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 Beach near Adelaide, South Australia, on 26 January 1966 (Australia Day) in an unsolved disappearance case and a suspected abduction and 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. Police and media speculation has linked the disappearances to the "Adelaide Oval abductions" of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon in 1973. Interest in the case has continued for more than half a century. , a A$1 million reward has been offered for information related to the cold case by the South Australian government.
Background
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. The family resided at 109 Harding Street in Somerton Park, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide. They lived not far from 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.
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, bus journey from their home to the beach. They caught the bus at 8:45 in the morning, and were expected to return home on the 12:00 noon bus. Nancy became worried, however, when they did not return on either the 12:00 or 14:00 buses, and when Jim returned home early from his trip around 15:00, he immediately drove to the crowded beach. Unable to locate the children, he returned and together both parents searched the streets and visited friends' houses. Around 17:30, they went to Glenelg police station to report the disappearance.
Police investigation <mapframe width="280" height="280" zoom="14" latitude="-34.9855" longitude="138.5190" text="Movements of the Beaumont children on 26 January 1966">
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] } </mapframe> 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. Police and volunteers scoured beaches, dunes, drains and suburbs across Adelaide. The search then expanded to the sandhills, ocean and nearby buildings, with the airport, rail lines and interstate roads being monitored as well, based on a fear of accident or kidnap. Within twenty-four hours, the entire nation was aware of the case.
Police also searched for some of the 17 items in children's possession at the time of their disappearance, including clothing, towels and a bag. Despite ongoing searches, no trace of these items or the children were found.
Within three days, on 29 January, the 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 A£250.
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 19:00 on the day of the disappearance. Police cadets and members of the emergency operations group searched the area, but nothing was found.
Prime suspect
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, in his mid-thirties. The man had a sun-tanned complexion and a thin-to-athletic build, and was wearing swim trunks. The children were playing with him, and appeared to be relaxed and enjoying themselves. The man also approached one of the witnesses, asking if anyone had been near the children's belongings as their money was "missing". 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. About two-and-a-half hours later (14:45) another witness, Miss Daphne Gregory, sighted the children with the man, whom she observed carrying an airline bag similar to one owned by Jane.
The Beaumont parents described their children, particularly the eldest (Jane) as shy. 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. 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". Nancy thought she meant a playmate and took no further notice until after the disappearance.
A shopkeeper at nearby Wenzel's Bakery, on Moseley Street, reported that Jane had bought pasties and a meat pie with a £1 note. 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 shillings and six pence, enough for their bus fare and lunch, and not £1. Police believed the money had been given to them by somebody else.
Other sightings According to an initial statement, the Beaumont children were seen walking alone at 14:55, away from the beach along Jetty Road, in the general direction of their home. The witness, a postman, knew the children well, and his statement was regarded as reliable. He said the children were "holding hands and laughing" in the main street. 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.
Other reported sightings of the children continued for about a year after their disappearance.
Gerard Croiset
The Beaumont case attracted international attention. On 8 November 1966, Gerard Croiset, a Dutch psychic, was brought to Australia to assist in the search, which caused a furore in the press. Croiset's efforts proved unsuccessful, with his story changing day-to-day and offering no clues. 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 A$40,000 to have the building demolished. No remains, nor any evidence tied to any members of the Beaumont family, was found. In 1996, the building identified by Croiset was undergoing partial demolition and the owners allowed a full search of the site. Once again, no trace was found of the children.
Hoax letters About two years after the disappearance, 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. 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.