What happened to the Beaumont children? One last search for Arnna, Jane and Grant at Castalloy factory site in Adelaide
A new link between the missing Beaumont children and one of the prime suspects in the decades-old mystery has been uncovered as a final search for their remains gets underway today.
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A new link between the missing Beaumont children and one of the prime suspects in the decades-old mystery has been uncovered as a final search for their remains gets underway.
Ground will be excavated at the former Castalloy factory site in North Plympton from Saturday 9am, with large earthmoving equipment starting preliminary work at the northern end of the property.
The week-long private dig, organised by independent state MP Frank Pangallo, will reinvestigate two sites, along with a third which has never been searched.
It will be the third dig at the property after unsuccessful attempts in 2013 and 2018.
The Beaumonts went missing on January 26, 1966, after failing to return home from Glenelg beach that afternoon.
Despite widespread search operations, Jane, 9, Arnna, 7, and Grant, 4, were never found.
The first dig at the factory site was prompted after two brothers told police that they had dug a grave-like hole at the property – two days after the children vanished – at the request of site owner Harry Phipps.
Phipps, who died in 2004, has been a long-time person of interest in the case, with his son accusing him of sexual abuse and playing a part in the Beaumonts’ disappearance.
Mr Pangallo said he had new information that indicated a 2018 excavation of the factory site by SAPOL was conducted in a section of the block not owned by Phipps when the siblings went missing.
“There’s a suggestion the police may have dug in the wrong place. This new site identified by the project team will be in the area that the boys dug in 1966,” he said.
“It’s only a matter of metres but that could be quite significant.”
A previously unknown connection between Phipps and the Beaumont children had added extra weight to the new excavation, Mr Pangallo said.
“It provides another layer of circumstantial evidence pointing to Harry Phipps being the prime person of interest (in the case) and adds more weight to the theory that he could have been involved,” he said, with plans to reveal that link on Saturday.
“I’ve been covering this story since the 1970s and this is the best lead I’ve seen in that time.”
Top forensic archaeologists, Prof Maciej Henneberg of Adelaide University, and Prof Ian Moffat of Flinders University, who are experts in finding graves, are part of the project team spearheading the dig.
Local company Flavio and Sons Civil have donated their services and will help conduct the search.
Excavation works will pause on Sunday and resume on Monday and continue until Saturday, March 1.
The state government has allowed the site to be searched for seven days. If remains are found, the dig will cease immediately and SAPOL will be contacted.
“This will be the last dig, we’ll have a look. If it turns up something positive, it could end Australia’s greatest unsolved crime,” Mr Pangallo said.
“But there’s no guarantee the children were buried there.”
It comes after the Beaumont family broke years of silence this month to call for a coronial inquiry into their disappearance.
Mr Pangallo said he planned to contact the family next week to update them on the progress on the new search for the children’s remains.
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