Alleged murderer changed colour of his 4WD after deaths, court hears (2024)

Accused killer Gregory Lynn was snapped driving past a traffic camera at the same time as missing camper Russell Hill’s phone was traced to the stretch of remote road, the first missing persons squad detective in charge of the investigation told a court.

Detective Senior Constable Abbey Justin said she later visited Lynn’s Caroline Springs house and noticed the colour of the airline pilot’s vehicle had been changed.

“I took a photograph of the vehicle,” Justin told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

“It was the same as the vehicle … you saw in [the traffic camera] picture?” Crown prosecutor Kathryn Hamill asked.

“It was a light brown [now],” Justin replied.

Lynn, a 57-year-old airline pilot, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, at Bucks Camp in the Wonnangatta Valley on March 20, 2020.

Lynn’s legal team say both Hill and Clay died accidentally, while the prosecution alleges Lynn, a hunter, killed the pair with murderous intent.

Hill and Clay’s campsite, including Hill’s white ute, was torched by Lynn, who bundled their bodies into his trailer and drove them out of the valley. The missing pair’s burnt remains were later found at a second site off the remote Union Spur Track, near the township of Dargo.

Justin told the jury she was tasked with the investigation and compiling information reports from the public in April 2020. This included following leads and visiting Lynn’s family home in Caroline Springs on July 14 that year.

The court heard this came after Lynn’s then dark-coloured 1997 Nissan Patrol 4WD was captured on a traffic camera at a time of interest – on the day after the alleged murders – for police near Mount Hotham.

Justin said that as part of her role leading the investigative unit at the time, she collected traffic camera photographs from this area of interest on the Dargo High Plains Road near Bucklands Gap.

An image, she said, showed that Lynn’s Nissan Patrol was the only vehicle to travel through the camera site about 9.50am on March 21 – the morning after the alleged murders – at the same time it is alleged Hill’s phone was traced to the area.

The jury was also shown aerial footage of the Dargo High Plains Road and the intersection of the Great Alpine Road where automatic numberplate recognition technology – known as ANPR – had been installed by IT staff at Mount Hotham resort.

The court heard that on the morning of March 21, 12 vehicles were captured travelling through cameras on the Buckland Gap side.

The man who installed the camera system, IT specialist Timothy Lunn, told the jury that the cameras were initially installed to enforce resort entry fees.

He provided police with the footage that showed one vehicle – a dark-coloured Nissan Patrol 4WD towing a box trailer – travelling through the area at 9.48am.

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In photos shown to the jury on large television screens, just the driver could be seen inside.

At the time of their deaths, Hill was married and living in Drouin, while Clay lived in Pakenham.

Earlier on Wednesday, Country Women’s Association member Louise Heib’s police statement was read to the jury by Hamill.

Heib said she had known Clay for about three years after meeting through the CWA before their friendship bloomed.

They would talk most days and Heib said she had known about her friend’s relationship with Hill for some time.

“Carol told me they were originally together as a couple when they were a lot younger. But when Carol became serious in the relationship they broke up and it devastated her. He was her first love,” Heib said.

“Carol had been divorced for a while, [and] I told her everyone deserves love and to go for it.

“A couple of years back she said Russell did not want to leave wife, she was not a well lady. It didn’t worry her, she was quite independent.”

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Heib said Clay would often share stories of her camping trips away with Hill. She said her friend loved the country girl side of things, where she could feel free and not have to worry about putting on lipstick or make-up.

On the morning of March 19, the day before the alleged murders, Clay had called as she needed help with her application to join the CWA board, Heib said.

Clay was not IT savvy and Heib said she was having difficulty attaching her police clearance form.

But about two minutes into the call, she said, it cut out – probably due to reception issues – shortly after she heard Hill’s voice in the background.

The trial continues.

A new podcast from 9News, The Age and 9Podcasts will follow the court case as it unfolds. The Missing Campers Trial is the first podcast to follow a jury trial in real time in Victoria. It’s presented by Nine reporter Penelope Liersch and Age reporter Erin Pearson.

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