![\"Cradle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cradle-mountain-and-dove-lake-in-tasmania-australia-P5AEV46AQBEDRPLPDFABQA45QQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe discovery of items linked to missing tourist Celine Cremer has inspired hope the years-long mystery could finally be solved.<\/p>\n
Cremer, 31, was reported missing in June 2023 after she failed to return from a bushwalk at Philosopher Falls, in Tasmania’s rugged northwest.<\/p>\n
Police called off an initial two-week search following advice she could not have survived so long in freezing winter conditions.<\/p>\n
But her family and friends refused to give up, arranging a group of volunteers led by private investigator Ken Gamble to continue the search last year.<\/p>\n
The group of about 30 people searched for five days before calling off the search, except for a smaller group of volunteers who carried on.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake in Tasmania, Australia. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n
That effort culminated in the discovery of human remains in late January, which sparked a renewed search by police.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, a search team consisting of police and wilderness paramedics made out for the area, where they found further remains and a car key.<\/p>\n
The operation focused on a 350m stretch of River Arthur, about 2km from Philosopher Falls, near Cradle Mountain.<\/p>\n
While forensic testing of the remains is ongoing, police confirmed the key was Cremer’s after successfully using it to unlock her vehicle.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the latest developments, Gamble said investigators are closing in on an answer to the two-and-a-half year old question.<\/p>\n
“I think we can now make a fairly good determination about what happened to Celine,” Gamble told AAP.<\/p>\n
“We know that she got lost. We know that she lost her phone. We know that she’s possibly drowned in the Arthur River.”<\/p>\n
While Cremer’s loved ones won’t have complete closure yet, in his view the mystery had largely been put to bed.<\/p>\n
“It’s given me closure as an investigator,” he told AAP.<\/p>\n
“I’m very satisfied we’ve done everything we can to solve the case.”<\/p>\n
He likened the discovery of Cremer’s car keys to finding “a needle in a haystack”.<\/p>\n
“To be finding a phone and then keys and then bones and all these things, it’s quite miraculous, really,” Gamble said.<\/p>\n
Police were awaiting the outcome of a review of the most recent search effort to determine any future operations.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Commander Nathan Johnston said the breakthrough suggested investigations were moving in the right direction and was consistent with the theory Cremer became lost during a bushwalk.<\/p>\n
Gamble praised the efforts of police, claiming a review of their log books showed just how extensive even their early search efforts were.<\/p>\n
“I was astounded at the amount of work they had done, the amount of searching they’d done in the background,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think any criticism could be levelled against the police whatsoever. They did a very thorough job.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The discovery of items linked to missing tourist Celine Cremer has inspired hope the years-long mystery could finally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-278403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}