A former high-ranking investigator involved in the case of a British girl who disappeared in Australia over five decades ago has called on the individual who once admitted to her murder to come forward and confess to the authorities. This plea coincides with a renewed effort to locate the remains of three-year-old Cheryl Grimmer.
Cheryl went missing after leaving Fairy Meadow Beach in Wollongong in January 1970, triggering one of Australia’s most enduring missing children investigations. The Mirror covered the ongoing inquiries at the beach five years ago when a memorial plaque was unveiled to commemorate Cheryl’s disappearance.
In a first-time initiative, a search is underway on a parcel of land in Wollongong associated with a 1971 confession made by an individual known by the police as “Mercury.” The person’s identity has been withheld as they were 17 at the time of the alleged incident. Despite providing intricate details about the location where the body was left, such as fence lines and tree types, the confession was disregarded as unreliable back then, and no search was conducted by the police.
Detective Senior Constable Frank Sanvitale, who revisited the case, stood at the location of the ongoing search and recollected a phone conversation with “Mercury” expressing remorse for his actions. Sanvitale urged the individual to step up and reveal the truth, emphasizing the importance of closure for Cheryl’s family and the person responsible.
The investigation team uncovered “Mercury’s” confession in police records and combined it with new information. In 2017, the individual was charged with Cheryl’s murder, but legal complications arose, leading to the case’s collapse in 2018 due to the inadmissibility of the confession.
During the early 1970s, it was permissible for law enforcement to interrogate minors without parental or legal representation, a practice that has since been outlawed and retrospectively applied to cases like “Mercury’s.”
The search area was previously farmland but is now surrounded by residential properties. Volunteer search organizers stated that their specialized cadaver dogs have a successful track record of locating human remains dating back over 50 years.
Cheryl’s brother, Ricki Nash, who was seven at the time of her disappearance, expressed frustration that the current search was not conducted decades ago when “Mercury” provided detailed information only the perpetrator would know. He highlighted the community’s continued interest in the case and the tributes left at Cheryl’s memorial plaque.
A parliamentary representative in New South Wales has discussed with the family the option of using parliamentary privilege to disclose the individual’s identity and full confession publicly, a measure considered a last resort by Nash, potentially happening in the coming weeks.
Chris D’Arcy, president of Search Dogs Sydney, mentioned that this is the first systematic search of the area described in “Mercury’s” confession. Advanced techniques like 3D drone mapping have been employed to ensure the search’s accuracy and efficiency.
D’Arcy emphasized the effectiveness of their cadaver dogs, trained to locate long-term missing persons, noting their past success in finding remains over five decades old. He highlighted the significant impact a single trained dog and drone team can have compared to a large group of searchers in such operations.