Celine Cremer: Remains found in Tasmania’s Arthur River provisionally identified

The family of Belgian backpacker Celine Cremer have finally been given long-awaited answers, after human remains found on Tasmania’s rugged West Coast were provisionally identified as hers.

Tasmania Police confirmed on Friday morning that remains located in January and earlier this month along the Arthur River have been provisionally confirmed as belonging to the 31-year-old.

Commander Nathan Johnston said the update was provided with the permission of Ms Cremer’s family, after expert reports delivered compelling evidence regarding the identity of the remains.

As a result of the findings, police confirmed there are no further planned searches of the Arthur River.

“Tasmania Police extends its sincere condolences to Ms Cremer’s family and loved ones,” Commander Johnston said.

“While this provisional confirmation will not ease their loss, we hope the outcome will provide them with some measure of clarity and closure.

“We want to thank community members for their ongoing support and interest in Celine’s case, and I want to acknowledge the extensive efforts of search and rescue personnel, partner agencies and volunteers who dedicated significant time and resources during the many search phases.”

A report will now be prepared for the Coroner, who will formally determine the identity of the remains.

Ms Cremer was last seen in Waratah in 2023 before driving to the Philosopher Falls walking track in Tasmania’s remote north-west. Friends raised the alarm after nine days without contact, prompting a major land and air search. Her Honda CRV was later found abandoned in the national park.

Early search efforts were hampered by extreme weather conditions, including subzero temperatures, snow and heavy rain across the challenging terrain.

Fresh hope for answers emerged in December when a private search party located Ms Cremer’s Samsung smartphone and other personal items, including a glass bottle believed to be hers.

In late January, volunteer searcher Jarrod Boys discovered human remains, a jawbone and another bone in a dry section of the Arthur River. Police suspected at the time that the remains could belong to Ms Cremer.

Two days later, officers located clothing believed to be hers within 500 metres of the initial discovery. A subsequent specialist search in February uncovered five additional bones and two teeth in a remote and rugged part of the river system.

DNA testing has been underway to determine whether the remains were Ms Cremer’s.

Commander Johnston has previously said investigators believe Ms Cremer’s death was likely the result of misadventure, with police forming the view she began her return walk late in the afternoon and became disoriented in dense bushland.

Friday’s confirmation brings a measure of clarity to a case that gripped the community for more than two years, as volunteers and authorities searched vast stretches of Tasmania’s unforgiving wilderness in the hope of finding her.