The search for the remains of the missing Beaumont children has been called off after only ‘non-human’ bones were found at the suspected grave site of the three siblings.
Excavation at the North Plympton site in Adelaide, South Australia, once owned by prime suspect Harry Phipps, began on Friday morning as part of a fresh investigation into the 52-year-old mystery.
After a full day of digging – and with the entire country waiting with bated breath – diggers and anthropologists were only able to identify animal bones, thought to be from a horse, and a large amount of rubbish.
The Beaumont children (pictured) never returned after leaving their parents’ Glenelg home for an afternoon at the beach on Australia Day, 1966
The excavation at the North Plympton site (pictured) commenced at 8am on Friday morning but has now been called off
Detective Chief Inspector Greg Hutchins said only a number of ‘non-human bones’ had been discovered in the western section of the dig site, where two brothers had told police they had dug a hole for Phipps, who died in 2004.
‘There’s been a number of non-human bones found. From the anthropologist, they are non human, most likely from a large animal,’ Mr Hutchins said. ‘But clearly she will take them back and have further examinations.
‘All we had was an anomaly, we know the brothers dug a hole, no question, a hole has been dug on the site. This anomaly is approximately in the area where the two brothers [dug].’
The morbid excavation has now been called off for the day after hours of combing through the New Castalloy site.
Investigators sifted through a large portion of virgin soil before stumbling upon what they believed to be ‘disturbed’ soil, finding only suspected animal remains and old rubbish.
Police have been in contact with the Beaumont children’s elderly parents during this stage in the investigation.
A digger is seen at the site of a factory in North Plympton in Adelaide on Friday morning
Police said they were ‘hoping for the best’ as they began excavation on Friday at the Adelaide factory
Nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant have never been found
A former police officer investigating the Beaumont children disappearance revealed the prime suspect’s son told him the location of their final resting place.
The revelations came as police said they were just 80cm from an ‘anomaly’ in the ground as they excavated land at the Adelaide factory.
Former policeman Bill Hayes on Thursday revealed that he spoke with Harry Phipps – the prime suspect – about the Beaumont children’s final resting place.
Mr Hayes said Hayden Phipps told him that his father was a paedophile and that he had buried the children in a sandpit at the North Plympton industrial site.
‘He told me [Phipps] was taking [the Beaumont children] to a place, a factory, that the father owned,’ Mr Hayes told A Current Affair.
‘His exact words were, ”they are in the sand pit, Bill”.’
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)
Former policeman Bill Hayes said that in the years following their disappearance he spoke with the son of prime suspect in the Beaumont children disappearance
Former policeman Bill Hayes said Hayden Phipps (pictured), the son of the prime suspect, told him that his father was a paedophile and that he had buried the children in a sandpit
Phipps died in 2004, but his son, who accused his father of years of sexual abuse, believed he had a part in the crime.
Phipps also bore a resemblance to an identikit picture prepared at the time, and lived close to Glenelg Beach, where the children were last seen.
A woman recently came forward saying she was indecently assaulted by Phipps in a vacant lot near the factory in 1979.
‘He just walked me across the road and was saying ‘you’re a really pretty girl, I’ve seen you around’ and I just went with him,’ the woman told the Seven Network.
‘He sort of started getting really slimy, really dirty talk and things like that.’
Detective Superintendent Des Bray inspects the dig site at a factory in North Plympton
The industrial site in Adelaide is at the centre of a renewed search for the missing trio
Two brothers revealed in 2013 they had spent the 1966 Australia Day weekend – when the children vanished – digging a hole at the request of Harry Phipps.
Mr Hutchins initially said there are innocent explanations for the anomaly, but it could also be a major breakthrough in Australia’s most enduring cold case.
‘We have our fingers crossed, we hope for the best but we do want to temper expectations,’ he said at the site on Friday.
‘Clearly we have an anomaly which we need to investigate.’
The Beaumont children 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.
An initial excavation at the North Plympton site proved fruitless, but police now believe they may have been digging in the wrong spot.
Insp Hutchins said police had been in regular contact with the parents of the children, Jim and Nancy Beaumont, and had informed them of Friday’s activity.
‘Clearly the parents of the three Beaumont children have suffered significantly over the last 52 years,’ he said.
A range of experts are present at the site including a forensic anthropologist, a criminologist, crime scene examiners and officers from the major crime division.
There is currently a police presence at the North Plympton site that is the focus of renewed investigations
A range of experts will be present on Friday while the site 9pictured) is dug up