Creature Bones Found in Hunt for Girl Who Vanished Fifty-Five Years Ago
A specific zone flagged in a volunteer-led search for the body of a English child who vanished in the land down under fifty-five years ago has turned out to be a false alarm, New South Wales Police said.
A volunteer team who used cadaver detection dogs in the quest for Cheryl Grimmer had believed their discovery would mark a major development in the investigation, which has stayed a unsolved puzzle since she disappeared in 1970, when she was three.
But bones that were found in the location belong to an animal, police stated in reply to questions, adding that the operation had "concluded."
Investigators suspect Cheryl, who had moved from her UK hometown with her relatives, was taken from Fairy Meadow beach in Wollongong in January 1970.
Recent Search Efforts
The recent operation took place in Balgownie, on a small pocket of woodland referenced in a admission made by a young male.
In 2019, a trial of the suspect, known only by a alias, Mercury, who'd been charged with Cheryl's abduction and murder, collapsed. The individual, in his 60s then, had rejected any wrongdoing.
Legal authorities later withdrew charges against him as a judge excluded the statement he made as a minor.
Unsolved Case
Police have conducted many investigations in the decades since she disappeared, but have uncovered few clues as to what happened to her.
NSW authorities have offered a A$1m incentive for tips on the case of Cheryl's disappearance and presumed death.
Family's Perspective
Her sibling Ricki, 62, has openly discussed what he believes are errors in the police investigation going back to the day she went missing.
Mr Nash was seven then. He last saw his sibling in the locker area at the beach on the date she disappeared.
Community Action
A petition asking the state parliament to establish an inquiry into cases of disappeared individuals overseen by NSW Police, such as Cheryl's, gathered more than ten thousand signatures this season.
It was debated in parliament, but in a response addressing petitioners, state authorities made no commitment to holding an review.