1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:06,160 Speaker 1: In all the millions of acres of wilderness that's there. 2 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:10,799 Speaker 1: This car drives right up and packs within five meters 3 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: of their camp. If we pack up now and leave, 4 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:21,919 Speaker 1: he might consider that insulting. He might be crazy. He 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: had these sort of heads that looked like human heads, 6 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: and then he shot them with a high powered hunting rifle. 7 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: I'm Andrew Rules's Life and Crimes. We've got a little 8 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: bonus episode today. It's not long, but it's rather juicy. 9 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: We've just got a little PostScript to the one and 10 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: Gatter story, the story of Greg Lynn, the jet Star 11 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:53,600 Speaker 1: pilot who murdered one person and was present when the 12 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: other one died, according to a jury. Recently, I spoke 13 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: to a man from East Gippsland. I think he lives 14 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: in the Bensdale area, but he grew up in the 15 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: town of Hayfield. And Hayfield was back in the day, 16 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 1: a timbertown full of timber mills, timber log contractors, trucks 17 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 1: that carted logs down to the mills, all that sort 18 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: of stuff. And this man grew up there and he 19 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: knew a lot of people in the industry, including the 20 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: late Russell Hill, who of course was one of the 21 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: couple who were killed in the wan Andngada Valley back 22 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. And this man whose name I know, 23 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: but I'm going to change it for various reasons. I 24 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: think his relatives and friends would prefer that we're going 25 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: to Colin Cam as in Campbell, and Cam tells me 26 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: that when he saw photograph in the newspapers and on 27 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: television of the Jet Star pilot Greg Lynn when he 28 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:13,079 Speaker 1: was facing court over the Wollongatt murder or murders, he 29 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,799 Speaker 1: was shocked and stunned because he recognized that man. And 30 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: the story he tells me in great detail, which I'm 31 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: about to tell you listeners, is that he'd met that 32 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 1: man in a very unusual situation back in nineteen ninety seven. 33 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: In fact, he named I think he said it was 34 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: September ninety seven, certainly late ninety seven, and our friend Cam, 35 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: the local boy, he was up there with his then 36 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: young wife and little kids. He had, I think a 37 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: six year old and a four year old or similar, 38 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: and Cam and his family were camping in the Wellington 39 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: River catchment. They were in a borrowed Chesney camper van, 40 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,359 Speaker 1: which he'd borrowed from his inlaws and it was late 41 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: September nineteen ninety seven. Now they got to this particular 42 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 1: bend in the Wellington River. It's just downstream south of 43 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: the junction with the Breakfast Creek. He was able to 44 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,640 Speaker 1: show me on a map. They set up camp in 45 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: the early afternoon, no one else around. It was a 46 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: million wild acres and there they were, and the weather 47 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:25,919 Speaker 1: was good, and they were happy, and they had their 48 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: camp event, and they had all the food and all 49 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: the good stuff you have when you go camping with kids. 50 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: And they set up a nice camp and ate lit 51 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: a little fire, and they pulled the tent thing out 52 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: of the side of the van or whatever it was, 53 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: and there they were very happy until late in the 54 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: afternoon they heard a motor and up drove a cream 55 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: colored vehicle, cream or buff colored vehicle. And my impression 56 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: that was a full drive. But anyway, this car, in 57 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: all the millions of acres of wilderness that's there, this 58 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: car drives right up and packs within five meters of 59 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: their camp. And they are thinking, well, this is not great. 60 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: We don't need to have somebody so close to us. 61 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,119 Speaker 1: But then again, what are we going to say? Because 62 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 1: the guy that gets out of the car is wearing 63 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: full army camouflage gear. He's got camo gear. He's got 64 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: the black commando boots, high lace up boots that go about, 65 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:38,280 Speaker 1: you know, fifteen centimeters up his shins, full on commander gear, 66 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: full camouflage. And they think, who dresses like that to 67 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,599 Speaker 1: go camping. It's you know, sort of crazy stuff, semi military. 68 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,599 Speaker 1: And then they sort of trying to be pleasant and 69 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: they nod to him and he says, oh, you don't 70 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 1: mind if I camp here, And he wasn't really asking 71 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: their permission, he was more or less stating that he 72 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,840 Speaker 1: would be camping there, and they just sort of nodded 73 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: and half smiled and put up with it. Well, soon 74 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: enough they very much regretted this fellow turning up because 75 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: he pulls out what they call mannequin heads. He had 76 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: these sort of heads that looked like human heads, but 77 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: there were mannequins made of polystyrene or whatever, and he 78 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,599 Speaker 1: set them up around the place on rocks and stumps 79 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: and stuff, and then he shot them with a high 80 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,599 Speaker 1: powered hunting rifle. He shot them with the big heavy 81 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,280 Speaker 1: caliber rifle that you would shoot deer or pigs with. 82 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 1: And this really got the family's attention, because I thought, 83 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: this is deeply weird and deeply disturbing that he's doing 84 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: this right at the camp near us, and he's shooting 85 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: what looked like human heads. It was very intimidating and 86 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 1: quite strange, quite eerie. And they were thinking, we wish 87 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: we weren't here, this man and wife and little kids. 88 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: We wish we weren't here. But if we pack up 89 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:11,479 Speaker 1: now and leave, he might consider that insulting. He might 90 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: be crazy, he might do something bad. So they thought, 91 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: we'll just sit it out. So they pretend everything's all right, 92 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: and they go to bed early in their camp a van, 93 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: and the man who's telling me the story cam He 94 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: said his wife was quite anxious, but they were keen 95 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: not to make the kids frightened, and so they all 96 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: piled in their camp event and what he did he 97 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: got out his own shotgun. He had a pump action shotgun, 98 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: because this guy's a bit of a shirt for himself. 99 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: But he had the shotgun with him, and he put 100 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 1: a towel over it so the kids wouldn't sort of 101 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: see it, and he put it between him and the 102 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,840 Speaker 1: door of the caravan, and then he locked the door 103 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: and he thought, if this mad guy in the camouflage 104 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: gear causes any troubled to night and tries to get 105 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: into our caravan, I'm going to let him have it 106 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 1: with the shotgun, because you know, they were quite intimidated, 107 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: so he does that. They slept there, that didn't get 108 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: much sleep, but they slept there, and in the morning 109 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 1: they packed up and left and were quite happy to 110 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: be able to do so. There'd not been any ugly scenes, 111 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: and it was something that they talked about on and 112 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 1: off at different times over the years. You know, that 113 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: strange time when we camped up there and we saw 114 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: that man in the full chemical's large gear shooting the 115 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: mannequin heads, etc. How scary it was, and that's all right, 116 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: and they sort of forget it. And in fact Cam 117 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: and his wife years and years later split up at 118 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: some point, which doesn't matter, it's not relevant really. And 119 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: when the one and Gat murder happens murder singular plus 120 00:07:56,160 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: one death Carol Clay and Russell Hill, when that happens, 121 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: and when Greg Lynn's photographs are shown on television and 122 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 1: in the newspapers, Cam recognizes him and says, that's that guy, 123 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 1: that's the guy that was shooting up at Wellington River 124 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety seven, and then it came back to 125 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: him the brief conversation they'd had a very brief conversation 126 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: they'd had back in nineteen ninety seven, where Cam was 127 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: trying to be sort of friendly and he said to 128 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: the guy, oh right, and you know, how have you 129 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: come far and what do you do? And the man 130 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: told him that his name was Greg and that he 131 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: worked in aviation. He didn't say I'm a pilot. He 132 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: said my name's Greg and I work in aviation. I 133 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 1: work in the aviation industry, I think was the way 134 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: he put it. And of course that dovetail precisely with 135 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: Greg Lynn, who was a pilot. And so there seems 136 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: little doubt to our o'ld make camp up at Bansdale 137 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: formerly of Hayfield, that he and his wife and kids 138 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: camp next to Greg Lynn in nineteen ninety seven at 139 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:18,680 Speaker 1: a time when he was clearly very keen on shooting 140 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: at things that looked like humans with high powered rifles 141 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,400 Speaker 1: and acting in a very strange and intimidating way. One 142 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: of the things they noticed about him was that he 143 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: as he was shooting the mannequins with his rifle, he 144 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: would talk to himself. He talked to himself, which of 145 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,440 Speaker 1: course is one of the things that the police noticed 146 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: about Greg Lynn. Twenty five years later when they were 147 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: investigating Greg Lynn, and they had listening devices in his car, 148 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,559 Speaker 1: listening devices in his house, listing devices up the wazoo, 149 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:58,719 Speaker 1: had them everywhere. The major thing they noticed about him 150 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: was that he talked to himself. And apparently it's a 151 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,560 Speaker 1: bit of a pilot habit. Pilots do it because in 152 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: the air they spend hundreds of hours flying and they 153 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: are obliged to describe what they're doing, so it goes 154 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 1: on the black box record equipment. So they say, I'm 155 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 1: turning three degrees to the north or whatever. It might be, 156 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: usually fairly technical navigational stuff, and the habit seems to 157 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: spill over with some of them into everyday life. And 158 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:30,560 Speaker 1: so Greg Lynn, when he was driving his car would say, 159 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:33,199 Speaker 1: now I'm turning left into Springvale Road. Now I'm turning 160 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:37,200 Speaker 1: right into Smith Strait. And it was for that reason 161 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: that the police easily understood where he was going at 162 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: all times, because he would describe exactly what he was doing. 163 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: And it was for that reason, apart from the fact 164 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,480 Speaker 1: they probably had some navigational bug in his car as well. 165 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: That the year after the murders, they knew he was 166 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: heading up to Gibbsland and realized that they would have 167 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 1: to act far and arrest him because if he was 168 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: driving back up into the bush, they didn't know whether 169 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: he was going to kill himself or maybe kill somebody else. 170 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,680 Speaker 1: And so the police had to make a decision do 171 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: we let this guy run or do we grab him? 172 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:21,240 Speaker 1: And really the only responsible answer was we have to 173 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: grab him, and so they called in the SOG, and 174 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:28,199 Speaker 1: the SOG called in the helicopters and they landed up 175 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: the bush on a helipad used by firefighters and are 176 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: able to sneak in and grab the heavily armed murderer, 177 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: as it turns out, the man who was convicted of murder. 178 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:46,719 Speaker 1: And that is just a PostScript, strange and eerie PostScript 179 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:55,199 Speaker 1: to the story of Greg Lynn, the Wollongata Killer. Thanks 180 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:58,200 Speaker 1: for listening. Life and Crimes is a Sunday Herald Sun 181 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: production for True Crime Australia. Our producer is Johnty Burton. 182 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: For my columns, features and more, go to Heroldsun dot 183 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:13,199 Speaker 1: com dot AU Forward slash Andrew rule. One word. For 184 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: advertising inquiries, go to news Podcasts sold at news dot 185 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 1: com dot au. That is all one word news podcasts sold. 186 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,160 Speaker 1: And if you want further information about this episode, links 187 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: are in the description.