Animal Bones Discovered in Hunt for Child Who Disappeared 55 Years Ago
A specific zone flagged in a volunteer-led investigation for the body of a English child who vanished in Australia 55 years ago has turned out to be a false alarm, New South Wales Police said.
A group of searchers who used cadaver detection dogs in the search for the missing child had believed their discovery would represent a breakthrough in the case, which has remained a mystery since she vanished in 1970, when she was just three years old.
But skeletal fragments that were uncovered in the location belong to an non-human creature, police stated in reply to questions, adding that the operation had "concluded."
Investigators suspect the young girl, who had emigrated from her UK hometown with her relatives, was abducted from a coastal area in Wollongong in the start of 1970.
Latest Investigation Steps
The recent operation happened in a local suburb, on a small pocket of forest referenced in a admission made by a teenage boy.
In 2019, a court case of the suspect, known only by a alias, the pseudonym, who'd been indicted with Cheryl's abduction and murder, ended abruptly. The individual, in his 60s then, had rejected any involvement.
Prosecutors later withdrew accusations against him as a judge excluded the statement he made as a juvenile.
Unsolved Case
Police have carried out many investigations in the years since Cheryl went missing, but have uncovered limited leads as to what happened to her.
Local officials have offered a one million Australian dollar incentive for tips on Cheryl's abduction and suspected murder.
Family's Perspective
Her sibling Ricki Nash, sixty-two, has publicly highlighted what he thinks are mistakes in the police investigation going back to the time she disappeared.
Mr Nash was seven years old then. He final sighting of his sibling in the locker area at the beach on the day she disappeared.
Public Response
A formal request asking the state parliament to establish an investigation into cases of disappeared individuals overseen by the police force, such as this one, gathered more than ten thousand supporters this season.
It was discussed in parliament, but in a letter responding to those who signed, officials made no promise to conducting an inquiry.
