The volunteer searcher who found human remains while looking for a missing Belgian backpacker said he went into shock when he made the discovery.
Jarrod Boys found the remains on Wednesday during an independent search for Celine Cremer, last seen in the Philosopher Falls area near Cradle Mountain in Tasmania’s northwest on June 17, 2023.
He had been part of a large volunteer search effort for the 31-year-old led by filmmaker and YouTuber Rob Parsons.
Boys said he “kind of froze” when he came across what appeared to be human remains.
“I went into shock, pretty much instantly. It is pretty difficult to describe, but very overwhelming,” he told 7NEWS.
“I had no gloves, I didn’t have a secure bag.
“What I decided to do was take as many photos as I could for the police.”
Boys also saved the GPS co-ordinates of the location so authorities could find the spot.
The remains included a jawbone and were confirmed to be human.
No clothing or personal items were found near the remains, with testing likely to take several weeks before a coroner will be able to confirm the identity.
However Tasmania Police Inspector Andrew Hanson said there was “no doubt” the proximity of the bones was close enough to where Cremer went missing that authorities are seriously considering they are hers.
“We’ll conduct those dental comparisons with records that we are currently in the process of obtaining through Ariane (Cremer’s mother) from Belgium,” he said.
Following the discovery, Ariane’s mother confirmed she had been contacted by police and thanked those who had been involved in the search for her daughter.
“Whatever these answers are, we thank all the people who invested in supporting us and allowing us to try to find Celine,” she said in a joint statement with Cremer’s sister Amelie.
The volunteer-led search for the backpacker resulted in the discovery of Cremer’s phone in December 2025.
It was found less than 100m from her last known GPS location.
Police believe Cremer had been walking alone at Philosopher Falls and left the track to take a direct route back to her car as daylight began to fade.
Her vehicle was later found in the Philosopher Falls carpark, but she was not reported missing until nine days after the solo winter bushwalk.
Police will return to the area where the remains were found on Friday to search a 400m to 500m section of the Arthur River.
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