Missing Belgian Backpacker: Celine Cremer

Tune in for this episode on the very recent missing persons case of Celine Cremer, a Belgian backpacker whose disappearance during her solo trip to Philosophers Falls in Tasmania is baffling.

When Celine's family weren’t able to reach her and she wasn’t responding to messages, they contacted police and the search for Celine began.  Her car was found in the carpark of a local walking track which leads to the stunning Philosopher’s Falls.   Celine however…. was nowhere to be found.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Missing Belgian Backpacker in Tasmania
• 12:37 Missing Teenagers in Tasmania

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Celine Cremer is a 31 year old Belgian backpacker who has been travelling around Australia since June of 2022. She was last seen in a small town called Waratah, a remote part of the northwestern region of Tasmania. When her family weren't able to reach her and she wasn't responding to messages, they contacted police and the search for Celine began. Her car was found in the car park of a local walking track which leads to the stunning Philosophers Falls. Celine, however, was nowhere to be found. I'm Carla Morgan and this is Bolo, a podcast covering cold and active missing persons cases with the aim of helping families bring their loved ones home. Today, I'm covering the very recent missing persons case of Celine Cremer, who went missing just three months ago, in June of 2023. Did Celine wander off a hiking trail and get lost in the wilderness? Did she fall or somehow injure herself and succumb to the elements? Or did she meet with foul play on the hike or in the days prior? Celine has long blonde hair, brown eyes and a radiant smile. She has a patent tattoo sleeve covering her upper right arm and a tattoo across her upper abdomen. Amelie, celine's sister, who lives in Belgium, said in the media that Celine loved her family and friends and had a big heart. She was passionate about travelling and was an experienced backpacker, and she had come to Australia to pursue her dreams. Celine had actually been in Australia for about a year already, studying, working and travelling. She'd recently extended her student work visa for another year and had arrived in Tasmania at the beginning of 2023. Celine was due to head back to the mainland of Australia in June and she had a ticket booked on the spirit of Tasmania for the 21st of June. But before she left Tassie, she wanted to explore the north-western area near Cradle Mountain, and that's where she was on a solo trip when she disappeared. The spirit of Tasmania is a vehicle and passenger ferry that crosses between Tasmania and the mainland of Australia. It's the only way to get a car across the bus straight, which is the channel between Victoria and the island of Tassie. It's roughly a 10 hour trip with the cost of a return ticket ranging anywhere from $600 to $1000. It's a lot of money to pay for a ticket you're not intending to use. And when the 21st of June rolled around, celine didn't board the ferry, nor did she cancel or postpone her booking. Here's a timeline of Celine's whereabouts in the lead up to her disappearance. Celine's last contact with her family was the 15th of June, when she sent through some photos of her time in Tassie. On the 17th of June she was seen in the town of Waratah and this is the last confirmed sighting of Celine.

Speaker 1: 3:58

Waratah sits alongside the Savage River National Park. It has a population of about 250 people and is very remote. It's pretty much surrounded by dense forest, national parks and reserves. The town itself sits at the top of a waterfall called Waratah Falls and was built to support a massive tin mine at Mount Bishof. It's believed Celine had plans to go on a bushwalk to Philosopher Falls, a 10 minute drive from the town of Waratah, though it's not clear when she planned to do this or when she actually did, or if she did. To get to the falls you head south west out of town along Waratah Road, then make a right into Butler's Road. The car park for the walking track to the falls is about 1km along that road. The falls themselves are set in thick rainforest and it's mountainous, but the track is wide and easily accessible. It's just under an hour to walk there and back about a 3km track in total, mostly flat, with a set of stairs that go down to the falls, at the end to a viewing platform. It isn't considered a difficult hike at all. People say they walk it all the time with their kids, so it's a popular track for townsfolk and tourists alike. Celine is an experienced bushwalker and it's believed she was only equipped for a light day walk, which is what it should have been.

Speaker 1: 5:47

Her family requested a welfare check on the 26th of June when she wasn't responding to messages and they could no longer contact her. This was very out of character for Celine. As her sister, amelie, has reported, celine communicated regularly with her family, so to not hear from her for over 10 days was highly unusual and very worrying. The next day after her family contacted police, which was the 27th of June, her car was found in the Philosopher's Falls car park. Police believe it was likely already there on the 20th of June, 7 days earlier, but they also say it's possible it could have been there as early as the 17th. It's a white Honda CR-V with the number plate E40TF. I'll post a picture of the car on socials for you and the track, so you can see what the terrain is like.

Speaker 1: 6:55

The reason the police believe she was out there as early as June 20 was because that was the last day that her phone had signal and it pinged somewhere out in the area near the falls. If the phone last had a signal on June 20, she may have been out there earlier than that, as some phone batteries might last longer than a day, especially if she had got lost and was turning her phone on and off to conserve the battery. Because the case is so recent, we really don't have any more information or detail around this. It would be beneficial and I'm sure police do have this data to know the following what activity was on her phone from the days leading up to the 20th? Was her phone switched on and in range on those days? If we knew this, it would give a clearer indication on when she went out to the falls, as there is little to no reception out there. It would also be good to know what activity was found on her phone on the 20th. Did it just ping off a tower or did she attempt to send messages or use her phone in any other way? If she was lost, she may have attempted to send messages for help but wasn't able to do so. 000 is our number for emergency services, but it doesn't work if your phone has no reception. Did her phone have any photos on it from the lead up to the 20th or from the walk itself? Again, this would surely provide confirmation of her movements in the days leading up to and the days she took the falls track. Is it even possible to recover data like photographs from a phone if you don't have the phone itself? Probably not if the phone had no reception. Lastly, were location services turned on and, if they were, can any data be retrieved on her location despite the phone being turned off or out of range? When I was asking myself these questions, it reminded me of the case of a fellow Belgian backpacker, theo Hayes.

Speaker 1: 9:14

Theo disappeared from Byron Bay on the east coast of New South Wales in May of 2019. He had left the Cheeky Monkeys nightclub in town and was thought to be heading back to his hostel, but he never made it back there. Initial search efforts focused in on the area in town where he was last seen on CCTV footage, leaving the bar and in the surrounding area of his youth hostel. It wasn't until his family were able to log into his Google account, where they discovered a ton of information about that night, that authorities realised they were looking in the wrong place. The data that was uncovered was detailed and guided the next round of search efforts. We were able to see that when Theo left the bar, he was using Google Maps to get directions back to his youth hostel, but for whatever reason and most speculate that he met up with another person or a group of people he didn't follow those directions or he went the wrong way and ended up walking through bushland to Tallow's Beach. They could trace his steps, how fast he was going and where he ended up. At times he was running through thick brush. According to the phone data, he climbed a rocky headland near the Byron Bay Lighthouse and sent a WhatsApp message around 1am, just before his phone lost signal, and that was it. Theo has never been found, nor has his phone, though they did later find his hat in bushes, near the path that he took to the beach that night. Admittedly, theo's phone was switched on and in range, so this data was retrievable, whereas with Celine we know she was in an area with virtually no reception, or patchy at best, but it might be that there's data on her phone that can provide more clarity or, at the very least, more information as to what happened to her or what her final movements were.

Speaker 1: 11:35

It's important to note that June through August is winter in Australia and Tasmania, being our most southerly state, is exceptionally cold at this time. The temperature lows during the period when police believe Celine to be at the falls were between five to eight degrees Celsius during the day, going down to about one to two degrees at night. So in Fahrenheit that's 41 to 46 during the day and 34 to 36 at night. There was snowfall recorded in the area at the time Celine was missing and a weather alert was issued to bushwalkers in Tasmania in the weeks after she was last seen. Police say when they consulted experts that, given the weather, the low temperatures and rain, that survival in the terrain would be very unlikely.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Extensive searches were conducted along the trail of the falls and surrounding areas. It's dense rainforest and quite mountainous, despite the track itself being pretty flat. Tasmanian police, ses and search and rescue covered the walking track, the falls and the surrounding bushland. Atvs, helicopters and drones were also used to look for Celine and teams repelled down from the waterfall's viewing platform. Swift water rescue teams were also called in to scour the pools at the bottom of the falls in case Celine had fallen in. All searches have failed to locate her, her phone or belongings or anything of note, and on July 10, search efforts were formally suspended.

Speaker 1: 13:33

Then new information in relation to Celine's mobile phone activity provided an additional area of interest within the philosophers falls area Police. Western District. Commander Stuart Wilkinson has said, and I quote we do have evidence of Celine going off philosopher falls track. The terrain is extremely challenging. I believe he's referring to an area where they now understand what Celine's phone was when it last pinged. However, if they are using triangulation as a means to pinpoint her location or that of her phone, we know that it can't be relied upon to be 100% accurate. The way it works is by measuring the time delay that a phone signal takes to reach the towers in the area. The delay is calculated into a distance to give an approximate location of the phone. Trangulations that would impact on the accuracy include the strength of the mobile phone network as well as the terrain. We know that the environment in the area is mountainous with very thick rainforest, so how accurate phone triangulation would be in this case is questionable.

Speaker 1: 14:51

Towards the last weekend in July, a New South Wales cadaver dog called Wags was sent down to Tasmania to assist in the hunt for a missing teenager, cheyenne Lee Tatnell, who was missing from Launceston in the north of Tasmania. Sadly, cheyenne Lee's remains were found that very day, so Wags was sent up to Philosopher's Falls to look for Celine. Unfortunately, wags didn't find anything, despite searching for three days. Celine's close friend was also there at the time and police walked the track with her and provided her with all the details of their investigation. Commander Wilkinson has said, like many areas of Tasmania, when you go off those formed tracks you can walk 15 metres into that bushland, turn around and feel like you're not quite sure where you are, with conditions being like they were windy and wet. Police do believe that she's gone off the track and gotten lost in the wilderness. However, he did say that while police were of the view there weren't any suspicious circumstances in relation to Celine's disappearance, they always keep an open mind and will keep the investigation open. The obvious theory is that Celine went on a bushwalk that day and got lost in the wilderness, without knowing what mobile phone data they have or any further information. We don't know 100% if it was her who was out there walking the trail that day. It's possible and this is speculation, of course that Celine met with foul play in the town of Waratah, that her car was dumped at the car park and her phone discarded in the bush off the trail, or she met with foul play on the trail itself. The area is now open to the public as police believe that Celine went well off the beaten track and is not in an area where people will generally go.

Speaker 1: 17:05

I mentioned earlier in the episode missing teenager Cheyenne Lee Tatnell, whose remains have now been located. Cheyenne Lee was just 14 years old when she went missing in April of this year. She was last seen, captured on camera footage, walking along Henry Street near the North Esk River in Launceston at 8.30pm. She had left youth housing where she'd been staying and was walking to visit a friend, but she never made it. For those of you unfamiliar with Tasmania, launceston is about 2.5 hours drive east from Waratah, but in the northern region of the state. Police searched the river and surrounding areas and it might have seen that they initially thought Cheyenne Lee was a runaway, as it wasn't until three months after her disappearance mention of a potential criminal element. It appears that they received information that led them to search Bushland on a track near Nabaula, where they did find Cheyenne Lee's remains. A property in a separate location in Scottsdale was forensically examined, along with the area she was found in, and after a criminal investigation a 36-year-old Tasmanian man has been charged with her murder.

Speaker 1: 18:33

I'm not suggesting there is a connection between Cheyenne Lee and Celine, but they were both missing persons at the same time in areas that were 2-3 hours apart in Tasmania, a very small part of Australia. I'm also pointing out that it's evident that police believe Celine is missing because she's gotten lost or been injured in the bush. But after extensive searches and no sign of her belongings or of her, we can't rule out foul play. It's possible Celine met with foul play in the days before her car was found and that her car was dumped at the Falls car park and her phone discarded in the bush. We also can't rule out that she met someone on the trail that day who harmed her. The fact remains that Celine is still missing. Her family and Theo's family are all the way across the world, in Belgium, and they need our help and that of our community to find answers so they can bring their loved ones home. Police would like anyone who saw Celine at the Falls that day or spoke to her or spent time with her when she was in Tasmania, to please come forward. Any small piece of information can help find Celine and bring her home, even if you think it's insignificant or something they would already know. If you or anyone you know know anything at all about Celine or about Theo, who is also still missing, please contact Police Link on 131-444 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously if you like on 1800 333-000, or go online to CrimeStopperscomau.

Speaker 1: 20:38

Thanks for listening to Bolo. If this episode has brought up feelings for you and you need support, please reach out to Lifeline on 1311 14 or Respect on 1800 Respect. You can connect with me on Insta or TikTok at Bolopod or email me, bolopod at iCloudcom. If you'd like to support the show, you can click on the link in the show notes to subscribe or buy me a virtual coffee. This will help me cover the costs of making the podcast and continue to create more content. If you're enjoying the podcast, please go to Apple, spotify or wherever you like to listen, to rate and review. This really helps our stories be seen and heard by more people. Thanks again for listening and until next week Stay safe.