When Celine Cremer vanished without a trace back in June 2023 it had everyone baffled as to how a healthy young woman on a day walk could disappear into the thick jungle around Philosopher Falls in Tasmania’s Tarkine region, never to be seen again!
Fast forward to 2026, and it has taken over two and a half years of collective searching to finally explain in detail Celine’s unfortunate misadventure.
Before I begin my detailed personal account, I would like to commend all those who committed their efforts into the search for Celine!
Ted Mead’s extensive search area around the Philosopher Falls and Arthur River region.
From the outset of the search for Celine I pondered on how could a basic walk along a well-defined track go horribly wrong. Early on I had a theory as to what had happened, but within a very short time that conjecture morphed into mystery, and so to resolve this enigma I embarked on my own private search.
The initial Police/SES search began through appalling weather conditions in the last week of June, which encompassed about 30 persons for several days operating between Philosopher Falls and the carpark where Celine’s vehicle was located. This was based on the belief that Celine became lost on returning from her walk. It became clear as the search progressed, and as more information came to hand, that the searchers missed a vital clue to what direction Celine was heading on June 17. I’m certain that with some finer observations her one-directional sandshoe prints would have been notably visible in the soft mud leading from the Philosopher Falls stairway access point along the disused water-race northward.
Celine began her walk late in the day. The return walk to the falls usually takes about 90 minutes, and yet Celine failed to make it back to her vehicle before dark. The logical explanation to me was that she entered the forest temporarily, and then became quickly disorientated only to wander off in the wrong direction. I assumed that this may have been near where I had a flag-taped a short cut to the southern side of the falls decades ago that intersected the old route to the base of the falls which originated from Butlers Road.
Following up on my theory I located the old route, but beyond the first 200 metres from the main track there was no signs of movement in that dense rainforest terrain. So where could have Celine gone? At that time, I did not have a personal profile of Celine, and thinking that Celine may have been very adventurous, and in attempting to obtain a better photo of the falls, could have dropped her phone and ultimately fell into the chasm. I then searched all the steep country around the falls itself and upstream river along the river banks. Subsequently the Police dive team conducted a rapid water search of the falls plunge pool, and their stream searches revealed nothing.
Despite the Police stating that there was no evidence to suspect foul play, they continued with some belief that nefarious activity was a possibility, even late into the search until the phone and overnight shelter were located.
The Arthur River was still raging from the heavy recent rains that began around the time the Police/SES search commenced. Using my canyoning gear I searched the steep slopes immediately above the falls and then I descended to below the canyon. I was fully clad in neoprene and headed below the waterfall further downstream to the confluence of the Seven Mile Creek. There were numerous log jams along the descent, and the strong flow rendered these obstacles too dangerous to closely inspect alone without a safety line support. Much of the steep lower river sections of the river were overhung with a dense forest canopy to the point where even my GPS failed to obtain an accurate signal.
On another day soon after, I met some Police near the carpark and through a brief conversation I was informed that they were looking at obtaining Celine’s whereabouts through phone ping tracking emitted from the local transmission towers. By now I had already decided to do a peripheral search in attempt to find some movement within the forest. In such an extensive expanse of entangled forest, I knew it was like searching for a needle in a haystack but my methodology was sound knowing that the denser the forest is, the easier it is to track someone!
Within a short term later, the Police announced that they had proof, through phone ping data, that Celine had wandered off-track in a westerly direction above the water-race. It was later revealed that Celine’s phone had continued to send pings to the transmission towers for another 3 days. I had briefly seen a basic map indicating Celine’s movements, though I questioned the accuracy of these locations as there was only two transmission towers in the local region, and for high accuracy, a triangulation of 3 towers is generally required.
The Police began a ground search based on the obtained phone ping data, and subsequently brought in a trained cadaver dog to assist. Given that there had been reasonable coverage of searching in that area west above the water race track I continued on with a peripheral search of both south and north of the off-track Police search area.
I was now of the belief than when Celine climbed back up the staircase from the falls, she entered the water-race northward and went slightly off the edge to take a toilet stop. The water-race at this point was reasonably open though eventually becomes less so further north. When Celine returned to the water-race track she headed north by mistake, and rather than, when the track became less familiar, she continued onward towards Magnet Dam instead of turning back to where she had come from. Once Celine crossed the Seven Mile Creek, she seemingly became confused, and switched on her phone to consult Google maps.
It was clear to her when referencing the map that she needed to head south as to where the falls are indicated. After a few hundred metres on her return, the water-race swings east and Celine then realised that it was leading her away from the direction of the falls. Celine would have been aware of the fading light, and in urgency headed off-track up the hill southward towards the falls. This rationale behind her decision to do so was deduced by Rob Parson when he retraced her phone ping movements near 2 years later.
The decision of Celine’s deviation seemed in haste, as only 200 metres away the water-race did swing back to the south, and had Celine continued to retrace her steps she would have had enough time to get back to the well-formed track, and probably to her vehicle in semi darkness.
After several days of searching around the hill west of the water-race with no result, the Police had exhausted any immediate hope of finding Celine. Some SES searchers continued intermittently, but still not a single sign of Celine’s activity was discovered. I had already covered the region around the Magnet Dam all the way down Magnet Creek, the country north and east of the dam, and the full descent down Seven Mile creek through its lower chasm to the confluence of the Arthur River. Subsequent to that I was informed that there was ongoing searching in the areas I had already covered. This duplication of searching the same places was becoming a notable occurrence.
I received a map from Celine’s family, given to them by Tas Police, which indicated Celine’s last known location near Magnet Dam at 4.19, which is around 20 minutes before sunset. In late June in the rainforest that is essentially twilight time. This map was later to be proven inaccurate, and that Celine was actually on top of a hill some 500 metres further south at that noted time. I had unfortunately structured my searching earlier based on the belief that Celine had spent the night near the northern most phone ping location, and that she had moved on somewhere the next day.
I didn’t understand was why Celine didn’t make a distress call when on top of that hill further south knowing she was about to be engulfed in darkness.
The searching became a cold case for me until 2 months after Celine’s disappearance when I descended the Arthur River to the confluence of Seven Mile Creek. I headed downstream again then along the northern side beyond Seven Mile creek, and was soon confronted with dense vegetation. Only 30 metres from where I had been before I noticed some soft depressions in silty soil covered slightly by fern detritus. On a closer inspection It appeared as two overlapping shoe prints which resulted from stepping and returning back over the same point. This was a small imprint consistent with a sandshoe, but I was bewildered as to what direction these had come from as there was no obvious visible movements anywhere in the forest between the upper Seven Mile Creek and the Arthur River.
More confusing was the lack of addition movements anywhere nearby, so I crossed the river and headed south uphill towards the carpark region in the direction of Butlers Road. This path was the logical route to take from the river back to the carpark, but no other movements were located anywhere. Had Celine attempted this direct exit route she would have found herself before one of densest patches of poorly drained horizontal rainforest I have encountered, and without a navigation device would soon have become bewildered within this entangled maze that I have colloquially named “The Bermuda Triangle”.
I subsequently descended the river that had remained high in its winter flow for another 2 kilometres but once again I found nothing to substantiate that Celine had moved that way. On returning upstream I observed a skid on a mossy log well above the northern bank amidst steep, thick, vegetation. This skid mark made no sense because if anyone was attempting to follow the river, then that slope was the most challenging route as the river course was far more negotiable. This observation became another piece of the jigsaw that was gradually forming, as I concluded later that Celine had descended back to the river at this point from higher up the slope.
At the end of winter 2023, four months after Celine had vanished, I returned to the location of the over lapping sandshoe prints I found near the confluence of Seven Mile Creek. I decide to ascend the slope towards the highest point northward, and remarkably located more movements, and a prominent footprint amidst a soft silty drainage area. It was a compelling find, though unfortunately it became the end of this lead as up the slope and to both sides was a barrier of dense horizontal forest where no movement was visible. I Then moved downslope then east through open forest up to the highest point, before retreating west through very dense forest to Magnet Dam.
In summer 2024 I returned to the lower north flanks of the river searching. Despite the open forest it was still far too expansive for an individual to cover this region comprehensively. Another river search beginning from the tramline crossing of the Arthur River was undertaken, and all the potential routes north towards the old Magnet township were searched.
I had now investigated seemingly all open escape routes out from the Arthur River corridor, and had to concede that it was exceptionally unlikely I was going to find evidence of Celine searching as an individual throughout this country.
Meanwhile the Cremer family had become disillusioned with the lack of information about Celine’s whereabouts, and ultimately reached for help by consulting the private forensic investigator Ken Gamble. Ken was quick to obtain Celine’s phone data, and by opening Celine’s Google account he obtained the raw files of her phone. This led to a far more accurate account of Celine’s movements of the day she went off-track and disappeared. With this new information Police then recommenced a new search into the upper western reaches above the water-race. Although the outcome of the search revealed nothing, Mr Gamble’s research did confirm the correct location of Celine’s last position, which was about 500 metres from the point that the Police had originally stated. This correction attested that the searching efforts in the north towards Magnet Dam were seemingly all in vain, and that Celine was actually heading south back towards the falls.
Following this search there became renewed interest in Celine’s disappearance, and an active working group of Waratah locals and experienced bushwalkers began to consolidate. Theories about where Celine moved to beyond the high hill above the water-race began to flourish. The most notable of these was, from the highest points of that country the traffic noise from the Savage River road is audible, and that Celine may have headed off towards Whyte Hill. Though such an undertaking through that scrub would have been a daunting task for even a highly experienced bushwalker.
During my peripheral search I observed that there was phone signal strength in that area to the southwest, which didn’t explain why there was a discontinuation of the phone pings being recorded. To me there seemed only 3 possible explanations. A – Celine was still somewhere on that hill. B – Celine had lost her phone, or C – Celine descended eastward out of signal range towards the water-race. I always maintained the belief that Celine headed east downslope.
Entering was a new participant to the working, Rob Parsons. Rob is a competent navigator and explorer who delved into the accurate phone data and mapping, and so his search began by retracing Celine’s movements on the ground, and then further explorations around Celine’s last know location.
Rob, along with Ken Gamble, were convinced that Celine was mostly likely to be found around the high hill or potentially the area further southeast, however despite Rob’s personal searching he failed to located anything conclusive.
Back in Belgium, Celine’s family and friends were planning to return to Tasmania in a planned 5-day extensive grid search around Celine’s last known location in December 2025 with support of the search team working group, and numerous participating volunteers.
The structured grid-based line-searching began with a high through the fortuitous discovery of Celine’s phone on day one, only 60 metres from her last known location. The phone discovery ultimately confirmed that Celine was moving east downslope towards the water race in the last moments of light. From that moment back on June 17 2023 when Celine lost her phone, she was destined to a night out in forest without no means to navigate through the darkness.
The later discovery of an overnight shelter just above the water-race and near the falls track added weight to the belief that Celine was almost out of trouble. From my research regarding the weather conditions for the night of June 17 it revealed that the overnight temperature was very mild for the Waratah area in early winter. However, the following day there was around 20mm of rain, which would have been a disastrous challenge for anyone lost out in the forest.
In December 2025 the organised group search commenced. I personally did not participate in this activity because I strongly believed, based on my downstream findings near Seven Mile Creek, Celine had moved beyond the heavily searched hill above the water-race. I returned to the Philosopher Falls on the last day of the organised search and from immediately below Celine’s overnight shelter I explored the slope down to the Arthur River. There were countless foot movements everywhere from recent searchers all throughout that steep area towards the base of the falls. About two thirds down towards the river I found some large moss disturbances over sloping logs that were at least 2-years old. These disturbances could not have been made by animals, and I felt confident that this was the link between the overnight shelter and the footsteps I found some 2 years earlier, and so I was convinced that Celine did head downstream after all.
On 17 June Celine would have endured a long unsettling and probably sleepless night in apprehension of not knowing what the morning would reveal. Such a scenario is conducive to irrational thinking.
Celine was most likely aware that she crossed the water-race, though her intention was to probably locate the waterfall, which would have reorientated her to a known position. Celine likely believed she was somewhere above falls when she reached the Arthur River and chose to head downstream in search of the track crossing. Little did she know that she was only 200 metres away from her goal upstream, and that taking the easier path downstream was her defining fateful decision.
With the wind-up of the comprehensive December search last year, there was mixed emotions and disappointment that Celine had not been located, but the Belgium collective were already thinking about another search 2026. The local search working group then identified that the area downslope of the water-race to the Arthur was the next grid search area to undertake. This to me this seemed superfluous given that the area had already been explored by myself, and then others in December 2025.
After the December search there was further discussions amidst the working group about a futuristic search. I had forwarded them my overall search map description that included the locations of the Arthur River footprints, and it seemed, in consensus, that any future search should be focused on somewhere downstream from Seven Mile Creek/Arthur River junction.
Late in January 2026, bushwalker Jarrod Boys travelled down the river with hope of finding something. During a rest break he noticed what appeared to be bones upon some rocks and dirt nearby the river. His timely rest break became a fortuitous moment, and the final episode to a two and a half, year-old mystery.
When I received the news of the discovery, I felt relieved that there was finally a positive result for the Cremer family, friends and everyone involved in the search. Of course, I was mystified as to why I never discovered the remains back in 2023, but with later rumination I believe Celine’s remains were not to be found in 2023 due to the high-water winter river level, and that Celine had probably been pinned under a submerged log for a protracted time until her body to became dismembered. It would seem that Celine either fell into the river whilst trying to cross it, or most likely just collapsed due to the onset of hypothermia after enduring numerous hours of exposure to the rain that fell on the 18th of June.
Had Jarrod Boys not located those bones when he did, it was most likely that the floodwaters of winter 2026 would have washed away any visual clues of Celine’s last resting place, and we may have never solved her disappearance.
In an eerie twist, I recall a vivid dream I had one night in the early days of my search where I dreamt that I descended the Arthur River and found Celine pleading she was very cold. In the dream I then put out an emergency call for help and stayed with her for the night until the rescue team arrived.
Remarkably, around the time of that bizarre dream, I had considered Celine may have headed downstream searching for a way out, and yet inexplicably, the exact river location within the dream I recall turned out to be not far upstream from where Celine’s remains were finally found some 31 months later.
In conclusion, Celine’s tragic misadventure was in fact not down to a single event but a series of unfortunately wayward directional decisions that accumulated as she desperately attempted to find a way out of the distressing scenario she had found herself in. I have no doubt that if Celine had another hour of daylight available before her on June 17 she would have most likely not deviated from the water-race track, and ultimately returned safely to her vehicle at the car park.
Celine’s tribute rock at the beginning of the Philosopher falls walking track. Artwork by Judi Hunter.
Finally, there is now an air of closure for all involved in the search process. The tragic loss of Celine to her family and friends is indescribable, and I take comfort in the words that Celine’s mother Ariane messaged me in her simplistic and heart felt statement –
“My beautiful daughter just ran out of luck!”
RIP Celine.
Your Earthly spirit will forever shine throughout the wondrous rainforests of the Tarkine.
– Ted Mead 2026
