Disappearance of Celine Cremer
Celine Cremer was a Belgian hiker that went missing in the Australian bush near Cradle Mountain in June 2023. More than two years after police searches officially ended, a private search party formed in a joint effort between Cremer's family and YouTuber Rob Parsons discovered Cremer's cell phone, which led to other items believed to belong to her. A volunteer searcher found human remains believed to be that of Cremer on January 28, 2026.
Background and disappearance
Cremer had been living in Tasmania for six months, intending to relocate to Victoria the same week she disappeared. She was last seen on June 17, 2023, in Waratah, Tasmania. The initial search for her ended on July 10, 2023, after experts determined she could not have survived the inclement weather. Her white Honda CR-V was found near a trailhead at Philosopher's Falls, a densely forested area around a river, on June 27, 2023 and determined to have been there since June 20. After the search was initially called off, one of Cremer's friends flew in from Belgium and joined the police with a cadaver dog for an additional search. It was again suspended when the dog picked up no trace of Cremer. The search was extensive, involving professional search and rescue teams, drones, and helicopters.Private search party
Over the subsequent 18 months, Cremer's family organized a private search party. A YouTube filmmaker and amateur wilderness prospector, Rob Parsons, became interested in the case in 2024, and began conducting his own searches for her remains. After obtaining Cremer's cell phone data from the family's private investigator, Ken Gamble, he posted a video about Cremer's case and his plans to search for her on YouTube, which amassed nearly a million views. The video included an analysis of the data. The video spurred interest from the public to assist in the search for Cremer's remains. Parsons worked with Cremer's family to organize a large search to take place over several days of December 2025.Parsons centered his searches around retracing her possible steps based on her cell phone data, which led him to the belief that she had dropped her phone at its last GPS point while attempt to find a direct route back to her car off trail. Her phone was discovered during the December search less than from its final data point. In the days following the discovery of her cell phone, a poncho made from a black trash bag and a glass water bottle were discovered away from the phone on a route back toward her vehicle. The water bottle was a brand sold by the restaurant she worked at, and the expiration date made the period it had been sold likely the week Cremer disappeared. Searches were paused while they waited for forensic testing of the items. However, some volunteers, including Parsons, continued searching on their own. Parsons focused on an area around a pair of footprints along the bank of the river that had been found during a 2023 search, originally disregarded due to their remote location.
On January 28, 2026, a bushwalker discovered human remains believed to that of Cremer. Jarrod Boys, who discovered the remains, was one of the volunteer search members that had continued the search. The police said there were no other reports of missing people in the area.