‘Clue’ in mysterious 1973 Adelaide Oval abduction case of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon

A ‘CLUE’ in the 41-year-old Adelaide Oval abduction has been sent for testing as private sleuths move to name the man they suspect killed Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon.

A “CLUE” in the 41-year-old Adelaide Oval abduction mystery has been sent for independent testing as a team of private sleuths move to finalise their investigation and name the man they suspect killed Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon.

The contents of barrels retrieved from a concealed and submerged tunnel in the wall of a Mid-North reservoir are being tested.

The private investigators have also returned to the outpost of Yatina with a television news crew to further document their work in trying to solve the abduction case, which carries a $1 million reward.

The girls, 11 and 4, were abducted from Adelaide Oval on August 25, 1973.

A map included in a confession to the Mullighan Inquiry in 2007 by convicted paedophile Mark Trevor Marshall led the investigation team to Pekina Dam where they found the barrels, stamped with “USAF”, sealed and full of a honeycomb-like substance.

In 2008, Major Crime investigators went to the site and left with items of interest — a search briefly denied by police media in 2011 when The Advertiser inquired about it.

The police investigators could not find the tunnel in which the barrels were hidden. They are understood to have taken a girl’s shoe from the site, a medical book from a Yatina property also detailed in the confession and they later accepted evidence from the private investigators.

Among that evidence were core samples of the contents of the barrels.

SA Police forensic testing slips show a “weak to very weak” trace of blood was detected.

“We feel compelled to check this evidence again because the clues and tips given in that confession continue to check out,’’ one of the private investigators said.

“It is too compelling to ignore. There are too many questions left unanswered with the items we have found and where we have found them.’’

Police say the barrels, and the region, are of no relevance to the case.

They also say Marshall’s confession naming the abductors is “fantasy”.

Marshall was a prison “friend” to convicted “Family Murders” killer Bevan Spencer Von Einem.