexicon’.
The 55-year old man from Caroline Springs in Melbourne’s west remains in custody after being charged with the couple’s murders.
The bodies of his alleged victims had been dumped in dense bushland off the Providence Spur Track, north of Dargo in the state’s east, and had remained there for 20 months.
Forensic experts made the grisly find off the Providence Spur Track north of Dargo in the state’s east within dense bushland often frequented by deer hunters
Greg Lynn is seen with his wife Melanie – who is a flight attendant with Jetstar – with the pair meeting through work
Officers endured treacherous conditions in the search for the missing campers
For 20 months police have been investigating what happened to the two missing campers
Detectives believe the bodies had been dumped in the area the very day they went missing on March 20, 2020.
Mystery remains, for now, over what else police found at the burial site. Lynn faces life behind bars if convicted of the murders.
