Detectives investigating the abduction and possible murder of Cheryl Grimmer 47 years ago, have turned their attention to a reformatory school near Gosford. Wollongong investigators are trying to locate former staff and residents of the Mount Penang Training School stretching back to the early 1970s as they re-investigate the kidnapping of the three-year-old Wollongong girl. The Child Welfare Department operated the school as the Mount Penang Training School for Boys, or Mt Penang Training Centre, from 1946 - 1987. It served as a reformatory for boys, usually aged 14-16, who had been convicted of crimes or been difficult to manage in other department-run institutions. It continued operating under different names in the 1980s and 1990s. Today it is the Kariong Correctional Centre, with its facilities divided between juvenile justice and a minimum-security prison for adults. Cheryl was abducted outside the change rooms of Fairy Meadow Beach on January 12, 1970, and has never been seen since. Officers from Strike Force Wessel are re-examining the case and focusing on information that someone associated with the Mount Penang boys’ home in that era might have valuable details about the case. “We have had a large response from the public since our renewed appeal for information last December,” Wollongong Crime Manager, Brad Ainsworth said. “The investigation is definitely progressing and it’s appropriate that we follow up various leads to determine whether they’re relevant to the case,” Detective Inspector Ainsworth said. “One of those lines of inquiry means someone associated with the boys’ home back then might be able to help us.” Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact Wollongong Detectives on 4226 7899 or through Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Cheryl’s brothers renew their appeal for information in December. LITTLE GIRL LOST AS BEACH CROWD SCATTERED January 12, 1970, was a scorcher. As the temperature approached 38 degrees, Carole Grimmer took her four children – Ricki, Stephen, Paul and three-year-old Cheryl - to Fairy Meadow Beach for cool respite. The water and the sand were crowded. But when a strong southerly hit, about 2pm, everyone wanted to leave at once. Somewhere in the dispersing crowd, little blonde Cheryl was lost - and a 46-year-old mystery was born. The Grimmers – parents Vince and Carole and the four children – had emigrated to the Illawarra from Bristol, England in the spring of 1968 and become residents of Fairy Meadow Migrant Hostel. It was Mrs Grimmer’s habit to take her children to the beach while her husband, a sapper in the Army, commuted to and from Penrith. Cheryl was wearing a royal blue, one-piece swimming costume as she followed Ricky, 7, and Stephen, 5, to the men’s showers the afternoon of January 12, 1970. Cheryl emerged wrapped in a white towel, with her swimsuit draped over her arm. The towel would later be puzzled over by investigating police, because it had not belonged to the Grimmers. Cheryl had a drink at the bubblers before returning to the sheds and refusing to come out, the boys reported to their mother. There was no sign of Cheryl moments later when Mrs Grimmer returned to the sheds – or ever since. In May, 2011, a coroner ruled Cheryl had died some time after her appearance, of unknown causes. That same year, Mrs Grimmer told the Mercury she believed Cheryl was still alive. “It’s not just a mother’s hope, it’s a knowing,” she said. The case was referred to the Unsolved Homicide Team, for review.
Detectives investigating the abduction and possible murder of Cheryl Grimmer 47 years ago, have turned their attention to a reformatory school near Gosford.
Wollongong investigators are trying to locate former staff and residents of the Mount Penang Training School stretching back to the early 1970s as they re-investigate the kidnapping of the three-year-old Wollongong girl.
The Child Welfare Department operated the school as the Mount Penang Training School for Boys, or Mt Penang Training Centre, from 1946 - 1987.
It served as a reformatory for boys, usually aged 14-16, who had been convicted of crimes or been difficult to manage in other department-run institutions.
It continued operating under different names in the 1980s and 1990s. Today it is the Kariong Correctional Centre, with its facilities divided between juvenile justice and a minimum-security prison for adults.
Cheryl was abducted outside the change rooms of Fairy Meadow Beach on January 12, 1970, and has never been seen since.
Officers from Strike Force Wessel are re-examining the case and focusing on information that someone associated with the Mount Penang boys’ home in that era might have valuable details about the case.
“We have had a large response from the public since our renewed appeal for information last December,” Wollongong Crime Manager, Brad Ainsworth said.
“The investigation is definitely progressing and it’s appropriate that we follow up various leads to determine whether they’re relevant to the case,” Detective Inspector Ainsworth said.
“One of those lines of inquiry means someone associated with the boys’ home back then might be able to help us.”
Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact Wollongong Detectives on 4226 7899 or through Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Cheryl’s brothers renew their appeal for information in December.
LITTLE GIRL LOST AS BEACH CROWD SCATTERED
January 12, 1970, was a scorcher.
As the temperature approached 38 degrees, Carole Grimmer took her four children – Ricki, Stephen, Paul and three-year-old Cheryl - to Fairy Meadow Beach for cool respite.
The water and the sand were crowded. But when a strong southerly hit, about 2pm, everyone wanted to leave at once.
Somewhere in the dispersing crowd, little blonde Cheryl was lost - and a 46-year-old mystery was born.
The Grimmers – parents Vince and Carole and the four children – had emigrated to the Illawarra from Bristol, England in the spring of 1968 and become residents of Fairy Meadow Migrant Hostel.
It was Mrs Grimmer’s habit to take her children to the beach while her husband, a sapper in the Army, commuted to and from Penrith.
Cheryl was wearing a royal blue, one-piece swimming costume as she followed Ricky, 7, and Stephen, 5, to the men’s showers the afternoon of January 12, 1970.
Cheryl emerged wrapped in a white towel, with her swimsuit draped over her arm. The towel would later be puzzled over by investigating police, because it had not belonged to the Grimmers.
Cheryl had a drink at the bubblers before returning to the sheds and refusing to come out, the boys reported to their mother.
There was no sign of Cheryl moments later when Mrs Grimmer returned to the sheds – or ever since.
In May, 2011, a coroner ruled Cheryl had died some time after her appearance, of unknown causes.
That same year, Mrs Grimmer told the Mercury she believed Cheryl was still alive. “It’s not just a mother’s hope, it’s a knowing,” she said.
The case was referred to the Unsolved Homicide Team, for review.
