[Intro]
Welcome back listeners, to yet another chilling episode of "Beyond the Unknown." I'm your host, Joli, and I'm Quinn, and today, we are embarking on Part 2 of our unsettling journey across the worlds most terrifying campsites. Lucky you - we saved the most chilling story for last. Will you dare to go camping after today’s story?
[Body]
Thank you for your patience - thanks to my snorring pug Martin, we had to split up this episode and re-record, but enough about that….we are back…and like Joli mentioned, we saved a doozy of a story to finish things off.
If you haven’t listened to part 1, creepy camping stories, definitely check it out !
So, if you listened to part 1, and you somehow didn’t get abducted by aliens, and you still have your wits about you since you aren’t haunted by an evil spirit, but you’re still going to have to watch your back.
Next, I am taking you to the Australian outback all the way back to 2020.
On Thursday March 19, 2020, a retired Melbourne couple in their mid 70s set off to do what they did every spring - Camp. Russell input the destination in the GPS of his land cruiser, drove to pick up Carol, and then together, they ventured into the Wannongatta Valley east of Melbourne for a weekend of camping. They arrived to se4t up their campsite on March 20, 2020. What was not known to many though, that Russell and Carol, were secret lovers, with an affair spanning many decades, and these camping trips were done in secret secret. But when Carol and Russell vanished …never to be seen again following this particular trip, their secret obviously revealed. Affair side, it was very unusual that these two would disappear following a very mundane camping trip. They were familiar with the area, they had done this trip many times, and although the region where they went was actually one of the most remote and rugged regions for camping, Russell was an experienced Bushman. Many theories started flying about regarding the whereabouts of the couple and all of the many possibilities for what could have gone wrong. They thought maybe they had gotten lost? But of course, like I said, they had done the trip before, and although the trek to this camping region was highly challenging, Russell had actually been involved in creating this route, so he was one of the most familiar with it in the world. Experts thought that perhaps they had gotten injured. Maybe Russell was injured and Carol wasn’t able to help him on her own, and was not able to safely navigate out of the site. However a closer friend said that this was not likely the case, as Carol had access to a radio, and that Russell also would not have taken Carol anywhere dangerous or challenging to get out of. However, at 2pm on Saturday, a passerby discovered their campsite, and described it as being completely torched and burned. I will insert photos of the campsite itself as well as the geographical location on our social media for you guys to check out. Upon further inspection, the fire did not appear accidental, as there was a drum and gas cans in the ashes. Friends also said that Russell was not the type of guy to walk away and leave a fire unattended. Affair side, everyone was vey confused though at who might have targeted this couple.
Theories include that they were accidentally shot by a hunter, who may have also been hunting illegally, and then extreme measures were taken to cover it up. Other theories surround one of the items never recovered - which was Russell’s drone, and it is suspected he may have recorded illegal activity, such as possibly the illegal hunting. This is potentially what set off the confrontation between the couple and other groups or individuals.
As in pretty much anything True crime that I have ever seen based in Australia or the UK, police set to reviewing CCTV. And yes, there was CCTV in this remote campsite, mainly because the campsite wanted to be able to track and fine though entering without paying the appropriate fees. As there was also a ski resort in this area.
Footage showed a man driving a Nissan Patrol leaving the area on March 21, 2020 at 9:48am. Now the reason this mattered, as there were also 12 other cars identified on this footage, is that this vehicle was travelling in the area at the exact sasme time that Russell Hill’s phone data indicated that Hill’s phone was ALSO travelling in this area at this exact time. The owner of this vehicle was quickly identified as Greg Lynn, a former airline pilot. After weeks of collecting information about Lynn, the investigators showed up at his home. Up until this moment, he was merely going to be questioned as a presumed witness as opposed to a suspect, but what they saw next changed absolutely everything.
When investigators pulled into the driveway of Mr. Lynn, they immediately noticed the Nissan Patrol; however, something had changed. It had since undergone a complete paint job to change the colour since it was last seen on CCTV footage. The car was previously beige and it was now a dark navy. What exactly Lynn told investigators on this day, his official statement, is currently under concealment, so we don’t know what he said to explain this, but what we do know, is that investigators became incredibly suspicious following this, and they spent the next year gatthering evidence on him and combing the area of the campsite to try to uncover anything they could. They even obtained warrants to surveil his phone calls, put listening devices in his home/vehicle and GPS track his vehicle.
After listening to the recording from sometime though, investigators heard a lot of self harm talk outloud to himself. Worried he would kill himself, investigators sped things up to try to lead to an arrest sooner.
More of the recorded materials actually describe Lynn speaking out loud to himself and talking about the murders. He is essentially said to have killed them, put their bodies in the box of his trailer disposing of them aloing the way as he fled the area, and tried to destroy as much evidence by starting the fire. A hotel room in the region was said to be left with numerous bloodstains after the incident, according to the officer’s statement, all of which were cleaned apart from a possible stain on a bathmat. It is said that he later again returned to the crime seen to try to further breakdown the bodies. He was eventually arrested at a remote campsite in 2021. Soon following this, fragments of bones confirmed to belong to Carol, as well as other debris, like a ring and watch components, were also found in nearby bushland.
Mr. Lynn’s trial has been repeatedly delayed and prolonged for various reasons. The most updated story I could find was in October 2023 in which he pleaded not guilty in a court appearnce. The trial was set for sometime in 2024.
Moral of the story I guess is, don’t pick fights with strangers and keep to yourself, maybe at least while you are camping remotely. And if you have something suspicious to report, wait until you are in a safe place to do so! Maybe bring something to defend yourself at your campsite too? I dunno. or maybe, moral of the story is just dont go camping???
[Outro]
Joli: Thank you for joining us for another episode of "Beyond the Unknown." If you have a story you’d like to share, please email us at moody.mediaprod@gmail.com. You can reach out on our website, and who knows, your story might be featured in our next episode.
Quinn: All of our sources for this episode can be found on our website: beyondtheunknownpod.com.
And don’t forget, if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review.
Joli: Until next time, listeners. Stay curious and remember that the unknown is always just beyond the shadows.
Both: BYEEEE
