Ground at an Adelaide factory will be excavated on Friday morning following a fresh lead in the search for the missing Beaumont children.
The trio never returned after leaving their parents’ Glenelg home for an afternoon at the beach on Australia Day, 1966.
Their disappearance sparked a wide-scale search operation, but nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant were never found.
In 2013, new information focused the investigation on a factory west of Adelaide, after two brothers told police they spent the 1966 Australia Day weekend digging a large hole there at the request of owner Harry Phipps.
Ground at an Adelaide factory will be excavated on Friday morning following a fresh lead in the search for the missing Beaumont children – nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant
Two brothers told police in 2013 they spent the 1966 Australia Day weekend digging a large hole at the Adelaide factory at the request of owner Harry Phipps (pictured)
Authorities as seen at the Adelaide site as they prepare to dig for the children’s remains
Phipps died in 2004, but his son, who accused his father of years of sexual abuse, believed he had a part in the crime.
The suspect’s grandson Nick spoke on Thursday for the first time of the enduring crime mystery and described Phipps as a ‘violent’ man.
‘They walked in alive – and they were carried out… Basically they were thrown in a hole – got rid of,’ he told A Current Affair.
When asked about his grandfather, he replied: ‘There was a violent side – definitely… without a doubt.’
The suspect’s grandson Nick spoke on Thursday for the first time of the enduring crime mystery and described Phipps as a ‘violent’ man
A recent investigation using new technology revealed an anomaly in the soil at the Adelaide site
Phipps also bore resemblance to an identikit picture prepared at the time, and lived close to Glenelg Beach.
Though the initial excavation at the North Plympton site proved fruitless, a recent investigation using new technology revealed an anomaly in the soil at the site.
The area matches the size and shape of the hole dug by the brothers, sparking hopes it could be the resting place of the Beaumont children.
A range of experts will be present on Friday while the site is dug up, including a forensic anthropologist, a criminologist and officers from the major crime division.
The dig could be the key to solving the decades-old mystery, but police and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill have warned it may not amount to anything.
‘It’s speculative at the moment and I wouldn’t want to raise people’s expectations,’ Mr Weatherill told reporters on Thursday.
The trio never returned after leaving their parents’ Glenelg home for an afternoon at the beach on Australia Day, 1966
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the renewed investigation was sparked by fresh information and new technologies
The renewed investigation into the children’s disappearance was sparked by fresh information from witnesses.
‘Since the recent media attention on the Beaumont case we’ve had over 30 new contacts providing information, all of that will be looked at,’ Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said on Thursday.
‘We were at the Castalloy site back in 2013 where we did an excavation based on information we’d been provided with from key witnesses. That didn’t produce any results.
‘This is a follow up to that with the use of new technology. It gives us further indications that are worth exploring.’