Animal Remains Found in Hunt for Girl Who Vanished Fifty-Five Years Ago
A specific zone flagged in a volunteer-led search for the remains of a English girl who vanished in Australia 55 years ago has turned out to be a mistaken lead, New South Wales Police confirmed.
A group of searchers who used specialized canines in the search for the missing child had hoped their finding would represent a breakthrough in the case, which has remained a mystery since she disappeared in the year 1970, when she was three.
But skeletal fragments that were found in the area are from an non-human creature, police said in response to queries, noting that the operation had "concluded."
Investigators suspect the young girl, who had emigrated from Bristol with her relatives, was taken from a coastal area in the city in January 1970.
Recent Search Efforts
The recent operation happened in a local suburb, on a tiny section of woodland mentioned in a admission made by a young male.
In 2019, a trial of the suspect, known only by a codename, Mercury, who'd been charged with Cheryl's abduction and murder, collapsed. The man, in his sixties then, had denied any wrongdoing.
Legal authorities later dropped accusations against him as a judge excluded the confession he made as a juvenile.
Unsolved Case
Authorities have conducted many searches in the years since Cheryl went missing, but have found limited leads as to what happened to her.
Local officials have offered a A$1m reward for information on Cheryl's abduction and suspected murder.
Relatives' Views
Her sibling Ricki, sixty-two, has publicly highlighted what he thinks are mistakes in the official inquiry going back to the day she disappeared.
Mr Nash was seven years old then. He final sighting of his sibling in the locker area at Fairy Meadow on the date she vanished.
Public Response
A formal request asking the local government to establish an inquiry into missing persons investigations handled by NSW Police, such as Cheryl's, gathered more than ten thousand supporters this season.
It was debated in the legislature, but in a letter responding to petitioners, officials made no commitment to conducting an inquiry.