On Australia Day 1966, three young siblings caught the bus to Glenelg Beach, Adelaide. They told their mother they’d be back by noon, but haven’t been seen since.
Within just 24 hours, a search began and the case has gripped Australians to this day.
22 years after the children went missing, Bill Hayes, a detective at the time, took on the case. Hayes is still trying to solve the case almost 60 years later.
Former detective Bill Hayes unpacks his investigation of the missing Beaumont Children on this episode of Crime Insiders:
Jane (aged 9), Arnna (aged 7) and Grant (aged 4) caught the bus from their Somerton Park home and were last seen at Colley Reserve and Wenzel’s Cake shop in Glenelg.
Police and the public soon came to suspect the children had been abducted and murdered.
“They had left home with a few shillings,” Hayes said, “They had a £1 note when they arrived at Wenzel’s Bakery.”
“A £1 note in today’s money would be worth about $39 to $40. A massive amount of money for three little children,” he said.
At Wenzel’s cake shop, the children bought five pasties, a pie and three large bottles of lemonade.
“Where was the rest of that food going? Where did they get the pound note from?”
Numerous suspects came to light, said Hayes, but one in particular still stands out to him today. The suspect had hired two men to dig a deep hole in a sandy area of his estate with no clear purpose.
“Why dig the hole to put nothing in it? It doesn’t make sense.”
Police conducted a dig of a suspect’s estate, but didn’t find anything. Some are saying they didn’t dig far enough.
A reward of up to $1 million is on offer to anyone who provides information that leads to the conviction in the case and/or the recovery of their remains.
Hear more about the suspect and potential burial ground of the Beaumont Children on Crime Insiders. In groundbreaking interviews, explore the world of policing and forensics through stories from the world’s most experienced and decorated experts.