Dig for Beaumonts continues as neighbour reveals new details of North Plympton factory site hole
Workers have just discovered something totally unexpected during the fresh dig for the missing Beaumont children at the former Castalloy factory.
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Workers have unearthed an unexpected find during the fresh dig for the missing Beaumont children.
A large slab on concrete that investigators believe has no reason to be there has been discovered.
The dig today broke ground on a site that has never been searched before.
It comes after a local Adelaide man who lived across from a former North Plympton factory revealed new claims.
Nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant went missing from Glenelg Beach on January 26, 1966.
Shortly after their disappearance, the man, who remains anonymous, said he witnessed two young people digging a large hole at the former Castalloy factory site.
“We didn’t want to become involved in any of it, so we just let it slide, which we probably shouldn’t of,” the man told 9News.
“I actually saw the two young fellas digging the hole and the older gentleman, or whatever you call him, sitting in his car with the door open watching them dig.
“They said they were digging a hole to bury a dog, a big dog.
“I thought to myself ‘it must be a big dog”.
Nearly 60 years later, the children’s remains have never been found and no one has been charged.
The third and final search for the children’s remains at the disused site resumed on Monday at 7am.
The new dig is reinvestigating two sites, along with a third which has never been searched. It is the third dig at the property after unsuccessful attempts in 2013 and 2018.
The week-long excavation is expected to dig deeper and cover a new area before it concludes on Saturday March 1.
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.
Businessman owner Mr Phipps, who died in 2004, has been a long time prime suspect.
Private excavators Flavio and Sons Civil began digging up the North Plympton site on Saturday – free of charge – launching a week-long effort to find the missing siblings’ remains before the government-owned land is sold to developers.
“It’s just a way of us wanting to give something back to South Australia”, Flavio and Sons Civil’s owner Flavio Anfiteatro said.
“Whether we find something or not, that’s yet to be determined but we’re going to give it the best shot”.
SA MP Frank Pangallo was at the site on Saturday, where he revealed a familial connection between the Beaumonts and the key suspect in the cold case, Mr Phipps.
He said that Mr Phipps’ niece was married to a cousin of the children’s father, Jim, as reported by The Advertiser.
“That hasn’t been previously known and it’s another link in this case that shows Mr Phipps could have known the Beaumont kids and the family,” Mr Pangallo said.
“It’s another piece of circumstantial evidence that points to (Phipps) being the prime suspect ... we of course did verify that fact with family members and others that knew them.”
Ms Pangallo attended alongside forensic archaeologist Professor Maciej Henneberg, retired major crime detective Bill Hayes and Stuart Mullins, one of the authors of a 2013 novel on the Beaumont cold case.
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