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{{Short description|1966 disappearance in Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2012}}
{{Infobox event
| title = Disappearance of the<br />Beaumont children
| image = BeaumontChildren.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| image_upright =
| image_alt =
| caption = Jane, Grant and Arnna Beaumont, photographed during a 1965 family trip to the [[The Twelve Apostles (Victoria)|Twelve Apostles]] near [[Port Campbell]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], Australia
| duration = {{missing for|1966|1|26|df=y}}
| date = {{start date|1966|1|26|df=y}}<!-- {{start date|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{start and end dates|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| venue =
| ___location = [[Glenelg, South Australia|Glenelg Beach]], South Australia, Australia
| coordinates = {{Coord|-34.982|138.516|format=dms|type:city_region:AU-SA|display=inline,title}}
| also_known_as =
| type =
| theme = {{unbulleted list|Suspected [[Child abduction|abduction]] × 3<ref name="suspected murder"/>|Suspected [[murder]] × 3<ref name="suspected murder">{{cite web|url=https://missingpersons.gov.au/search/sa/grant-beaumont|title=Grant Beaumont|work=Missing persons|publisher=[[Australian Federal Police]]|date=2018|access-date=10 May 2018}}</ref>}}
| cause =
| motive =
| participants =
| outcome = Unsolved [[cold case]]
| reported deaths =
| reported injuries =
| reported missing = {{bulleted list|Jane Beaumont (aged 9 years)|Arnna Beaumont (aged 7 years)|Grant Beaumont (aged 4 years)}}
| burial =
| inquiries =
| inquest =
| coroner =
| arrests =
| suspects =
| accused =
| convicted =
| charges =
| trial =
| verdict =
| convictions =
| sentence =
| url =
| website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| notes =
}}
[[File:Beaumont-children-newspaper.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The front page of the Adelaide afternoon newspaper ''[[The News (Adelaide)|The News]]'' the day after the Beaumont children disappeared]]
'''Jane Nartare Beaumont''' (born 10 September 1956), '''Arnna Kathleen Beaumont''' (born 11 November 1958) and '''Grant Ellis Beaumont''' (born 12 July 1961), collectively referred to as the '''Beaumont children''', were three Australian siblings who disappeared from [[Glenelg, South Australia|Glenelg Beach]] near [[Adelaide]], South Australia, on 26 January 1966 ([[Australia Day]]) in a suspected [[child abduction|abduction]] and murder.<ref name="suspected murder"/>
Police investigations revealed that, on the day of their disappearance, several witnesses had seen the three children on and near Glenelg Beach in the company of a tall man with fairish to light-brown hair and a thin face with a sun-tanned complexion and medium build, in his mid-thirties. Confirmed sightings of the children occurred at the Colley Reserve and at Wenzel's cake shop on Moseley Street, Glenelg. Despite numerous searches, neither the children nor their suspected companion were located.
The case received worldwide attention and is credited with causing a change in Australian lifestyles, since parents began to believe that their children could no longer be presumed to be safe when unsupervised in public.<ref name="CIA"/><ref name="Lifestyle2">{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Four-decades-on-the-Beaumonts-remain-a-mystery/2005/02/02/1107228773370.html|title=Four decades on, the Beaumonts remain a mystery|last=Gooch|first=Liz|date=3 February 2005|work=[[The Age]]|access-date=18 September 2012}}</ref><ref name="AndrewRule2"/><ref name="ND2018"/><ref name="Charleston2016"/><ref name="News.com.auCases"/> Police and media speculation has linked the disappearances to the [[Disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon|Adelaide Oval abductions]] of 1973. Interest in the case has continued for more than half a century.<ref name="CIA"/><ref name="Munro2017"/><ref name="Phipps2018">{{cite news| url= https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/australia/beaumont-children-harry-phipps-named-as-person-of-interest-as-investigation-uncovers-possible-burial-ground-ng-b88721903z |work= perthnow.com.au|date= 22 January 2018| title= Beaumont children: Harry Phipps named as person of interest as investigation uncovers possible burial ground| access-date= 22 January 2018}}</ref> {{as of|2018}}, a $1 million reward has been offered for information related to the [[cold case]] by the [[South Australian government]].<ref name="Sutton2018"/>
==Background==
[[File:Glenelg south aust.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The beachside suburb of Glenelg where the Beaumont children were last seen]]
Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont lived with their parents, Grant "Jim" Beaumont, a former serviceman and taxi driver, and Nancy Beaumont ([[née]] Ellis); the couple had married in December 1955.<ref name="CIA"/><ref name="Casefile2018"/> The family resided at 109 Harding Street, [[Somerton Park, South Australia]], a suburb of [[Adelaide]].<ref name=20YearsOn>{{cite news|last1=Noble|first1=Tom|title=Beaumont mystery: 20 years on, new leads to investigate|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19860127&id=lMwzAAAAIBAJ&pg=5612,6856687|access-date=22 September 2014|work=The Age|page=11|date=27 January 1986}}</ref><ref name=23YearsLater>{{cite news|last1=Hughes|first1=Peter|title=Disappearance still baffles, 23 years later|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19890515&id=rzJWAAAAIBAJ&pg=2666,4796465|access-date=22 September 2014|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|page=9|date=15 May 1989}}</ref> They lived not far from [[Glenelg, South Australia|Glenelg Beach]], a popular spot that the children often visited. On 25 January 1966, in the midst of a summer heatwave, Jim dropped the children off at Glenelg Beach before heading off on a three-day sales trip to [[Snowtown, South Australia|Snowtown]].<ref name="Casefile2018"/>
On the morning of 26 January ([[Australia Day]]), the children asked their mother if they could visit Glenelg Beach again. As it was too hot to walk, they took a five-minute, {{convert|3|km|mi|adj=on}} bus journey from their home to the beach.<ref name="23YearsLater"/> They caught the bus at 8:45 am and were expected to return home on the 12:00 noon bus.<ref name="Madigan2015"/>{{rp|37}}<ref>{{cite news|title=I have missing children: Caller|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19660210&id=PotVAAAAIBAJ&pg=2866,1634935|access-date=22 September 2014|work=The Age|page=21|date=10 February 1966}}</ref> Nancy became worried, however, when they did not return on either the 12:00 or 2:00 pm buses, and when Jim returned home early from his trip around 3:00 pm, he immediately drove to the crowded beach.<ref name="CIA"/> Unable to locate the children, he returned and together both parents searched the streets and visited friends' houses. Around 5:30 pm, they went to Glenelg police station to report the disappearance.<ref name="CIA"/><ref name="Casefile2018"/>
==Police investigation==
Police quickly organised a search of Glenelg Beach and adjacent areas, based on the assumption that the Beaumont children were nearby and had simply lost track of time. The search then expanded to the sand-hills, ocean and nearby buildings, with the airport, rail lines and interstate roads being monitored as well, based on a fear of accident or [[kidnapping|kidnap]]. Within twenty-four hours, the entire nation was aware of the case.<ref name="CIA"/> Within three days, on 29 January, the Adelaide ''[[Sunday Mail (Adelaide)|Sunday Mail]]'' led with a headline of "Sex crime now feared", highlighting the rapidly evolving fear that the children had been abducted and murdered by a [[sex offender]]. Despite this, the initial official reward was only [[Australian pound|A£]]250.<ref name="CIA"/>
The Patawalonga Boat Haven was drained on 29 January after a woman told police that she had spoken with three children, who were similar in description to the Beaumont children, near the haven at 7:00 pm on the day of the disappearance.<ref name="Madigan2015"/>{{rp|40}} Police cadets and members of the emergency operations group searched the area, but nothing was found.<ref name="HarborDrained">{{cite news|title=SA harbor drained in children search|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19660203&id=OYtVAAAAIBAJ&pg=1650,513622|access-date=22 September 2014|work=The Age|page=3|date=3 February 1966}}</ref>
===Prime suspect===
[[File:colley-reserve-glenelg.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Colley Reserve in Glenelg in the 1960s where the Beaumont children were last reported seen.]]
Police investigating the case found several witnesses who had seen the Beaumont children in Colley Reserve, near Glenelg Beach, in the company of a tall man with fair to light brown hair and a thin face, and in his mid-thirties. The man had a sun-tanned complexion and a thin-to-athletic build, and was wearing swim trunks.<ref name="HarborDrained"/> The children were playing with him, and appeared to be relaxed and enjoying themselves.<ref name="Madigan2015"/>{{rp|36}}<ref name="Pierce1999">{{cite book|last=Pierce|first=Peter|title=The Country of Lost Children: An Australian Anxiety|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JCym_PWkEIIC&pg=PA186|access-date=16 November 2015|date=7 June 1999|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-59499-8|page=186}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Leads in SA mystery fail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105884832|access-date=18 November 2015|work=The Canberra Times|date=1 February 1966}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Woman: 'Positive I saw missing Arnna with man' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21878452/the_age/ |access-date=15 July 2018 |work=The Age |date=2 February 1966 |page=5 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{free access}}</ref> The man also approached one of the witnesses, asking if anyone had been near the children's belongings as their money was "missing".<ref name="Casefile2018"/> The man then went off to change while the children waited for him. The group were then seen walking away together from the beach sometime later, which the police estimated to be around 12:15 pm.<ref name="Sharpe, Alan 1982">{{cite book|last1=Sharpe|first1=Alan|title=Crimes That Shocked Australia|date=1982|publisher=Currawong Press}}</ref> About two-and-a-half hours later another witness, Miss Daphne Gregory, sighted the children with the man, who she observed carrying an airline bag similar to one owned by Jane.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-beaumont-children.983385/post-68881082 |title = Unsolved – The Beaumont Children |page= 156 |via= BigFooty| date=12 December 2012 }}</ref>
[[File:beaumont-children-suspect.jpg|thumb|left|An SA Police sketch of the suspect sought for the Beaumont children disappearance.]]
The Beaumont parents described their children, particularly the eldest (Jane) as shy.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Spencer|first1=Beth|title=The lost children|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/the-lost-children/2006/01/20/1137553745706.html?page=fullpage|access-date=22 September 2014|work=The Age|date=21 January 2006}}</ref> For them to be playing so confidently with a stranger seemed out of character. Investigators theorised that the children had perhaps met the man during a previous visit or visits and had grown to trust him.<ref>{{cite news|title=Missing three still alive theory|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105885633|access-date=18 November 2015|work=The Canberra Times|date=5 February 1966}}</ref> A chance remark at home, which seemed insignificant at the time, supports this theory: Arnna had told her mother that Jane had "got a boyfriend down the beach".<ref name="Sharpe, Alan 1982"/> Nancy thought she meant a playmate and took no further notice until after the disappearance.<ref name="Sharpe, Alan 1982"/>
A shopkeeper at nearby Wenzel's Bakery, on Moseley Street, reported that Jane had bought [[Pasty|pasties]] and a [[meat pie]] with a £1 note.<ref name="Sharpe, Alan 1982"/> Police viewed this as further evidence that the Beaumont children had been with another person, for two reasons: the shopkeeper knew the children well from previous visits and reported that they had never purchased a meat pie before, and the children's mother had given them only six [[shilling]]s and six [[Penny|pence]], enough for their bus fare and lunch, and not £1.<ref name="TheAge2007">{{cite news|last1=Silvester|first1=John|title=One man, so many faces of evil|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/one-man-so-many-faces-of-evil/2007/04/21/1176697147754.html|access-date=16 November 2015|work=The Age|date=22 April 2007}}</ref><ref name="Hill2007">{{cite book|last=Hill|first=Scott Russell|title=Psychic Detective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_zxqktzapTkC&pg=PA62|access-date=16 November 2015|date=10 November 2007|publisher=[[Pan Macmillan Australia]]|isbn=978-1-74262-554-6|pages=62–65}}</ref> Police believed the money had been given to them by somebody else.<ref name="50thABC">{{cite news|last1=Williamson|first1=Brett|title=Beaumont children: Marking the 50th anniversary of Adelaide's enduring unsolved mystery|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-26/the-beaumont-children-disappearance-timeline-50-years-of-mystery/7104032|access-date=26 January 2016|work=ABC News|date=26 January 2016}}</ref>
===Other sightings===
According to an initial statement, the Beaumont children were seen walking alone at 2:55 pm,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3573562|title=Searching for the Beaumont children: Australia's most famous unsolved mystery|first=Alan|last=Whiticker|date=17 July 2006|publisher=John Wiley & Sons Australia|via=National Library of Australia (new catalog)}}</ref> away from the beach along [[Jetty Road, Glenelg|Jetty Road]],<ref name="Madigan2015">{{cite book|last=Madigan|first=Michael|title=The Missing Beaumont Children: 50 Years of Mystery and Misery|year=2015|publisher=Elvis Press|isbn=978-0-9756746-7-3}}</ref>{{rp|34–35}}<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105884306|title=Abduction Fear: Search fails to find children|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=28 January 1966|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref> in the general direction of their home. The witness, a postman, knew the children well, and his statement was regarded as reliable.<ref name=CrimeLibrary/> He said the children were "holding hands and laughing" in the main street.<ref name=23YearsLater/> Police could not determine why the reliable children, already one hour late, were strolling alone and seemingly unconcerned. The postman contacted police two days after his initial statement and said that he thought he saw them in the morning, not the afternoon as he had previously said.<ref name="Madigan2015"/>{{rp|37}}
Several months later, a woman reported that on the night of the disappearance, a man, accompanied by two girls and a boy, entered a neighbouring house that she had believed empty. Later, the woman said she had seen the boy walking alone along a lane where he was pursued and roughly caught by the man. The next morning the house appeared to be deserted again, and she saw neither the man nor the children again. Police could not establish why she had failed to provide this information earlier.{{fact|date=February 2025}}
Other reported sightings of the children continued for about a year after their disappearance.<ref>{{cite news|title=New twist in Beaumont case|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/28/1177460020059.html|access-date=16 November 2015|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|agency=[[Australian Associated Press]]|date=28 April 2007}}</ref>
===Gerard Croiset===
[[File:gerard-croiset.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Gerard Croiset was flown to Adelaide by a local businessman to help with the investigation.]]
The Beaumont case attracted international attention.<ref>{{cite news|title=Person of interest identified in Beaumont children cold case|url=http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/01/19/13/33/beaumont-children-never-before-seen-case-file-released-to-mark-50-year-anniversary|access-date=20 January 2016|work=[[Nine News]]|date=19 January 2016}}</ref> On 8 November 1966,<ref>{{cite news|title=Dutch Seer Arrives|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19661109&id=U4FWAAAAIBAJ&pg=6557,2463116|access-date=18 November 2015|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=13|date=9 November 1966}}</ref> [[Gerard Croiset]], a Dutch [[psychic]], was brought to Australia to assist in the search, which caused a furor in the press.<ref name="Pierce1999"/><ref name=Hill2007/> Croiset's efforts proved unsuccessful, with his story changing day-to-day and offering no clues.<ref name="50thABC"/> He identified a spot at a warehouse near the children's home in which he believed their bodies had been buried, inside the remains of an old brick [[kiln]]. The property owners, who were reluctant to excavate based only on a psychic's claim, soon bowed to public pressure after publicity helped raise [[Australian dollar|A$]]40,000 to have the building demolished.<ref name=kelly>{{cite book|last=Kelly|first=Lynne|author-link=Lynne Kelly (science writer) |title=The Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BoFF2n7qwnEC|access-date=10 July 2014|year= 2004|publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]]|isbn=978-1-74114-059-0|page=158}}</ref> No remains, nor any evidence tied to any members of the Beaumont family, was found.<ref name=kelly/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Arlington|first1=Kim|title=Supernatural sleuths and the search for truth|url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/supernatural-sleuths-and-the-search-for-truth-20101229-19a9z.html|access-date=10 July 2014|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=30 December 2010}}</ref> In 1996, the building identified by Croiset was undergoing partial demolition and the owners allowed a full search of the site.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Trioli |first1=Virginia |author-link1=Virginia Trioli |title=Beaumont mystery takes a new twist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21878544/the_age/ |access-date=15 July 2018 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=27 April 1996 |page=A5 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}}</ref> Once again, no trace was found of the children.<ref name="Hill2007"/>
===Hoax letters===
About two years after the disappearance,<ref>{{cite news|title=Heartbreak Beaumont mail 'genuine'|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19811206&id=EqlWAAAAIBAJ&pg=2160,1573898|access-date=18 November 2015|work=[[The Sun-Herald]]|page=3|date=6 December 1981}}</ref> the Beaumont parents received two letters: one was supposedly written by Jane, and another by a man who said he was keeping the children. The envelopes showed a [[postmark]] of [[Dandenong, Victoria|Dandenong]], [[Victoria (state)|Victoria]]. The brief notes described a relatively pleasant existence and referred to "The Man" who was keeping them. Police believed at the time that the letters could quite likely have been authentic after comparing them with others written by Jane. The letter from "The Man" said that he had appointed himself "guardian" of the children and was willing to hand them back to their parents. In the letter a meeting place was nominated.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
The Beaumont parents, followed by a detective, drove to the designated place but nobody appeared. Some time later a third letter arrived, also purported to be from Jane, stating that the man had realised a disguised detective was present and that he decided to keep the children because the Beaumonts had betrayed his trust. There were no further letters. In 1992, new [[forensic examination]]s of the letters showed they were a [[hoax]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rule|first1=Andrew|title=The day Australia locked its doors|url=http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&kw=beaumont+children&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=entire&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=150&rm=200&sp=nrm&clsPage=1&docID=news970809_0183_2900|access-date=29 October 2017|work=[[The Sunday Age]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202200035/http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&kw=beaumont+children&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=entire&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=150&rm=200&sp=nrm&clsPage=1&docID=news970809_0183_2900|archive-date=2 February 2017|date=9 August 1997}}</ref> Fingerprint technology had improved and the author was identified as a 41-year-old man who had been a teenager at the time and had written the letters as a joke. Because of the time that had elapsed, he was not charged with any offence.<ref name="Hill2007"/><ref name="50thABC"/><ref>''The Advertiser'' (Adelaide), 6 June 1992</ref>
==Possible suspects==
===Bevan Spencer von Einem===
{{Main|Bevan Spencer von Einem}}
Bevan Spencer von Einem (born 1946) was sentenced to [[life imprisonment]] in 1984 for murdering Richard Kelvin, the teenage son of Adelaide newsreader [[Rob Kelvin]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Extra jail for murderer von Einem| url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-06-24/extra-jail-for-murderer-von-einem/1330842|access-date=16 November 2015|work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]|date=24 June 2009}}</ref><ref name="O'Brien2002">O'Brien, Bob (2002). ''Young Blood: The Story of the Family Murders''. HarperCollins. {{ISBN|073226913X}}.</ref> Police and prosecutors publicly stated that they believed von Einem had accomplices and was possibly involved in [[The Family Murders|additional murders]].<ref name="O'Brien2002"/> About this time, police came to suspect his involvement in the Beaumont disappearance as well.<ref name="CrimeLibrary">{{cite web|last1=Kidd|first1=Paul B.|title=The "Family" Murders| url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/adelaide/corpses_1.html|publisher=[[Crime Library]]|access-date=16 November 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205184357/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/adelaide/corpses_1.html| archive-date=5 February 2012}}</ref> No accomplices were ever charged. Von Einem has refused to co-operate with investigators about his possible connection with other murders.
During the investigation into von Einem, police heard from an [[informant]] identified only as "Mr B".<ref name="MysteryOver">{{cite news|url=http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&kw=beaumont+children&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=entire&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=150&rm=200&sp=nrm&clsPage=1&docID=news900313_0221_4339|title=The Beaumonts, Kirste and Joanna: the mystery may be over|last=Hughes|first=Peter|date=13 March 1990|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=29 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202060718/http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&kw=beaumont+children&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=entire&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=150&rm=200&sp=nrm&clsPage=1&docID=news900313_0221_4339|archive-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> He related an alleged conversation in which von Einem boasted of having taken three children from a beach several years earlier, and said he had taken them home to conduct "experiments".<ref name="CrimeLibrary"/> According to Mr B's account, von Einem claimed to have performed "brilliant surgery" on each of the children and had "connected them up".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kidd|first1=Paul B.|title=Australia's Serial Killers|date=2011|publisher=Pan Macmillan Australia| ___location= Sydney| isbn= 9781742611440| page= 345| edition= Revised}}</ref> One of the children had supposedly died during the procedure, and so he had killed the other two and dumped the bodies in [[bushland]] south of Adelaide.<ref name="MysteryOver"/> Police had not previously considered von Einem in connection with the Beaumont case, but he resembled descriptions and [[identikit]]s of the unidentified suspect from 1966.<ref name="adelaidenow.com.au">{{cite news|last1=Hunt|first1=Nigel|title=Von Einem suspect in Beaumonts disappearance|url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/beaumonts-link-revealed/story-e6frea83-1111114481183| access-date=29 June 2015|work=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]]|date=22 September 2007}}</ref> Mr B also claimed that von Einem had implicated himself in the [[disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon|Adelaide Oval abductions]] from 1973; like with the Beaumont case, von Einem matches descriptions of the main suspect in the Oval case.<ref name="adelaidenow.com.au"/>
According to Adelaide police detective Bob O'Brien, Mr B had given important information during the investigation into the Kelvin murder and was regarded as a generally reliable source.<ref name="O'Brien2002"/> However, police reception of the alleged confession was mixed. There were enough plausible details to warrant further research, yet other details relayed by Mr B did not fit with known facts about the Beaumont case and were regarded with scepticism. {{as of|2014}}, von Einem had not been ruled out as a suspect.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Roberts|first1=Jeremy|title=Killer 'sighted' at Beaumont search| url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/news/killer-sighted-at-beaumont-search/story-e6frg6p6-1111114159497|access-date=10 July 2014| work= [[The Australian]]|date=11 August 2007}}</ref>
Mr B's reference to alleged surgical experimentation corresponded to the [[coroner]]'s reports on several of von Einem's alleged murder victims. However, while von Einem was known to have frequented Glenelg Beach to "perv" on the changing rooms, and was described as preoccupied with children,<ref name="cccnews.info">{{cite news |url=http://cccnews.info/2014/10/13/an-interesting-mystery-what-happened-to-the-beaumont-children/ |title= An interesting mystery: What happened to the Beaumont children? |website=Campus News |date=13 October 2014 |access-date=26 January 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205160031/http://cccnews.info/2014/10/13/an-interesting-mystery-what-happened-to-the-beaumont-children/ |archive-date=5 February 2016 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> he was younger than the unidentified suspect (who was reported to be in his mid- to late thirties, whereas von Einem was in his early twenties). The Beaumont children were also much younger than Richard Kelvin or the other young men von Einem is believed to have targeted, who were in their teens or twenties. Such disparities in the ''[[modus operandi]]'' of a [[serial killer]] are unusual, but not unheard of.<ref name="O'Brien2002"/>
Investigations into both the Beaumont disappearance and the Adelaide Oval abductions [[Cold case|remain officially open]] and, in 1989, von Einem was identified as a suspect in a confidential police report.<ref name="adelaidenow.com.au"/> In August 2007, it was reported that police were examining archival footage from the original Beaumont search, shot by [[Seven Network|Channel Seven]], that shows a young man resembling von Einem among onlookers. The report said that police were calling for information to establish the man's identity.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Roberts|first1=Jeremy|title=Killer 'sighted' at Beaumont search|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/news/killer-sighted-at-beaumont-search/news-story/146256364bd8a37f913ec11462fb1d39?sv=f8442bc5fdb598f6d13b4e85d51bd169|access-date=23 January 2018|work=The Australian|date=11 August 2007}}</ref>
===Arthur Stanley Brown===
{{Main|Arthur Stanley Brown}}
Arthur Stanley Brown (1912–2002) was charged in 1998 with the murders of sisters Judith and Susan Mackay in [[Townsville]], Queensland.<ref>{{cite news |title=Suspected mass child killer is buried with his secrets at 90 |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/suspected-mass-child-killer-is-buried-with-his-secrets-at-90-20020722-gduf0t.html |access-date=18 November 2020 |work=The Age |date=22 July 2002}}</ref> They had disappeared on their way to school on 26 August 1970 and were found [[strangulation|strangled]] several days later in a dry creek bed. Brown's trial, scheduled for July 2000, was delayed after his lawyer applied for a section 613 verdict (unfit to be tried) from the jury. He was never retried as he was found to have [[dementia]] and [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Raggatt |first1=Tony |title=How Arthur Brown got away with murder |url=https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/how-arthur-brown-got-away-murder/4079792/ |access-date=18 November 2020 |work=[[The Daily Mercury]] |date=17 August 2020}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Brown died in 2002.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kyriacou |first1=Kate |title=Did Arthur Stanley Brown kill the Mackay sisters, Marilyn Wallman and the Beaumont children? |url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/law-order/did-arthur-stanley-brown-kill-the-mackay-sisters-marilyn-wallman-and-the-beaumont-children/story-fni0ffnk-1227047824173 |access-date=18 November 2020 |work=The Courier-Mail |date=4 September 2014}}</ref>
Similar to von Einem, Brown bore a striking similarity to descriptions and [[Facial composite|identikits]] of the suspect for both the Beaumont and Oval cases.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/suspected-mass-child-killer-is-buried-with-his-secrets-at-90-20020722-gduf0t.html|title=Suspected mass child killer is buried with his secrets at 90|date=22 July 2002|website=The Age}}</ref> A search for a connection to the Beaumont children was unsuccessful as no employment records existed that could shed light on Brown's movements at the time. Some of the records were believed lost in the [[1974 Brisbane flood]]. It is also possible that Brown, who had unrestricted access to government buildings, may have destroyed his own files.
Although there is no proof that he had ever visited Adelaide, a witness recalled having a conversation with Brown in which he mentioned having seen the [[Adelaide Festival Centre]] nearing completion, which would place him in the city shortly before the Oval abduction on 25 August 1973. However, no evidence has ever been found to connect Brown with Adelaide in 1966.<ref name="cccnews.info"/> Brown was aged 53 at the time of the Beaumont disappearance, which does not match the description of the suspect seen with the children, who was reported as being in his thirties.
===James Ryan O'Neill===
{{Main|James Ryan O'Neill}}
James O'Neill (born 1947), who was sentenced to [[life imprisonment]] for the 1975 murder of a nine-year-old boy in [[Tasmania]], is reported to have previously told several acquaintances that he was responsible for the Beaumont disappearance. In 2006, O'Neill lost an injunction in the [[High Court of Australia]] to stop the broadcast of an [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] documentary, ''The Fishermen'', which attempted to link him to the case.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lower|first1=Gavin|title=Ban on O'Neill screening quashed|url=http://www.news.com.au/national/ban-on-oneill-screening-quashed/story-e6frfkp9-1111112285777|access-date=10 July 2014|work=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]]|date=29 September 2006|archive-date=13 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313132925/http://www.news.com.au/national/ban-on-oneill-screening-quashed/story-e6frfkp9-1111112285777|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Convicted killer's lawyer rejects Beaumont children allegations| url= http://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-09-28/convicted-killers-lawyer-rejects-beaumont-children/1273956|access-date=10 July 2014| work=ABC News|date=28 September 2006}}</ref>
Former Victorian detective Gordon Davie spent three years speaking to O'Neill to win his confidence before filming him for ''The Fishermen''. Davie said that although there was no evidence to link O'Neill to the Beaumont case, he was persuaded that O'Neill was to blame. "I asked him about the Beaumonts and he said: 'I couldn't have done it. I was in [[Melbourne]] at that time.' That is not a denial." Later asked again if he had murdered the children, O'Neill replied, "Look, on legal advice I am not going to say where I was or when I was there." Although O'Neill claims never to have visited Adelaide, his work in the opal industry at the time required that he frequently visit [[Coober Pedy]], which would have required him to pass through the city. Davie also suspected O'Neill was involved in the Oval case.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ross|first1=Norrie|title=Did this man murder the Beaumont children?| url= http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/did-this-man-murder-the-beaumont-children/story-e6frea6u-1111112416586?nk=ae2ac0a5cb80e0555d7a6d2f16acd769| access-date= 10 July 2014| work= [[Herald Sun]]| date= 25 October 2006}}</ref> The [[South Australia Police]] have interviewed O'Neill and discounted him as a suspect in the Beaumont case.<ref>{{cite news|title=Defaming a Convicted Murderer|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/defaming-a-convicted-murderer/3349404|access-date=10 July 2014|work=[[Radio National]]|date=3 October 2006}}</ref>
===Derek Ernest Percy===
{{main|Derek Percy}}
Derek Percy (1948–2013), a convicted [[child murder]]er and Victoria's then-longest-serving prisoner, was suggested in a 2007 article in Melbourne's ''[[The Age]]'' newspaper as a suspect in the Beaumont case.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ong|first1=Tracy|title=Dad took Beaumont children|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/dad-took-beaumont-children/story-e6frg6nf-1111113422136?nk=ae2ac0a5cb80e0555d7a6d2f16acd769|access-date=10 July 2014|work=[[The Australian]]| date= 27 April 2007}}</ref> ''The Age'' alleged that evidence gathered by cold case investigators pointed to Percy in a number of unsolved child murders, including the Beaumont case. His [[insanity plea]] in the 1969 murder of Yvonne Tuohy was at least partly based on his suffering a psychological condition that could prevent him remembering details of his actions. Percy was supposed to have indicated that he believed he might have killed the Beaumont children, as he was in the area at the time, but he had no recollection of actually doing so.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/new-clues-implicate-child-killer/2007/04/21/1176697155252.html | ___location=Melbourne | work=The Age | first=John | last=Silvester | title=Our worst child killer | date=22 April 2007}}</ref> On 30 August 2007, [[Victoria Police]] successfully applied for permission to question Percy in relation to the Beaumont case.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Medew|first1=Julia|title=Police quiz child killer|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/child-killer-back-in-court/2007/08/30/1188067236279.html|access-date=10 July 2014| work= The Age| date= 30 August 2007}}</ref>
In 1966, Percy was aged 17 and therefore seems too young to have been the unidentified suspect seen with the children.<ref name= TheAge2007/> It is also unknown whether Percy would have had access to a car at that time, while the unidentified suspect is presumed by commentators to have had access to one for facilitating a quick getaway and also for disposing of the children's bodies later.<ref>{{cite book| last= Whiticker| first= Alan| title=Derek Percy: Australian Psycho|year=2008|publisher=New Holland Publishers|isbn=978-1-74110-632-9}}</ref> Percy was imprisoned from 1969 until his death in 2013, which means that he could not have been the suspect in the Adelaide Oval abductions, whom many investigators believe to be connected to the Beaumont case.
===Alan Anthony Munro===
Alan Maxwell McIntyre (died 2017)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/law-order/allan-max-mcintyre-who-was-linked-to-the-disappearance-of-the-beaumont-children-in-1966-has-died/news-story/aa23bce2ce29b65a9182a81cb5f18ef5|title=Man linked to Beaumont mystery dies|date=2017-06-16|website=www.adelaidenow.com.au|language=en|access-date=2019-07-30}}</ref>—who had himself been investigated by police and cleared of involvement in the Beaumont case—gave a secondhand account to the Adelaide ''[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|Advertiser]]'' that a man he had known in 1966, who by 2015 was being sought in [[Southeast Asia]] in connection with child abuse incidents there, had come to his home with the children's bodies in the boot of his car. McIntyre's children said that they and their father initially mistook Arnna's body for that of a boy because of her short haircut.<ref name="Macintyre2015">{{cite news| url= http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/vigilantes-hunt-convicted-paedophile-in-southeast-asia-to-quiz-him-over-the-missing-beaumont-children/news-story/3b98bd95e647a49d7b323d58d741e7a2 |work= Adelaide Now|date= 20 May 2015| title= Vigilantes hunt convicted paedophile in South-East Asia to quiz him over the missing Beaumont children| access-date= 22 January 2018}}</ref>
The man in question was later identified as businessman Alan Anthony Munro (aged 75 in 2017), a former [[Scouting Movement|scoutmaster]] who had pleaded guilty to ten child sex offences dating back to 1962.<ref name="Casefile2018"/><ref name="Munro2016">{{cite news| url= http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/revealed-millionaire-ladyboy-bar-owner-and-child-sex-offender-tony-munro-questioned-in-1966-beaumont-children-mystery/news-story/3cfbbd9479d0c47fbf33fdc23b01be45 |work= News.com.au|date= 14 October 2016| title= Revealed: Millionaire ladyboy bar owner and child sex offender Tony Munro questioned in 1966 Beaumont children mystery| access-date= 22 January 2018}}</ref> For these crimes, Munro was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, with a non-[[parole]] period of five years and five months, making him eligible for release in 2022.<ref name="Casefile2018"/>
In June 2017, Adelaide police detectives were given a copy of a child's diary, written in 1966, which allegedly placed Munro in the vicinity of Glenelg Beach at the time of the Beaumont disappearance. He was convicted of abusing several children, including one of McIntyre's sons,<ref name="Munro2017">{{cite news| url= http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/exscout-master-anthony-allan-munro-jailed-for-repulsively-evil-abuse-of-boys-from-1965-to-1983/news-story/e75963cb928358a9487460a13a3deb12 |work= News.com.au|date= 29 August 2017| title= Ex-scout master Anthony Allan Munro jailed for 'repulsively evil' abuse of boys from 1965 to 1983| access-date= 22 January 2018}}</ref> who was a contributor to the diary. Munro had been previously investigated by police, but no evidence had been found that he was involved in the Beaumont case.<ref name="NewLead2017">{{cite news| url= http://www.smh.com.au/national/boys-diary-puts-paedophile-on-glenelg-beach-when-beaumont-children-went-missing-20170607-gwmd2r.html |work= The Sydney Morning Herald|date= 8 June 2017| title= Boy's diary puts paedophile near beach when Beaumont children disappeared| access-date= 22 January 2018}}</ref>
=== Harry Phipps ===
[[File:Harry-Phipps.jpg|thumb|right|Harry Phipps.]]
Harry Phipps (died 2004), a local factory owner and then-member of Adelaide's social elite, came to attention as a possible suspect after the publication of the book ''The Satin Man: Uncovering the Mystery of the Missing Beaumont Children'' in 2013.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/books/2018/01/23/beaumont-children-satin-man/|title=The creepy case of the Beaumont children and 'The Satin Man'|date=23 January 2018|work=The New Daily|access-date=14 February 2018}}</ref> The book did not name the identity of the Satin Man, but Phipps' estranged son, Haydn, named him soon after the book's publication.<ref name="Phipps2013">{{cite news| url= http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/time-running-out-for-beaumont-children-clues-as-next-anniversary-of-australias-most-infamous-child-abduction-looms/news-story/b778fe6fb0acedd8a7a8b6d035ec954d |work= News.com.au|date= 4 January 2018| title= Time running out for Beaumont children clues as next anniversary of Australia's most infamous child abduction looms| access-date= 22 January 2018}}</ref>
Phipps bore a substantial likeness to the identity of the man seen talking to the Beaumont children at Glenelg Beach. He was wealthy and known to be in the habit of giving out £1 notes, was later alleged to have been a [[paedophile]] and lived only 300 metres away from the beach on the corner of Augusta Street and Sussex Street.<ref name="Casefile2018"/> Haydn, who was aged 15 at the time of the disappearance, came forward to researchers in 2007 with the claim that he had seen the children in his father's yard on 26 January. Two other persons, youths at the time, said that they had been paid by Phipps to dig a 2 × 1 × 2-metre hole in his factory yard that weekend, for unstated reasons.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Whiticker|first1=Alan|title=Beaumont children: after 52 years, new clues point to killer|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/beaumont-children-after-52-years-new-clues-point-to-killer/news-story/f46132b8b8b6df90c688f01a744758fb|access-date=8 March 2019|work=The Australian|date=27 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="NewLead2018">{{cite news| url= http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-22/new-search-for-beaumont-children-at-north-plympton-factory-site/9350116 |work= ABC News|date= 22 January 2018| title= Police chase new lead on missing Beaumont children| access-date= 22 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Mott|first1=Mitch|title=Woman claims she was sexually assaulted by man at centre of investigation into disappearance of Beaumont children|url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/woman-claims-she-was-sexually-assaulted-by-man-at-centre-of-investigation-into-disappearance-of-beaumont-children/news-story/55b7cc1f3d401b53640f1c712a0dd190|access-date=31 January 2018|work=The Advertiser|date=30 January 2018}}</ref>
====North Plympton excavations====
In November 2013, a one-metre-squared section of a factory in [[North Plympton]], which had been owned by Phipps, was excavated. A [[ground-penetrating radar]] found "one small anomaly, which can indicate movement or objects within the soil", but the dig found no additional evidence and investigations into the site were closed.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hunt|first1=Nigel|title=New Castalloy factory site at North Plympton excavated in unsuccessful search for new evidence into Beaumont children disappearance|url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/new-castalloy-factory-site-at-north-plympton-excavated-in-unsuccessful-search-for-new-evidence-into-beaumont-children-disappearance/story-fni6uo1m-1226769597259|access-date=30 November 2015|work=The Advertiser|date=28 November 2013}}</ref>
[[File:beaumont-excavation-plympton.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A section of a North Plympton site being excavated in 2025.]]
On 22 January 2018, Adelaide detectives announced that they would return to the factory site and conduct further excavations,<ref name="NewLead2018"/> after a private investigation sponsored by [[SAS (TV station)|Channel Seven in Adelaide]].<ref name="Phipps2018"/> The excavation, on 2 February 2018, took nine hours. Animal bones and general rubbish were found, but nothing related to the Beaumont case.<ref name="2018DigFinished">{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-02/beaumont-children-remains-search-called-off-by-sa-police/9391800 |title=Beaumont children excavation called off by SA police |date=2 February 2018 |access-date=2 February 2018 |work=ABC News}}</ref>
In February 2025, based on new evidence, South Australian MP [[Frank Pangallo]] organised a third, privately funded, excavation at the site.<ref>{{cite news|title=New evidence expected in dig for missing Beaumont children|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/feb/22/new-evidence-expected-in-dig-for-missing-beaumont-children|access-date=22 February 2025|work=The Guardian|date=22 February 2025}}</ref> The week-long search did not find any remains of the children.<ref>{{cite web |first =Eva | last = Blandis |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-01/dig-for-beaumont-childrens-remains-concludes/104997388|title=Seven-day search for Beaumont children concludes at former Castalloy site in Adelaide's west|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |website =[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |date=2025-03-01|access-date=2025-03-01}}</ref>
== Legacy ==
The Beaumont case resulted in one of the largest police investigations in Australian history and remains one of Australia's most infamous cold cases, even after many decades.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2016/01/20/expert-says-beaumont-children-died-in-1966.html|title=Expert says Beaumont children died in 1966|date=20 January 2016|access-date=28 January 2016|publisher=[[Sky News Australia|Sky News]]}}</ref> In January 2018, the [[Premier of South Australia]], [[Jay Weatherill]], said that South Australia Police had "never given up on the case" and that they "have a policy that no murder investigation ends up in a closed file".<ref name="ABCNewsJanuary2018">{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-23/development-beaumont-children-case-best-lead-ever/9351666|title='Best lead there's ever been': Hopes raised in Beaumont children case|date=23 January 2018|work=ABC News|access-date=14 February 2018|language=en-AU}}</ref> The State Government also continues to maintain a A$1 million reward for information relating to the children's disappearance.<ref name="ABCNewsJanuary2018"/><ref name="MAKO-Rewards">{{cite news| url= http://www.mako.org.au/Joanne-Ratcliffe-and-Kirste-Gordon.html| title= SA Police offer $1 million rewards for 13 child murder cases| website= MAKO.org.au| publisher= MAKO| access-date= 26 January 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160305211631/http://mako.org.au/Joanne-Ratcliffe-and-Kirste-Gordon.html| archive-date= 5 March 2016| url-status= dead}}</ref>
The kidnapping is also viewed by many [[social commentator]]s as a significant event in the evolution of Australian society, with a large number of people changing the way they supervised their children daily.<ref name="Lifestyle2"/><ref name="AndrewRule2">{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/true-crime-scene/andrew-rule-takes-a-hard-look-at-the-beaumont-children-murder-mystery/news-story/0d415a3e86a6701134046a9bb65151e1|title=Andrew Rule takes a hard look at 'The Beaumont Children' murder mystery|last1=Rule|first1=Andrew|date=24 January 2016|work=Herald Sun|access-date=28 January 2016}}</ref> At the time, it was never publicly suggested that the children should not have been allowed to travel unsupervised, or that their parents were in any way negligent, simply because contemporary Australian society took it for granted that this was safe and acceptable.<ref name="ND2018">{{cite news|url=https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/sa/2018/01/22/new-search-beaumont-children/|title=Police to conduct new search for Beaumont children at factory site|last=Elder|first=John|date=22 January 2018|newspaper=The New Daily|access-date=23 January 2018|quote=I was Arnna's age, 7, when they vanished. I'd been walking to school since I was five. For a while, mum took me and my brother by car.}}</ref> However, this case, alongside similar child-related crimes such as the 1960 [[Graeme Thorne kidnapping]] and the 1965 [[Wanda Beach murders]] "marked an end of innocence in [post-war] Australian life".<ref name="Charleston2016">{{Cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/03/05/crime-kidnap-ransom_n_9203824.html|title=The End Of Innocence: The 1960s Crime That Changed The Lives of Aussie Kids|last=Charleston|first=Libby-Jane|date=5 March 2016|work=Huffington Post|access-date=1 October 2017|language=en-AU}}</ref><ref name="News.com.auCases">{{Cite news|url=http://www.news.com.au/national/crime/the-abduction-and-murder-of-eightyearold-graeme-thorne/news-story/d611be34c3e199be56adeacca0a703d7|title=Case that stole our innocence|work=News.com.au|access-date=1 October 2017}}</ref>
The regular and widespread attention given to this case, its significance in Australian criminal history and the fact that the mystery of their disappearance has never been explained have led to the story being continually revisited by the media. New leads and clues are regularly reported by the media, and the case still regularly headlines print and broadcast media more than half a century on.<ref name="CIA">{{cite episode|title=The Wanda Beach Murders/Beaumont Children Mystery|series=Crime Investigation Australia|series-link=Crime Investigation Australia|network=[[Crime & Investigation Network]]|date=2007|series-no=1|number=11}}</ref><ref name="Munro2017"/><ref name="Phipps2018"/>
=== Parents ===
At the time of the investigation, the Beaumont parents received widespread sympathy from the Australian public. They remained at their Somerton Park home; Nancy in particular held hope that the children would return, and stated in interviews that it would be "dreadful" if the children returned home and did not find their parents waiting for them.<ref name="CIA"/> Over the years, as new leads and new theories emerged, the Beaumonts co-operated fully in exploring every possibility, whether it was claims that the children had been abducted by a religious cult and were living variously in New Zealand, Melbourne or Tasmania, or some clue that suggested a possible burial site for the children. They were devastated in 1990 when newspapers published computer-generated photographs of how the children would have looked as adults. The pictures, published against their wishes, caused a huge wave of public sympathy from a community which was still sensitive to their pain.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Jenny |title=Beaumont children bombshell: I know who really did it |url=https://www.newidea.com.au/beaumont-children-witness-comes-forward |website=New Idea |publisher=Are Media Pty Ltd |access-date=9 September 2021 |language=en-au |date=26 February 2018}}</ref>
The couple later divorced and lived separately,<ref name="20YearsOn"/> having resolved to live their final years away from the public attention that followed them for decades. They sold their Somerton Park home and the South Australian Police remained informed of the couple's new addresses, as the case remains open. The Beaumonts were reported to have accepted that the truth of their children's disappearances may never be discovered.<ref name="AndrewRule2"/><ref name="Sutton2018">{{Cite news|last=Sutton|first=Candace|url=http://www.news.com.au/national/crime/parents-of-beaumont-childrens-tortured-wait-goes-on/news-story/fb533bc2a34d59bacea04713d1b03732|title=Tortured wait continues for parents of Beaumont children|work=News.com.au|date=2 February 2018|access-date=14 February 2018}}</ref> Nancy died in an Adelaide nursing home on 16 September 2019, aged 92.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mother of three missing Beaumont children dies in Adelaide aged 92 |url=https://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/mother-of-three-missing-beaumont-children-dies-in-adelaide-aged-92/news-story/6d36a33f3e13f863f04c88bec3248afd |website=news.com.au |access-date=19 September 2019 |date=19 September 2019}}</ref> Grant died, also in Adelaide, on 9 April 2023, aged 97.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pearson |first1=Nick |title='Reunited in heaven': Father of missing Beaumont children dies at 97 |url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/beaumont-murders-father-grant-jim-beaumont-dies-reunited-in-heaven/4cbba1af-68b4-4d0d-8530-8aa316b8040d |website=9News |access-date=April 14, 2023}}</ref>
== Media ==
The case attracted widespread police and media attention in Australia and beyond. The fact that the case has never been explained has led to the story being continually revisited by the media, and by newer online sites, more than fifty years after the children's disappearance.<ref name="CIA"/><ref name="Phipps2018"/><ref name="Munro2017"/> Some examples include:
* {{cite episode |title=The Wanda Beach Murders/The Beaumont Children Mystery |series=Crime Investigation Australia |series-link=Crime Investigation Australia |network=[[Crime & Investigation Network]] |date=2007 |series-no=1 |number=11}}
* {{cite book |author=Whiticker, Alan |author-link=Alan Whiticker |date=2006 |title=Searching for the Beaumont Children: Australia's Most Famous Unsolved Mystery |publisher=John Wiley & Sons Australia |isbn=978-1-74031-106-9}}<ref>{{cite web |author=Chisholm, Karen |url=https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/searching-beaumont-children-alan-j-whiticker |title=Book Review: 'Searching for the Beaumond Children' – Alan J Whiticker |work=AustCrime |date=17 October 2007 |access-date=23 September 2019}}</ref>
* {{cite book |last1=Whiticker |first1=Alan |last2=Mullins |first2=Stuart |title=The Satin Man: Uncovering the Mystery of the Missing Beaumont Children |date=2013 |publisher=New Holland Publishers |isbn=978-1-74257-308-3}}<ref name="Whiticker2015">{{cite book | last1=Whiticker |first1=Alan | last2=Mullins |first2=Stuart | title=The Satin Man: Uncovering the Mystery of the Missing Beaumont Children | year=2015 | publisher=New Holland | edition=Revised and updated | isbn=978-1-74257-308-3 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/226403872}}</ref>
* {{cite book|author=Madigan, Michael|title=The missing Beaumont children: 50 years of mystery and misery|date=2015|publisher=Griffin Press|isbn=978-0-9756746-7-3}}
* {{cite episode |title=And Then There Were None |series=True Crime Brewery Podcast |date=10 October 2017 |url=http://tiegrabber.libsyn.com/and-then-there-were-none }}
* {{cite episode |title=The Beaumont Children: What Really Happened |series=Seven News Investigates |network=[[Seven Network]] |date=January 2018 }}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tvtonight.com.au/2018/01/airdate-seven-news-investigates-the-beaumont-children-what-really-happened.html|title=Airdate: Seven News Investigates: The Beaumont Children: What Really Happened |work=TV Tonight |date=29 January 2018 |access-date=18 November 2018}}</ref>
* {{cite episode |title=The Beaumont Children |series=Casefile True Crime Podcast |series-link=Casefile True Crime Podcast |date=November 2018 |number=100 }}<ref name="Casefile2018">{{cite web|url=https://casefilepodcast.com/case-100-the-beaumont-children/|title=Case 100: The Beaumont Children – Casefile: True Crime Podcast|date=17 November 2018|access-date=18 November 2018}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[List of people who disappeared mysteriously: 1910–1990]]
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading==
* {{Cite episode |title=101 Degrees|series=Radio Eye |first=Matthew (producer) |last=Leonard |network=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] |station=[[Radio National]] |date=26 January 1997 }}
* {{cite book |author=O'Brien, Bob |date=2002 |title=Young Blood: the Story of the Family Murders |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-7322-6913-5}}
* {{Cite episode |title=Who's Watching the Children?: The Beaumont Case Revisited |url=http://bethspencer.com/blog/2011/01/beaumonts/ |series=The Age |series-link=The Age |first=Beth |last=Spencer |network=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] |station=[[Radio National]] |date=26 January 1997 |access-date=8 November 2014 |archive-date=8 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108062045/http://bethspencer.com/blog/2011/01/beaumonts/ |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |author=Whiticker, Alan |date=2006 |title=Searching for the Beaumont Children: Australia's Most Famous Unsolved Mystery |publisher=John Wiley & Sons Australia |isbn=978-1-74031-106-9}}
* {{cite book|last1=Whiticker|first1=Alan|last2=Mullins|first2=Stuart|title=The Satin Man: Uncovering the Mystery of the Missing Beaumont Children|year=2013|publisher=New Holland Publishers|isbn=978-1-74257-308-3}}
* {{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106960546|title=Enigma of the missing Beaumont children|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=4 February 1967|access-date=10 July 2014|page=2|via=Trove, [[National Library of Australia]]}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.missingpersons.gov.au/who-missing/sa/beaumont-jane Jane], [https://www.missingpersons.gov.au/who-missing/sa/beaumont-arnna Arnna] and [https://www.missingpersons.gov.au/who-missing/sa/beaumont-grant Grant] Beaumont, at the [[Australian Federal Police]]'s National Missing Persons Coordination Centre.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaumont children disappearance}}
[[Category:
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[[Category:January 1966 in Australia]]
[[Category:Crime in Adelaide]]
[[Category:Missing Australian children]]
[[Category:Mass disappearances]]
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