Father of three who went missing in one of Australia’s greatest unsolved mysteries dies aged 97
- Grant Alfred Beaumont died on April 9
- He is the father of missing Beaumont children
- His children went missing on a beach in 1966
The father of the missing Beaumont children has died at the age of 97.
Jane Beaumont, nine, and her siblings Arnna, seven, and Grant, four, disappeared on Australia Day in 1966 after leaving their parents’ home for an afternoon at nearby Glenelg Beach in suburban Adelaide.
Their disappearance sparked a massive search, but despite years of desperate searching, the trio was never found.
It has now been revealed that their father Grant Alfred Beaumont – aka Jim – passed away on April 9, four years after the death of their mother Nancy.
A funeral notice published on Saturday says Mr Beaumont has been “reunited in heaven” with the three children.
Jane Beaumont, nine, and her siblings Arnna, seven, and Grant, four, disappeared on Australia Day in 1966
Jim Beaumont (left) died April 9 with a funeral notice saying he will “reunite” with his missing children in Heaven
The children’s disappearance remains one of Australia’s greatest unsolved mysteries.
They boarded a bus near their home at around 8:45 am and traveled together to Glenelg Beach, to swim in an area between Jetty Road and the Anzac Highway.
The trio were supposed to go home around 2 p.m., but did not return. At about 7:20 p.m., their father reported that his children were missing.
The police carried out extensive searches in the area that night, but the children were not found.
Despite several theories and suspects in the years since, they have still not been found.
A breakthrough in the case finally came in 2013 when two brothers reported being asked to dig a hole in a factory west of Adelaide for businessman Harry Phipps the weekend the children went missing.
Phipps died in 2004, but his son, who accused his father of years of sexual abuse, believed he played a part in the crime.
Their disappearance sparked a massive search, but despite years of desperate searching, the trio was never found
The children’s mother, Nancy, died in 2019. Over the years, several suspects have been linked to her missing children
Former police officer Bill Hayes later revealed that he had spoken to Phipps – the prime suspect – about the Beaumont children’s final resting place.
Hayes said that Hayden Phipps told him his father was a paedophile and that he had buried the children in a sandpit in the North Plympton industrial estate.
However, a few months later, police announced that charges against Harry Phipps had been dismissed and said he was no longer a suspect.
In recent decades, high-profile child predators have been linked to the kidnapping, including Bevan Spencer von Einem.
In 2016, an elderly man associated with child crimes was questioned by police about the disappearance of the Beaumont children.