Truck driver Trevor Gross wanted by Geelong police following SBS Insight appearance
An internet sleuth who appeared on national television claiming two of the nation’s biggest unsolved cold cases are connected is a wanted man in Geelong, it can be revealed.
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An internet sleuth who recently appeared on national television claiming two of the nation’s biggest cold cases are connected is a wanted man in Geelong.
Truck driver Trevor Gross recently appeared on an SBS Insight program dedicated to citizen crime investigators.
He claimed the same person who committed the chilling Mr Cruel series could also be responsible for three infamous Adelaide child abductions commonly referred to as the Beaumont children.
He first shared his theories on the unsolved Melbourne child rapes, abduction and murder to the Geelong Advertiser last year, before doubling down on his claims in March.
“I believe I’m the first person to discover the link,” Mr Gross told the Insight program.
Sergeant Michael Graham, from the Geelong prosecutions office, said on Wednesday a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Mr Gross over outstanding stalking and family violence related allegations.
It’s understood he was scheduled to front the Geelong Magistrates Court in May of 2023 but failed to appear.
It’s believed he is now living in Queensland.
“He is a person of interest we would like to talk to in relation to a number of outstanding matters here,” Sergeant Graham said.
“We would encourage him to pop into the local police station for a chat.
“We need to speak to him.”
The former Geelong man told the SBS program he had handed over fresh information to Broadbeach police linking the Mr Cruel series to the three missing Beaumont siblings, who vanished from a Glenelg beach in 1966.
They are two of the most famous unsolved cases in Australia.
Mr Gross, who calls himself a private investigator and has aspirations of becoming a police officer, told the show he did not believe investigators were taking him seriously.
“They took their notes and said that they had to tell other people in other states,” he said.
“I don’t think they’ve done anything.
“I can only do so much without being a detective or law enforcement.”
Victoria Police issued a public call for information on the whereabouts of Mr Gross in January.
Meanwhile criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro, who assisted detectives during the Mr Cruel investigation, told this masthead he did not think his theory held any weight.
Mr Gross claimed to have provided information to police in August naming a now deceased Park Orchards peadofile and another man as persons of interest in the Mr Cruel crimes.
Fellow criminologist and forensic anthropologist, Xanthé Mallett, also appeared on Insight and said information provided to detectives from citizen sleuths often hindered investigations.
“It can be a bit of a double-edged sword,” she said.
“It can muddy the water and seriously increase their workload.”
The associate professor of Central Queensland University said amatueur theories were seldom right.
“I’m yet to actually be presented with information that has actually progressed one of the cases I’m working on … that’s not to say it’s not going to happen.”
Mr Gross said he had spoken to Geelong police when contacted for comment.
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Originally published as Truck driver Trevor Gross wanted by Geelong police following SBS Insight appearance
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