A volunteer search team using specialized cadaver detection dogs has identified a potential burial site in the 55-year-old disappearance of British toddler Cheryl Grimmer, who vanished from an Australian beach in 1970.
The discovery in bushland near Wollongong's Balgownie area has prompted New South Wales Police to launch a formal excavation, marking the first major development in the case in decades.
The three-year-old girl, who had emigrated from Bristol with her family, disappeared from Fairy Meadow beach in January 1970 while with her mother and siblings.
Despite an extensive initial investigation and a confession from a teenage boy the following year, no trace of Cheryl was ever found, and legal proceedings against a suspect collapsed in 2019.
Cheryl's brother Ricki Nash, who was seven when his sister vanished, expressed both hope and anguish at the potential breakthrough. "This should have been done 55 years ago," he told reporters at the search site.
"My question is, why wasn't it? We always live with the hope that someone took her that couldn't have a child, raised her well... To be here looking for a body or part thereof, I mean, it's not a good thing,” Nash concluded his note.
The search operation was initiated by Search Dogs Sydney, a volunteer organization whose president Chris D'Arcy offered assistance after learning about the case through a popular BBC podcast that has renewed public interest.
The team's principal search dog, nine-year-old Rufus, showed "distinct change in behaviour" indicating potential human remains in the wooded area, which matches details from the original 1971 confession that mentioned Balgownie as a possible location.
Former detective Frank Sanvitale, who originally worked on the case, acknowledged the slim chances of success but emphasized the family's need for closure.
"To find something after 55 years, I'm hoping we do, but the chances are one in a million, what about doing something for Cheryl, that little girl you took away and owning up to what you did," Sanvitale expressed.
The Grimmer family has endured decades of uncertainty while the current search is their most tangible hope for answers in a case that has haunted both Australian and British communities for over half a century.