Former pilot Gregory Stuart Lynn, 57, has faced a five-week trial and been found guilty of murderingCarol Clay, 73, and not guilty of murdering Russell Hill, 74, at a camp site in Victoria’s high country in 2020.
Here’s everything to know about how the missing person investigation and trial unfolded:
18 March 2020: Lynn, a former Jetstar pilot, arrives in the Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria’s Alpine national park, and sets up camp at a remote site called Bucks Camp.
19 March: Hill leaves the home he shares with his wife in Drouin, about 90km east of Melbourne, and picks up Clay from her home. The pair, who were childhood sweethearts before resuming their relationship later in life, set off for a camping trip in the same region.
20 March: Hill makes a radio call to friends at about 6pm, as he did almost every night. The prosecution alleges that Lynn murdered the pair that evening before disposing of their bodies.
Lynn’s account to police and the jury was that, after a dispute with Hill over a drone and his hunting in the area that resulted in a fight over the former pilot’s gun, the couple were accidentally killed about 9pm to 10pm. He told the court he cleaned up the “horrendous” scene and set fire to the pair’s campsite.
He said he had put the bodies in the trailer of his car before dumping them on the side of the Union Spur Track, near the town of Dargo.
21 March: Lynn’s Nissan Patrol is captured at 9.48am by roadside cameras on the Dargo High Plains Road at Mount Hotham. A May 2020 analysis of Hill’s phone data found that the device appeared to be travelling between Dargo and Mount Hotham.
22 March: Lynn returns to his Caroline Springs home.
25 March: Hill’s wife, Robyn, calls police after days of not hearing her husband on his nightly radio calls. The next day she attends the Warragul police station to report him missing.
28 March: Police arrive at the campsite and find Hill’s LandCruiser, with fire damage to one side and items in the burnt campsite including solar panels.
May: According to Lynn’s evidence, he returns to the Union Spur site to check on the bodies.
June: Police allege Lynn painted his Nissan Patrol in an attempt to avoid being linked to the pair’s disappearance.
November: According to his evidence, Lynn returns to the Union Spur site to burn the remains of Hill and Clay.
13 November 2021: A 60 Minutes episode into the disappearance of Hill and Clay airs which shows footage of a blue Nissan Patrol and trailer, captured by roadside cameras in the Wonnangatta Valley region, that police want to identify as part of their investigation.
Lynn and his wife, Melanie, watch the program. The court heard that Melanie had commented to her husband that the vehicle “really looked like his car and trailer”.
19 November: Days after the program aired, CCTV footage captures Lynn removing a black awning from the passenger side of the vehicle.
22 November: Victoria police arrest Lynn at a camping area in Arbuckle, not far from the Wonnangatta Valley.
23 November: Police interview with Lynn begins.
25 November: Police charge Lynn with two counts of murder.
30 November: During a search of bushland at the Union Spur site, police find human remains.
May 2022: Police scouring the Bucks Camp scene find a piece of a human skull, later confirmed to be Clay’s, and a lead fragment.
14 May 2024: Double murder trial begins in the Victorian supreme court.
14 June: The jury retires to deliberate.
25 June: The 12-person jury finds Lynn guilty of murdering Clay and not guilty of murdering Hill.
