A volunteer team using cadaver detection dogs to search for the body of a British child who disappeared in Australia more than 50 years ago has found an 'area of interest'. The group hopes their finding is a breakthrough into Cheryl Grimmer's case and have reported the location to New South Wales Police, who are now on the scene.
Authorities suspect the three-year-old, who'd emigrated from Bristol with her family, was abducted from Fairy Meadow beach in Wollongong in January 1970. 'A search will be conducted tomorrow with the assistance of specialist officers as part of ongoing inquiries,' police told the BBC in an emailed statement.
Today, bathed in the sun, the beach looks as idyllic as it must have been all those years ago. From the sand dunes, looking inland, the terrain gradually climbs into dense bushland.
A short drive up into the hills, there's a small pocket of woodland on the edge of an upmarket suburb that could reveal a terrible secret. Balgownie was the location mentioned in a confession made by a teenage boy - also from England - a year after the toddler vanished. Decades later, a judge disallowed that admission.
In 2019, a trial of the suspect, known only by a codename, Mercury, who'd been charged with Cheryl Grimmer's abduction and murder, collapsed. The man, in his 60s, had denied any wrongdoing.
Cheryl's brother Ricki Nash was seven when his little sister vanished. He last saw her in the changing rooms at Fairy Meadow. 'This should have been done 55 years ago,' he said as the specialist team with dogs trained to detect human remains began its work. 'Yes, it's extraordinary. The police have never canvassed this area in detail even though they had a confession. Not just a confession, a very detailed one.'
Balgownie was mostly farmland in 1970. Frank Sanvitale, a former detective who worked on the Grimmer case, has come to support members of Cheryl's family. They have become close and share deep frustrations about the broader police investigation over the decades.
Melanie Grimmer, Ricki Nash's daughter, expresses her anxieties as she waits on the sidelines of the ongoing search. Much has changed since 1970, but one thing that remains steadfast is the family's determination to uncover the truth behind Cheryl's disappearance.
