Casefile True Crime - Case 01: The Wanda Beach Murders

Episode Date: January 9, 2016

On the 11th of January 1965, two fifteen-year-old schoolgirls Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt were found murdered in the Wanda sand hills, just north of Cronulla Beach in Sydney's south. The crime remains one of the most horrific Australia has ever seen. Despite an exhaustive police investigation, the killer remains unknown… For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-1-the-wanda-beach-murders

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Music On the 12th of January 1965, Marion Schmidt and Christine Sherrick, both age 15, were found murdered on a desolate, isolated stretch of beach just north of Pinella, south of Sydney. The case would come to be known as the Wander Beach Murders. One mention of the word Wander is enough to send chills down the spine of those who remember the case that dominated the television reports, radio airwaves and print media of the day. The Killing Spark, one of the biggest men in Hunts Australia has ever seen. The police file on the cases over 10,000 pages long, and over 14,000 people have been interviewed.

Police efforts to solve the case have been described as exhaustive, and leads have been fired up all around Australia. Despite the best efforts of police, no charges have ever been laid, and the case remains unsolved to this day. The Wander case contains many more questions than answers. What drew Marion and Christine to the Wander sandhills that day? Had they pre-arranged to meet someone? Were they just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Speculation and many different theories have surrounded the case since day one. Only one thing is clear.

A vicious and ruthless killer has never been brought to justice. The Smith family migrated to Australia from Germany in 1958. Along with Marion there were her parents, Helmut and Elizabeth. Older brother Helmut Jr., younger brother Hans, Peter and Wolfgang, and younger sister Trixie. Another brother, Norbert, was born whilst the family was in Australia. Upon their arrival, they stayed in various migrant camps, and then they finally settled in their family home, in Brush Road, West Ride, in the northwest of Sydney. The Smiths moved next door to Christine Sherrick, who was living in Brush Road with her grandparents Jim and Jeanette Tague.

Christine's father had recently passed away, and her mother had remarried, and so Christine elected to live with her grandparents. Christine and Marion formed an instant bond. They were always in each other's company, they were inseparable. Christine's uncle described of their friendship. They did not go out much, and their main entrance was centered around their homes. They were always in each other's company, and neither went out with boys. Both girls were described as quiet, well-behaved, they were good in school, they attended church regularly with their parents. They weren't known to hang around any unsavory characters, they were even described as being somewhat shy. In 1964, Homer's senior passed away. One can only imagine how much tighter the bond between Christine and Marion would have become, both losing fathers that were close to at such a young age.

And like any other teenage girls, they had a love of the beach, they had an interest in music, special mention for Elvis, and of course a keen, natural interest in boys at their own age. The only beach Marion and Christine ever visited was Cranulla. Whilst the journey to Cranulla Beach was around two hours each way, it was the only city beach that was accessible by train at the time. The girls had attended Cranulla Beach just recently on New Year's Day, that year in 1965, only days before they murder. Whilst they were at Cranulla Beach, they went for a walk north to the Wondersian Hills. The next day, Marion visited the beach again with her brothers and sisters. Christine didn't make that trip, and on this second trip, Marion left her family for a little while,

and when she returned, she had mentioned that she had been for a walk to Wanda. She didn't say why. In early January 1965, Elizabeth Schmidt, Marion's mother, was admitted to hospital to undergo an operation. She left her eldest children, Homer Jr, and Marion in charge of the household while she was in hospital recovering. On the 9th of January, Christine and Marion visited Elizabeth in hospital. Marion asked if her and Christine could take her younger brothers and sisters to Cranulla Beach the following day. Elizabeth gave them permission to do so. As it turned out, the weather that next day on the 10th of January was terrible,

and so Marion and Christine postponed their beach trip until the following day, Monday the 11th of January. Now, in the morning of the 11th, whilst getting ready for the beach, Christine mentioned to her grandmother, Jeanette, that it would be fun to walk along the Wondersian Hills again. Jeanette, aware of how far away the Wondersian Hills actually were from the main part of Cranulla Beach, some two kilometers, replied, Don't go today, love. You've got the four little ones with you. It's too far. Christine tried to argue the point, but was again told by her grandmother, Don't go to the Cian Hills.

So, what are the Wondersian Hills and what were the girls seemingly fascination with them? The Wondersian Hills, otherwise known as Green Hills, run behind Wonder Beach and continue north up to Colonel. Wonder is an Aboriginal name meaning Cian Hills by the sea beach. Wonder Beach is part of a longer stretch of beach coastline that starts with Cranulla Beach, includes North Cranulla Beach, Allura Beach, and then Wonder Beach. The distance from the main Cranulla Beach to the Wondersian Hills is about two kilometers, and then the Cian Hills themselves run a lot longer past that. The area in and around Wondersurf Club in the main beach area itself were clean and pristine,

but the Wondersian Hills were a very different, isolated story. In 1965, Wondersian Hills were described as Sydney's filthiest and loneliest stretch of beach, littered with smashed bottles, altues, rustic cans, broken poise, any other amount of discarded junk and rubbish that you can think of. This isolation meant the Wondersian Hills were a perfect spot for people to meet up who didn't necessarily want to be seen. In 1965, it was a far, far more conservative time than what we experienced today. The incredibly homosexuality was actually a criminal offence, and it wouldn't be made legal for another 18 years.

Certain products of those Cian Hills were a population for men to meet up and engage in casual sex. The area was also known to attract nude sunbathers, other couples engaging in public sex, public masturbators, nudists. There's general perverted types who like to spy on people engaging in sexual activity, who like to spy on women, who like to harass women and proposition them for sex, things like that. Cars could be parked behind the Cian Hills and there are a number of trails that provided access to and from the Cian Hills without having to walk along the main beach areas. Many local residents at the time were well aware of what was going on in the Cian Hills

and they refused to even let their children anywhere near there. It doesn't sound like the ideal place for two well behaved, generally quiet type 15 year old girls to go. But remember, Christine and Mary Ann weren't from the local area. Not even really close, it was a two hour journey each way. Although local residents were well aware of what was going on there, it doesn't mean Mary Ann and Christine were aware. It was 1965 after all, information wasn't as readily available and it didn't travel nearly as fast as what it does today. There's absolutely no information to suggest that Mary Ann and Christine were aware of what went on in the Cian Hills at all. So on that morning on the 11th of January, Christine and Mary Ann packed for their day at the beach.

Christine packed the thermos accordion but she took no food. She instead took a £1 note and said she would buy lunch. Mary Ann made sandwiches and packed some fruit. This information would become crucial later on. When they were all set around 8.30am, Christine, Mary Ann, Mary Ann's younger brothers Peter, Wolfgang and Norbert and her younger sister Trixie made the walk to West Ride train station. Peter was aged 10, Wolfgang's 7, Norbert 5 and her sister Trixie was 9. Her brothers Helmut Jr and Hans elected to stay at home and complete some household chores. They called the train from West Ride to Redfern and at Redfern they would have to change trains to go to Cranulla. It was on this first part of the journey between West Ride and Redfern that a 15 year old male, only described as being tall,

struck up a conversation with Mary Ann and Christine. It's unknown what they talked about but when they arrived at Redfern station and had to change trains, the boy who struck up that conversation remained on the train, you didn't follow them. They didn't talk to anyone else on the journey. They finally arrived at Cranulla Beach around 11am and when they arrived they were met by the news that Cranulla Beach was closed due to dangerous seas and strong winds. If only they had turned around and gone home, but they didn't. They headed to the southern end of Cranulla Beach hanging out around the rocks and Wolfgang kept pestering Mary Ann that he wanted to go for a swim. Finally she gave in and took him to a shallow, more secluded spot for a quick dip.

They then rejoined the others and they ate lunch at the rocks. At some time while they were around the rocks, Wolfgang saw Mary Ann and Christine talking to a boy. He was described as being 16 years old, made him build long, fair hair and he was hunting for crabs at the time with a homemade spear. Wolfgang couldn't hear what they were talking about. Shortly after they ate lunch, Mary Ann suggested going for a walk up to the sandhills at Wanda. The others agreed, so they left their belongings at the rocks and all walked north, beginning their 2km journey to the sandhills. But as they got to Wanda Beach, the walk had become too much for the younger children. The wind was howling, it was whipping up the sand, stinging their legs, so Wolfgang found a spot that was sheltered from the wind.

Mary Ann and Christine told the younger kids to stay put and they would go back south to grab their belongings from the rocks so they could organise to start heading home. They mentioned they'd be about 20 minutes. But clearly Mary Ann and Christine had no intention of going home just yet. Instead of walking south back to where their gear was, they continued north to the sandhills. Peter yelled out, you're going the wrong way. The girls just looked back and laughed and kept walking into the sandhills. It's the last time Norbert, Peter and Trixie ever saw Christine and Mary Ann alive. After about 10 minutes, Peter sent Wolfgang to look for the girls.

Wolfgang walked to the sandhills and it's here that he sees Mary Ann and Christine talking to a boy. He describes this boy as being a big boy aged 16, long, fair hair, had white cream on his nose, carrying a blue towel, wearing light grey trousers. He didn't have a shirt on and he was quite suntanned, so basically he described him as a surfy looking type boy. Wolfgang says that the surfy boy looked angry and he was asking the girls their names. He decided against following them any further and the girls disappeared with the male into the sandhills. About 10 minutes later, Wolfgang saw the surfy team walking back out of the sandhills. He was alone. There was no sight of the girls. He now had the blue towel tied around his neck. Wolfgang actually asked the surfy, where are the girls?

But he didn't answer and he just walked straight past him. The Peter, Trixie or Norbert ever report seeing this surfy team. Wolfgang's story of this encounter is subject of much debate. It actually changed a few times and sort of evolved over several interviews. He kept adding vital pieces of information as time went on. Now there could be many reasons why this happened, but it was a source of frustration for detectives at the time. And as such, Wolfgang's version has been treated with a little bit of skepticism. We can only speculate why the girls walked into the sandhills that day.

That they were obviously determined to go there. Christine had mentioned that to her grandmother that morning and her grandmother told her not to go. It was a two kilometre walk with young children inhaling wind, poor weather conditions. It makes that two kilometres that much more longer. And not only that, the actual sandhills themselves stretched for kilometres further past that point. This convinced many people that they had planned to meet someone at the sandhills that day. Certainly that was the initial police theory that they went with in the early stages of the investigation. One factor though is that Christine and Marianne had originally planned to go to the beach that day before.

If you remember, they cancelled due to poor weather and their plans had changed and they were now there on Monday. If they were planning to meet someone pre-arranged, it wasn't as easy to reschedule back then as it is today with mobile phones and social media. So if they were in fact planning to meet someone in those sandhills that day, it's far more likely that they met that someone that day, Monday the 11th of January. After Wolfgang lost sight of Christine and Marianne, a witness, Dennis Duster, described seeing the girls hurried through the sandhills. Dennis is actually the last-named person to see the girls alive. He says Christine and Marianne were walking fast. They appeared to be in a hurry. They were about 800 metres away from where their bodies were found at the dawn.

One of the girls was constantly looking over her shoulder. As if someone was following them, Dennis had a bit of a look but he couldn't see anyone. It didn't seem suspicious so we didn't think too much more of it. While Marianne and Christine were gone, Wolfgang, Norbert, Peter and Trixie continued to wait. After a while, Peter, Trixie and Wolfgang had another look around for the girls. They couldn't find them. There was no trace of them. At no stage did Wolfgang make mention of the surfy team. After a few hours of waiting, they became aware time was slipping away.

The last train out of Canella was at 6pm and they had to get there. So they made the journey back down to the southern end of Canella Beach. They found their belongings where they had left them on the rocks. They were untouched. They made the last train out of Canella in the right time at about 8pm. Home of Junior and Christine's grandparents were made aware of Christine and Marianne's disappearance and the police were called. No major alarm bells went off for the place who attended the taking missing persons report.

They arrived just before midnight. Two 15-year-old girls are best of friends. They were out for a date at the beach. They walked off under no duress or threat. They were happy. They were laughing. The usual questions would have been asked. Have they done this before? Is there anywhere you think they might be?

Could they be at a friend's place? Do they have boyfriends? Of some concern, though, for police, was that they had a character for them. They had happy home lives. They were well-behaved. They'd never run off before. So they're not the types just to sort of go missing without letting anyone know where they were

and especially to leave four young children at the beach alone. The report was broadcast to all police stations in the Sydney area. Of course, the police around Canella and the surrounding patrols would have been paying much more attention than the others. Just imagine how different it was back then in 1965. There was no mobile phones to track. No social media accounts to check. No instant media releases.

I could go viral and keep the public on the lookout. There was none of that. But even if all that modern technology was in existence, it would have been too late. Christine and Mary Ann were already dead. About 2.30pm on the 12th of January, 1965, Peter Smith, 18, and his wife, Mary Ann in 1965, Peter Smith, aged 17,

was walking through the sand hills with his two younger nephews. He saw what he initially thought was a stallmanican lying in the sand. He went in and had a closer look. And it was there that the grim reality of what he had found became clear. Phil would shock, horror, panic. Peter ran to one of the surf clubs. It was about 1,500 metres away to the south.

He notified the caretaker, Barry Yezzy, that he'd found the dead body of a young girl who had to use a phone, so he could call police. Police arrived. They met Peter at Wonder Sove Club, and then he led them up to the burial site. On close inspection of the scene, it was noticed by a police officer

that there were three feet sticking out from under the sand, not two. And the already horrific discovery became that much more horrific when it was discovered that there were two bodies, not one. Now, they weren't really buried as such. It was just sort of covered with sand and not that day, the wind overnight had blown the sand off. Local Cronella detectives soon notified the criminal investigation branch and more specialist detectives made their way to Wonder,

including the initial officer in charge of the case, Detective Inspector Haynes. The director of forensic medicine, Dr. Lane, and his assistant, Dr. Brighton, also attended. They thoroughly examined the crime scene and portable lighting had to be brought in to continue their work into the night. It didn't take long for police to link the gruesome discovery

to the missing person report of Christine and Mary Ann. And not long after this, a positive identification was made. The crime scene itself was two sandhills back from where they started on the beach side, 150 metres from the water's edge, and about 1,500 metres north of Wonder Sove Club. Despite not being at the beach that day, Smith visited the same later on, and he had this to say about it.

The place the girls were killed was very isolated, even though it was only two dunes back from the beach. It was so quiet I couldn't even hear the waves crashing. You could scream your head off and no one would hear a thing. No one could have heard the girl screaming for help. Blood and signs of a struggle were located 32 metres away from where the bodies lay, and there was a drag mark going all the way from this side

back to where Christine and Mary Ann were. An examination of the scene led Detective Inspector Haynes to say this. It looks as though the Schmidt girl was knocked down and then stabbed. Christine was killed about 20 yards away, and her body was then dragged back to where the Schmidt girl lay. It's believed Christine witnessed Mary Ann being attacked and then ran off, only to be caught a short distance away. At intervals of about every three metres along the drag marks,

there were much heavier concentrations of blood. These heavier concentrations were consistent with the person who was dragging the body stopping for arrest. Christine was slim, described as a petite girl, so the implication here was clear. Whoever was dragging her may not have been that physically strong. Detectives also located car tracks about 30 metres west from where Christine was attacked,

showing the killer could have fled the scene in a vehicle, although it's not known if these tracks were related. The killer could have also easily escaped over the back of the scene and he was towards Captain Cook Drive, where he could have disappeared without ever being back on the main beach area. The post-mortem of the girls was conducted by the director of forensic medicine Dr. Lane at the City Morgue. Both Christine and Mary Ann were savagely attacked.

It was one of the most horrific crimes, if not the most horrific crime Australia had ever seen. The attack was so savage that the full details were never released to the public. Christine's official cause of death was hemorrhage as a result of penetrating wounds to the chest associated with the fracture of the skull and injury to the brain. Mary Ann's official cause of death was from hemorrhage as a result of a cut throat and penetrating wounds to the chest.

There were also clear signs both girls had been sexually assaulted. Christine's pants had been removed and Mary Ann's swimming costume had been cut and rolled up, exposing the lower half of the body. A semen sample was also found. The time of death was estimated to be between 2pm and midnight on Monday, the 11th of January. The exact time was difficult to pinpoint exactly as they'd been covered by hot sand.

It was discovered that Christine had undigested cabbage and celery in her stomach, which she would have had to have eaten within one hour of her death. This immediately stood out as the girls had only taken sandwiches of fruit to the beach and cabbage and celery weren't on the sandwiches. As well as this, it was revealed that Christine had a bloody alcohol reading of 0.015, which would have been enough to have had a myriad beer or a nip of spirits just prior to her death. Although it also could have been the result of her consuming several drinks in the hours leading up to her death, it was impossible to know which.

Christine was not known to ever drink. Her family stated that she never touched the alcohol. Her mother said that she couldn't even stand the smell of it. They were horrified. Loud alarm bells were going off here. The food found in Christine's stomach was different to what they had brought to the beach, and they certainly didn't take any alcohol with them. The food in Christine's stomach was consumed within one hour of her death,

meaning it's likely that Christine shared food and alcohol with the killer. As a result of the post-mortem, police were of the belief that they were looking for a fishing knife. They were also looking for a heavy blunt instrument that was used to inflict the injuries on Christine, such as a rock, a lump of wood, or a piece of metal pipe. Wolfgang pediatrics in Norbert were questioned extensively. On the 13th of January, they were taken back to the sandals by police to retrace their steps and to try and get them to recall as much information as they possibly could. It's here that detectives first learned that Wolfgang saw a surfy team talking to Christine and Mary,

and just before they disappeared into the sandals. Now, remember Wolfgang kept changing his story as the weeks went on and kept adding in vital clues. Well, he later revealed that the surfy team he had seen with Christine and Mary Ann was in actual fact the same boy hunting for crabs he had seen them talking to earlier in the day at the rocks at the southern end of the beach. About a month later, in another interview, he added that the surfy team had a knife in a pouch around his waist when he walked off with the girls, and when he walked back out of the sandals alone, that knife was missing.

Why his story changed numerous times is anyone's guess, but it's not at all surprising that his memory was a bit muddled up. Remember, his father had just died, his mother had just had a serious operation and was in hospital, his sister had just been brutally murdered, and he was right there. The amount of stress, trauma, fear, grief, guilt, any other number of emotions that you could think of that seven-year-old Wolfgang would have been experiencing is something that most people wouldn't even be able to begin to imagine. He was most likely in severe shock.

There's no such thing as grief-canceling back then. It was a much different time. People just expected to suck it up and get on with it. So is it any wonder that his memory was a bit muddled up? But the surfy team information from Wolfgang was the first breakthrough for detectives, and the hunt for the team's surfy suspect began. Every media report, whether on TV, radio or in print, was dominated with reports of the team's surfy suspect seeing with the girls just prior to their death.

Now, the problem with that description is that it matched just about every teenager in the Cranullo area, and not only the Cranullo area, but a lot of areas. So it didn't narrow down the search any more than saying police were looking for a teenager would have. Police were quick to try and make the point that they didn't necessarily believe the team's surfy suspect was the killer. The fear being that people who were at the beach that day who might have saw something that didn't fit with the team's surfy scenario wouldn't come forward. It didn't take long for police to be swamped with calls and information about the team's surfy.

They received hundreds of calls a day. It was even revealed that a team matching that description was kicked off on the beach only a few days before the killings for harassing young girls. The media re-enrolled, and Police Commissioner Norman Allen made a public appeal for that surfy team to come forward. The hunt for the surfy team was in full swing, leading to the media reporting that four suspects had been detained and were being questioned, one as far away as Queensland. The truth was that they were never really suspects at all, and the teenagers had just been arrested on other minor charges.

The fact that they may have looked like surfies was enough for the media to label them suspects. It was basically the media was just trying to get one up on each other for the latest scoop, the breaking story. A mammoth search of the crime scene and surrounding one of the CN Hills area commenced. Police were sent from all over Sydney to help, and even police trainees were sent in to help. The search wasn't easy. Remember the CN Hills were described as Sydney's filthiest beach slitted with all sorts of discarded rubbish. This hampered the search for clues greatly. Several items were located, including shoes and even some knives,

but they were quickly ruled out as having anything to do with the murders. By Thursday, police had secured a front-end loader from subtle and shy councils so they could dig up the sand, which they then put through a makeshift sift. Army experts with metal and mine detectors were even sent in to help search. Police ended up digging 500 tonnes of sand and found very little to assist their investigation. The only piece of physical evidence that was ever located was a broken piece of knife blade. It was about one inch long and had a clear cutting edge. It was thought to be from a kitchen knife.

The piece of knife tested positive for blood, however there was an insufficient amount to conduct any further testing at the time. Dr Langwood later testified at the inquest that the stab wounds would have been difficult to inflict with this particular piece of broken blade, although he did say that some cut marks on Christine could have been made with a knife that had a portion of blade missing. It was unclear if this piece of blade was in fact part of the murder weapon which had been broken off, such was the savage nature of the attacks or if it was completely unrelated. It was 1965. DNA forensic evidence wasn't a known thing until 1986, 21 years after the Wonder Beach murders. On the 15th of January, Elizabeth Schmidt broke her silence. She was still in hospital recovering from her operation. Doctors had let her live for a short time to comfort her children when the news broke of Mary Ann's death, however she was now back.

She said, My daughter and the other young girl have gone into eternal life. They have met their maker and have therefore entered a new phase of existence. Person responsible, the murderer, has his life ahead of him. How he faces this life is something I cannot answer, but his life would appear to be, spiritually speaking, poorer than anything else. He would always be hunted and haunted. The man responsible should meet his punishment and I think my husband would have felt the same way. He shouldn't be made responsible for his action. At this time, Commissioner Allen renewed his appeal for the surface team to come forward. In a press conference, he said, I renew my appeal to the youth described by Wolfgang Schmidt to come forward. He should not be influenced by published statements.

He could very well clear the air for us in your investigations. The published statements referred to, of course, being the media reports saying that surface team was the killer. The appeals from Commissioner Allen continued and just the next day he made yet another one. I renew my appeal to this youth to come forward and tell us what happened last Monday. Because he was seen coming away alone from the scene, it does not necessarily follow that he is the killer. He stressed that police are of the belief that he was quite possibly an innocent bystander at the wrong place at the wrong time, and it would not take long for police to clear him of suspicion if he would just come in and talk to them. The police really wanted to catch up with the surface team.

By this stage, police had commenced interviewing people who were at the beach on Monday, the 11th of January. Over 20 people who were there had been interviewed. More than 40 detectives had been assigned full-time for the case in what was one of the biggest manhunts Australia had ever seen. Reports were continuing to come in from people all over the state and even all over the country, of people matching the description of surface team that they were suspicious of or suspected had involvement. Police received thousands upon thousands of calls and they struggled to keep up with the sheer volume of information that was coming in. Many feel that a vital tip-off or a vital piece of information may have been lost amongst the thousands of calls that were received. Both Christine and Mary Ann had kept diaries and through those diaries, police learnt that on their visit to the beach on New Year's Day,

just a few days before their death, they had met two boys who they'd shared kisses with. On the 16th of January, police made a public appeal for those two boys to come forward and they did. They were only known as Ted and Jim. They were interviewed by police and confirmed that they had met Mary Ann and Christine at the beach on New Year's Day, however they had made no plans to meet again. Their alibis checked out and they were quickly ruled out of the investigation. On the 18th of January, the media re-emwiled that a teenager who had a pair of bloodstained trousers was being held by police. A pair of bloodstained trousers were found on Koji Beach and they were later identified as being the teenager who was being held.

Wolfgang was hurried to ram with police station where a line-up was conducted, but Wolfgang could not identify him as the surfy teen. And it turned out that this teenager who was being held had a simple explanation for the blood on his trousers and it was discovered he wasn't on the beach on the day of the murders. He was quickly released. Detectives were being flooded with not only tip-offs about surfy teen, but they were also being flooded with information about several other suspicious males who were seen at the beach on the day of the killings and the day leading up to them. A sketch artist was brought in to try and assist putting some names to the descriptions.

It was on the 18th of January that police made their first appeal to the public for the boy hunting crabs that day to come forward. Now, the description they released of the boy hunting crabs is pretty much identical to the surfy teen and remember Wolfgang would down to say that they were one in the same person. On the 20th of January separate funeral services were held for Marianne and Christine. The service for Marianne was held in the West Chapel of the Metropolitan Funeral Home at Burwood and she was then cremated at Brookwood Crematorium. The service for Christine was held at St. Michael's Catholic Church Meadow Bank and she was then buried at Liverpool Cemetery near her father.

Both services attracted hundreds of mourners. Detectives and police photographers also attended both services. They were working on the theory that the girls knew their killer and had arranged a meeting at the sandhills and they hoped that surfy teen may have been at the funerals. Just about every male in attendance was photographed for later reference. At the service of Marianne Schmidt, two teenage sisters were separated and interviewed separately by detectives. The father of these two sisters had just alerted police that they may have valuable information concerning the background of Marianne and Christine and they hadn't realised the value of the information had torn the up.

Of course detectives were on high alert and they swiftly interviewed the girls but unfortunately no light was thrown on the investigation. By this stage police had started to sort through some of the sheer volume of information that was coming through and there were two people who they were particularly interested in talking to early on. These people were seen by Dennis Dostone who, if you remember, was the last known person to have seen the girls alive. Along with seeing the girls walk through the hills that day, he also saw a number of other people. Two of particular interests to police were a tall, pale, 19-year-old male and an older male described to be between 40 and 50 years old with a stocky-building tan leathery skin.

Despite their best efforts, police were never able to identify these two males and they never came forward. Another witness, Francis Williams, 57 years old, was at the beach that day. He came forward and he described seeing Christine, Marianne and the younger children at about 1pm walking together north along the beach towards Wanda. They were about 100 metres north of Wanda Surf Club at the time. Francis thought that they looked to be in a hurry walking quite quickly. Along with the children, Francis also described seeing a number of other people in and around Wanda that day. They saw a male who was sunbathing in the sandhills and as Francis approached him,

he got up, shook sand off him and walked away towards Wanda Surf Club. He saw two young boys playing on the beach, two people fishing on the beach. A man who was sunbaking with what was described as a piece of corrugated iron over his head. Now the media ran wild and he became a suspect at the time too. It was assumed he was obviously a perverted using a corrugated iron to hide himself spying on girls or whatever. But remember it was a windy day. Poor weather. He might have just been blocking the sand out of his eyes. It was being blown in from the wind.

But he was of interest to police. There was also a woman who had become bogged behind the sandhills and she was assisted by Francis and another unknown male who drove off in a utility. So not only were they getting reports of suspicious people sighted around Wanda that day but they were getting reports of a lot of other people who were at the beach that day who not necessarily were suspicious but they were there. They may have seen something and these people weren't coming forward. They weren't making themselves known.

It was frustrating police. So they actually released details of these eight people that Francis saw to the media and the woman who became bogged in the sand actually came forward but she wasn't able to assist in the investigation. Unfortunately they never identified any of the seven other people. So many people were at the beach that day who never came forward. Remember what Wanda Sandhills was renowned for at this time but there's no suggestion that all those people were involved in that sort of behavior.

I mean there's two people fishing. There's two kids playing. It's unknown why so many people never came forward whether they're too scared to come forward or they didn't want to get involved. They thought they didn't see anything so it was a waste of time but you never know. Something that they saw that they may have thought was insignificant may have been vital. On the 22nd of January an interesting article was published in the Sydney Morning Herald. The article was only very small, buried back on page 10.

By now other news had started to sort of filter through to the front pages such as the health of Winston Churchill and the Rolling Stones' visit to Australia but it was here buried amongst other articles, a small headline read Wanda Victims Claim Lapses. The article details that Mary and Schmidt were struck by a car on the corner of Victoria Road and Brush Road at Ride on the 7th of May 1964. She suffered a fractured skull and spent nine days in hospital. As a result of that accident the family had submitted a compensation claim seeking 20,000 pounds.

Australia was still using the pound currency at the time. The relative sum of money of 20,000 pound back then in today's money would be somewhere around half a million dollars. Quite a significant sum of money. The claim was due to be heard later that year in 1965. However, as a result of her death the claim lapsed and it would not proceed any further. Police were starting to become frustrated by their inability to identify the Serpy team and their inability to identify a number of other people at the beach that day

and their lack of cooperation in coming forward to assist the investigation. On the 22nd of January a Commissioner Norman Allen made yet another appeal to the public. He said, I have on more than one occasion asked the public to assist in every way within their power with information which might help detectives engage on the case. I now make a further and equally sincere appeal. I do this because I am satisfied that there must be some persons in the community who would have some information that they have not brought to the notice of police.

It is not unreasonable to assume that someone somewhere in our community has seen or heard something which would be of great assistance in this matter. For example, since this crime a person may not have been seen at places he used to frequent or there may have been a change in pattern of his normal activity and behaviour. It is possible that to someone's knowledge he has said or done something which would give rise to a reasonable suspicion that he might have been in some way associated with the crime. That is the type of vital information we would like to get. On the 23rd of January a sketch was published in the papers of the Wanda Beach and San Jose area

showing the crime scene and the different locations where each of the seven people were thought to be that was sighted by Francis Williams who still hadn't come forward. That is the woman who was bogged in the sea and she actually came forward with the people fishing, the boys playing in the sea and etc. the male with the corrugated iron. This did generate a response from the public and it resulted in a number of other people coming forward who were there that day that didn't realise just how close to the crime scene they actually were. However, it didn't help in tracking down any of the seven people that Francis Williams sighted.

About this time a psychiatrist released a report revealing their thoughts on the killer. They believed that he lived in the local area and had intimate knowledge of the sandhills and could even be one of the perverts who frequented the Wanda sandhills. This information being released to the media obviously wouldn't have encouraged any of the people that were there who may have been engaging in that type of behaviour to come forward. I mean they would have thought that they were going to be held responsible for the crime. Psychiatrists went on to describe the killer as most likely being a loner who spent time at one of the sandhills spying on nude sunbathers and people having sex.

They felt that the killer committed the crimes on impulse rather than it being planned out and that he may have acted out on previous urges he'd been experiencing when he saw Marianne and Christine walking alone through the sandhills. The investigation continued but there were still no big breaks. It was hampered by the lack of physical evidence at the scene, the lack of witnesses, the inability to identify the people that were seen at the beach and the unwillingness of those people to come forward. To try and combat this on the 29th of January the New South Wales Premier Mr Jack Renshaw

announced a £10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction for the person responsible for the murders. The currency changed at dollars soon after this reward was announced and so the reward was changed to $20,000. The relative sum of money today would be about $250,000 so it was a significant reward. It was hoped that it would encourage people who were at the beach that day who either couldn't be bothered or who came from the groups of people who didn't want to be known by police to come forward.

That reward is still in existence today but incredibly it has never been increased it still stands at $20,000 so it might be time for that figure to come up. Two girls who were riding horses on the beach that day came forward and they reported to be yet another suspicious male. They said that about 400 metres away from the murder scene they saw a male walking around in the nude through the sandals. One of the girls yelled out to him, what are you doing? But he didn't answer, he just ignored them and kept walking,

he was carrying the clothes in his hand. So yet another person was added to the list of suspicious people at the beach that day and like the others he was never identified either and he obviously never came forward. On the 1st of February police thought they had what was their first major breakthrough in the case discovering an important piece of evidence or so they thought at the time. By this stage police are being placed permanently in the Wanda Sand Hills keeping watch. It was hoped that some of the people that had been seen at the beach on the day the murders that hadn't yet come forward would be sighted

or even hoped that the surfy team would show up again. Of course they weren't in uniform, they were dressed as sunbathers that are under cover if you will. Police officer on Sand Hill watch located a blue towel washed up on the shore. Of course the surfy team described why Wolfgang was carrying a blue towel So the towel was immediately set for scientific testing and it was hoped that this towel was the one belonged to surfy team described by Wolfgang but all it was was another frustrating dead end.

A 13 year old boy came forward when news broke of the towel in the media and he identified it as one that he had lost at the beach only a few days before. The large reward that was put up by the New South Wales Government was leading to all types of people calling in. The investigation started to become very frustrated by false leads, dead ends, hoax calls, false confessions, why I was ringing up about their husbands, all sorts of things. And by now anyone who resembled a surfy team had a phone call made to police about them.

And why no doubt most of the calls being made to police were well-intentioned the truth of the matter is it was hindering the investigation. Every lead, every call that came in had to be chased down, followed up. And that's where it's thought that vital information that was actually important to the case could be lost amongst the pile of useless information that was coming in. In April 1 and 9, two 15 year old girls were attacked near Caringbar train station it's only a short distance away from Cronulla. The girls were walking together near the train station

and a 15 year old male grabbed one of them. The girls immediately screamed and frightened the attacker off. The description was very similar to that of the surfy team provided by Wolfgang. So that certainly pushed the already frightened community further to the edge. But the fact that the community was so much on edge I mean this could have been totally unrelated to the one the case it could have been any random teenager just approaching two girls to say hello or whatever and grabbed one of them and they screamed and everyone's run off.

He didn't produce a knife or anything like that. The full details of the attack were never released. I'll tell you exactly what happened but no one was injured certainly. By April police had waded through the chief volume of information that had come in and it led to the release of six sketches who they considered suspects and that they really wanted to speak to. This included men making sexual advances and comments towards women making men seem walking through the sandhills

another man exposing himself to women a few months after the murders on the beach and of course the boy who had just attacked the two girls at Caringbar. Wolfgang wasn't able to help police with the sketch of the surfy team as it was just too agreeable everything the sketch artist said he would go along with so it was impossible to make a sketch. But of particular interest to police the other six men were two men who thought would most be valuable to the investigation that they really wanted to identify. The first came to be known as the Fat Man.

So he was described as a medium to plump build between 25 and 35 years old about five feet 11 inches tall slightly foreign in appearance. He was described as carrying an orange and white towel wearing grey trousers and a white shirt. He was carrying a radio and a newspaper at the time. What he did he approached several women on the base on the day of the murders and on the days leading up to the murders. He had pornographic magazines with him and he was making inappropriate comments

to women asking if they wanted to have a look through the magazine asking them how the sex was in Sydney. He mentioned that he was from South Australia. So police were very very keen to catch up with him but he along with so many others was never identified and he never came forward. Another man who was of particular interest to police was described as being 18 to 20 years old with a slim build light brown hair and he was wearing a long sleeve shirt tucked into a pair of foreign shorts

and he had missing teeth. He was also making inappropriate propositions to women asking to have sex with women offering them money things like that but again he was never identified either. So it's starting to get ridiculous now the amount of people that police wanted to speak to who they deemed to be suspicious who were at the beach on the day of the murders that were never identified and who never came forward.

You'd think that they would come forward given what happened the brutal nature of the crimes but no they're out there somewhere who knows if they're still alive but if they are now's the time. On the 29th of May a group of youth came forward stating that they'd found a pair of flippers and a homemade crab spear about a one kilometer away from where the girls were located. Now they found these only a few days after the murder

and so it's not clear why they waited until the 29th of May to come forward and hand it in or couldn't find that anywhere but regardless they made themselves known to police and the flippers and the spear were handed in. Wolfgang was re-interviewed but he was unable to identify the spear he couldn't remember if it's the same one that the boy who was crabbing on the rocks that Spake Damarian and Christine was using.

It was a promising lead but it didn't end up going anywhere. The investigation really started to stall and by the beginning of 1966 the amount of full-time detectives on the case had dropped from 40 down to 8. It was still being worked hard but they were just frustrated by the lack of ability to identify a number of people at the beach and the amount of useless information that was still coming in that they were wasting their time basically.

Police were still assigned to the Wonder Stan Hills to watch for anything suspicious but all that ended up in achieving was they arrested a number of people for sexual-related offences but it got them no closer to identifying the killer. On the 29th of January 1966 another brutal murder shocked the nation. 57-year-old Wilhelmina Kruger was found murdered

at the Piccadilly shopping arcade in Wollongong where she worked as a cleaner. Wollongong is in close proximity to Wanda but it's less than an hour's drive away. The murder was very horrific and it did bear similarities to the Wanda case that of a frenzied knife attack. There were no suspects, no witnesses, there was a lack of physical evidence,

no attempt was made to hide a body. It led many to believe the murder of Wilhelmina Kruger was committed by the person responsible for Wanda. And just weeks later on the 26th of February the body of Anna Dallancowa was found on Olgila Water Road, Menai, south-west of Sydney. Again in close proximity to both Wanda and Wollongong. She too had been the victim of a brutal frenzied knife attack

almost identical to the attack committed on Wilhelmina Kruger. Anna was working as an escort at the time and she was last seen on the 16th of February 66th leaving a club in Kings Cross. She mentioned to a few friends in the club that she was going to meet a client and she was never seen alive again. There was no witnesses, no suspects,

a lack of physical evidence, no attempt made to hide the body. In actual fact the killer returned to where Anna was dumped and dragged the body out from behind the bushes closer to the road so she would be found. Police are almost certain the murders of Anna Dallancowa and Wilhelmina Kruger were committed by the same person. It's never been proven that the Wanda case was linked to both those murders but many suspect that they are.

Just like the Wanda case, the murders of Wilhelmina Kruger and Anna Dallancowa remain unsolved. On the 20th of April 1966 a coroner's inquest into the Wanda case was held. The inquest was presided over by city coroner Mr Looms. The amount of detectives working the case full-time was now down to about six. The investigation logged total to over 5,000 pages

and over 7,000 people had been interviewed. A large amount of witnesses gave evidence of the inquest including the all-important Schmidt children. The inquest lasted three days concluding on the 22nd of April. Coroner Mr Looms was of the belief that there must be somebody who could shed light on the murders. He went on to say police had already conducted an exhaustive investigation although he still hoped

that it could be intensified if that was at all possible. There was no doubt what happened in his mind saying the cause of death is very evident. A vicious, brutal murder. After the inquest, police stated that they would be revisiting every page of the police file in hopes of uncovering a vital piece of information that may have been previously overlooked.

Unfortunately, they didn't uncover anything. Police still held the belief that somebody out there knew something about the case and that person was withholding information either because they were protecting someone who was close to them or they were in fear of that person they were protecting. Or they were too embarrassed or scared to come forward for whatever reason it was that they were at the sand hills that day.

The six sketches that police had released prior were made into full-size, life-like dummies which were displayed at the Sydney Easter Show in 1967. It was hoped that the large crowds that poured through the Easter Show every year would be able to put names to the faces, but no one could. On the 17th of March, 1967, another woman was attacked at Wonder Beach. 28-year-old Brenda Gowl on the sunbathing on the beach

with her three children when she was attacked by an unknown male person. A witness, Trevor Betts, rushed to her aid and the attack had fled. He was seen leaving in what was described as an old white vehicle. Both the descriptions of Brenda and Trevor fit the description of one of the six sketches that had just been turned into life-size dummies at the Easter Show.

Many were convinced that the Wonder Beach killer had just struck again. Despite an extensive investigation and search for the attacker, he was never identified. Over the years, there's been three names that have been thrown up in the media as suspects for the Wonder Beach case. There's no real evidence that's ever been released, linking any of them to the crime. It's all sort of circumstantial and maybe in what-ifs.

The first is Alan Bassett. On Monday, the 13th of June, 66, Alan Raymond Bassett from Yin and Dara just south of Wollongong was charged for the brutal murder of Carolyn May Orphan. They met each other at a dance on Friday night, the 10th of June, and Carolyn and Alan left together. Later that night, Alan tied Carolyn up, raped her and killed her and dumped her on the side of the road.

He was arrested a few days later and later convicted of murder. He's thought to be a prime suspect for not only the Wonder case, but the murders of Wilhelmina Kruger and Annette Dowling-Coher. One detective became that obsessed with Alan as being the killer that he even visited in when he was retired trying to get in to confess. Alan Bassett was born in England on the 3rd of May, 1945. By all reports, he seemed like a quiet and shy normal sort of guy.

He later told police in the courts when he was being tried for the murder of Carolyn May Orphan that he had no idea what came over him and he didn't mean to kill her. This despite the fact that she was tied up, strangled, hit over the head with a large rock. He asked to be found guilty of manslaughter. That was obviously rejected and he was found guilty of murder. He was given life in prison.

Now, this murder, no knife was used. So that is the glaring difference between the Wonder Beach murders and the murders of Mrs Kruger and Miss Dowling-Coher. However, it was still a very savage and vicious attack. The savagerness of that attack and the fact that Alan was from Wollongong, mainly down the road from the Pickett-Ely Centre in a short drive to Menor and Wonder, meant that he was obviously going to be looked at as a suspect.

Investigations by police revealed that they thought Alan Bassett was actually in Cronulla around the time of the Wonder Beach murders. The detective who became obsessed with Alan being responsible was Detective Cess Johnson. He became so obsessed with the theory that many thought that it was an unhealthy obsession. It was even eventually recommended that he resign from the force. After his conviction, Alan Bassett was diagnosed as a schizophrenic

and he ended up serving his time in a psychiatric hospital up near Newcastle. So in his retirement, Detective Johnson paid regular visits to Alan and was just basically trying to get him to converse, trying to talk to him about the unsolved murders. He was convinced that he had his man. During this time, Alan presented Detective Johnson with a gift. It's been described as a painting of a bush scene.

Detective Johnson at the time thought it was quite ugly and he didn't think too much of it and put it away for a few years. But after a while, he pulled it out and decided to get it framed and put it up. It was at this time he looked at the painting a little bit more closely and whether or not it was actually there or it was that obsessed, he was just wanted it to be there and started to say things. He became convinced that it was a confession to the four unsolved murders. He said the painting depicted a clue that only the murderer would know.

However, what this clue is, no one knows. It was never made public. Detective Johnson, he went to the press with his theory and it got widespread media coverage. He even started to write a book about it, but unfortunately he was killed in an accident just before the book was due to be released and it was never released. He convinced a well-known crime reporter at the time, Bill Jenkins,

that Alan was his man as well. Some in the police force agreed with him, a lot didn't. They thought he was sort of seeing things and his unhealthy obsession had just spiraled out of control. One person of significant importance that was convinced by Detective Johnson's theory is Alan Bassett's father. He actually went on public record to say that he believed Alan was responsible for the one of these murders and that he should never be released.

Despite those pleas from his father in 1995, Alan Bassett was released from custody and placed back into the community after serving 29 years in custody. He denied any involvement in any crime other than that of the murder of Carolyn Orphin for which he was convicted. In the year 2000, speculation still circled around Alan's involvement and he made a public offer to provide a DNA sample to clear him from the crime. It's unknown if police ever took him up on that

or if the advances in technology will one day be able to clear or convict Alan of the crime. There's another name that's thrown up as a prime suspect for the Wanda Beach murders and that's Christopher Wilder and in 1984, his death in the United States sparked the interest of the New South Wales police and actually caused them to re-examine the Wanda case to study any links that he may have had with Wanda. And the reason for that is because he was a serial killer. He was also known as the beauty queen killer. He just killed eight women suspected of killing more through the US

who was on the top 10 FBI most wanted when he was killed in a confrontation with police. And the reason New South Wales police were looking at him and any links to Wanda is because he was born in Sydney and that's where he was living at the time of Wanda. So he was born in 1945 and he had his first major run in with the law as a 17-year-old when he was charged for the gang rape of a woman at a Sydney beach. He pled down to a lesser charge and got off with probation and electric shock therapy. In 1968, he married and that lasted all of a week before his wife left him claiming sexual and physical abuse. In 1969, he lured a young 19-year-old nursing student into his car at Mearnley Beach

and convinced her to pose nude for a few photos. When that was done, he tried to force her to have sex with him and when she refused, he threatened a black male that bossed with the photos. She managed to get away and call police but she refused to testify against him. Later that year, he moved to the United States. His father was from the US and that's how he was able to move over there. He moved to Florida and it didn't take long for him to find some significant wealth over there due to booming construction in real estate industries.

In 1971, he had his first run in with the law over there. Court trying to entice women to pose for nude photographs, as he'd done before. The next year, he was actually arrested for trying to force a 16-year-old girl to have sex with him but he was acquitted of that charge. A few years after that, posing as a photographer, Walter lured a schoolgirl out of a shopping mall and he drugged her and raped her. He somehow managed to plea bargain that one down and again was given probation and therapy. In 1982, he came back to Australia to visit his parents

and on that visit, he abducted two 15-year-old girls, tied them up and forced them to pose for nude photographs. He was arrested the next day and his parents managed to post a large amount of bail for him. I think it was somewhere around $300,000. Incredibly, he was allowed to leave Australia into his trial so he could go back to the US for work. Not long after that, in 1984, while still awaiting trial back in Australia for the abduction charge, he commenced his murderous repage across nine different states of America. Kidnapping a dozen women, some were lucky enough to get away,

but he murdered eight and he's actually suspected in more than that. His MO was the pose as a photographer comment about how beautiful a girl was and entice her out with him, convincing her that he'd be able to get her into modelling. So it seems pretty obvious to many while Christopher Walter is a prime suspect for Wanda, he was 19 at the time living in Sydney and he turned out to be a serial killer. The one problem being his timeline of crimes doesn't seem to match up with Wanda. He started off with a string of sexual offences and trying to get girls posed nude before he committed his first known murder in 1984.

19 years after the Wanda case, but that is if his first murder was actually in 1984. Walter is suspected of being involved in the abduction and suspected murder of several women, both in the United States and Australia, well before 1984. Some remain convinced that Walter is the man for Wanda. Although he was slightly older than the surfy teen, Wolfgang described his ages still in the ballpark and the actual physical description itself would have matched Walter at the time. When he was killed it was in a confrontation with police, he'd just had a physical struggle with one officer who was wounded and then Walter was shot not long after that.

It's unknown if he was shot as a result of the struggle or if he turned the gun on himself, which most people suspect is what happened. New South Wales police requested a blood sample after his death and advances in technology may yet prove if he was or wasn't involved, but at the moment it's very much circumstantial with no real evidence at all. Now if you do some reading on the Wanda case, there is one name that appears in bright flashing lights as being the prime suspect. He's also been described as Australia's Hannibal Lecter, which tells you probably all you need to know about him.

He's considered by many to be not only the prime suspect in the Wanda case, but also a number of other unsolved child murders and child disappearances from the late 60s. That includes the disappearance of the three Beaumont children from Adelaide on the 26th of January 66, the murder of Alan Redstone on the 27th of September 66 in Canberra, the murder of Simon Brooke on the 18th of May 68 in Gleebe, Sydney, and the disappearance of Linda Still on the 10th of August 68 from St Kilda in Victoria. Now he's never been charged for any of these crimes, but he certainly has been questioned about them. He's never made any admissions, but at the same time he hasn't exactly denied involvement either.

So who is Derek Percy? He was born in Strathfield Sydney on the 15th of September 1948. In 1956, his family moved down to Victoria where they stayed in a few different places, and in 61 they moved to Mount Beauty in the northeast of Victoria. Derek was always known as a little bit different, a bit of a loner, a little hard to get to know. And in 1964 in the Mount Beauty area, women's underwear started to disappear off clotheslines and even from inside some of the houses. The whispers around town were that Derek was responsible, but it was never proven.

That is until later on that year, in the summer of 64, when two of his schoolmates made their way down to a popular local swimming hall. Along the way they saw something that was so twisted that no one believed their story. Everyone thought they were just making it up. That is until a few years later. What they saw was Derek walking around in a woman's petticoat. Derek didn't see them and they didn't call out. Instead they decided to hide and try and work out what the hell he was doing.

What they saw next was Derek pull out a knife and he started stabbing a pair of women's underpants that he had with him. Once he was done there, he defecated in the river and then walked off. The kids of course questioned Derek about it, but he denied it and the other kids and other people in the town didn't really believe the story. They knew Derek was a bit different, but that behaviour seemed to be quite a stretch. It was around this time that Derek started keeping journals outlining sexual references towards children. So this time the beginnings of an extremely dark, twisted path started for Derek. In 1966 they moved to Cancob in New South Wales, just north of the Victorian border.

Derek indecently assaulted two young girls while living here. They were two sisters and they lived next door to the Percy family. The youngest was six. Derek lured them into a caravan and got them to take their pants off. Percy was actually clawed out and for some reason the police weren't notified. Instead the girl's father left it to Derek's father to discipline him. Derek's diary entries continued to get darker and increasingly violent. One diary entry made specific mention of a plan to kidnap two girls and take them to a secluded place.

He joined the Navy on the 25th of November 1967 and it was while he was in the Navy he was arrested for the horrific murder of 12-year-old Yvonne Tooie. Yvonne and her friend Shane, who was aged 11, decided to go for a walk and during this walk they got separated. Derek pounced on Yvonne. He pulled out a knife and hurled her by knife point. Shane made his way back and discovered what was going on. He produced a tomahawk that he was carrying to chop firewood and he managed to escape. And it was his description of Derek and Derek's vehicle that he seemed to drive off in

that was crucial and allowed police to arrest Derek only a few hours after the abduction. He was arrested at nearby Flinders Naval Depot where he was based at the time listening to a radio report of Yvonne's disappearance, trying to wash her blood out of his clothes. Unfortunately when they caught up with Derek Yvonne was already dead. In search of his belongings revealed sickening journal entries and drawings depicting the rape, torture and murder of children. He even had an entry detailing his desire to kidnap a young boy and girl just as he had done or tried to do with Shane a few hours before.

The murder was one of the worst that detectives had seen, if not the worst, and the facts are too horrible to go about in detail. But in short Yvonne was strangled, mutilated and sexually assaulted. Derek stood trial on the 2nd of April 1970 at the Melbourne Supreme Court. After a six day trial he was found not guilty by reasons of insanity. But he was ordered to be kept in custody at the Governor's Leisure, which means indefinitely. Unfortunately that's where he remained until he died in 2013. Despite being suspected of many other crimes, the murder of Yvonne Toohey is the crime,

the only crime that he was ever charged with. During his incarceration many more drawings, diaries and she's were found outlining his sick fantasies. One rape, torture and murder journal was so organised that he even had an index for it. Names weren't even invented yet for the type of sickness and depravity that was Derek Percy. He has since been described as a sadistic pedophile with a morbid and sexual attraction to fecal matter with killing being the ultimate sexual act for him. Sounds like a good suspect for the Wonder Beach murders. But to sum it up quickly, I think it's likely Derek Percy was responsible for some of the crimes he suspected of,

but not involved in others. The main question for the day is though, was Derek Percy involved in the Wonder Beach murders? There's no clear cut answer. The answer is maybe. There's no clear evidence linking him to Wonder. It's all very much circumstantial. And some of those circumstances that people rely on are the fact that the Percy family had a keen interest in sailing. In actual fact in January 1965 at the time of Wonder,

the national moth class regatta was being held at Botany Bay Yacht Club, which is not too far away from Wonder at all. And this is the very class of sailing that the Percy's were interested in. It's suspected that it's never been able to be proven that the Percy family were in Sydney for that regatta. Now Derek would have been 16 at the time. And on top of that, if they were in Sydney, they likely would have been staying at Derek's grandmother's place in Dennystone, which is the neighbouring suburb to West Ride. Meaning to get to the beach on train,

he would have been travelling the exact same train line as Marianne and Christine. Now remember, Marianne and Christine were approached by a teenage male on the train between Ride and Redfern. And many suspect that that was Derek, although there's not much to go on other than that it was a teenage boy. And that he was probably on the same train line if he was maybe in Sydney, maybe staying at his grandmother's house. You see, it's nothing concrete. Also, Derek doesn't match the surfy teen description that Wolfgang provided,

but some claim that he was a dead ringer for one of the six sketches that was released later on by police and turned into life-sized dummies. It was also revealed that years later, when several of Derek's journals were found, he had a newspaper article about the Wonder Beach murders with them seeing comments written on it. Now, that's been taken way out of context. The article was actually a Playboy article titled Wicked Wonder, and it had nothing to do with the Wonder Beach murders. So there's no direct evidence linking Percy to the crime. Some believe he's guilty, some believe he isn't.

But if he was involved, he took his secret to the grave. Detectives visited him on his deathbed several times, I think trying to question him about not only Wonder, but the other murders, but he gave nothing away. Maybe advancement in DNA technology will be able to prove if Percy is in fact the Wonder Beach killer. In 2012, there was a major breakthrough in the investigation, and that was due to DNA technology. A police retested the clothing worn by Christina Marianne and they were in luck. They found a small spot of blood, and that blood belongs to a male. Unfortunately, the profile is too weak that they can't test any further.

But it's hoped that with further advances in technology that one day, and some say that could be within five years, that it is hoped a full DNA profile will be obtained from that blood spot, and the one the case will finally be solved. As for the semen sample they found back at the time of the murders, the problem was it was 1965 and no one had heard of DNA testing it wasn't heard of for many years after. Police wouldn't have been able to imagine what was possible with today's technology, and unfortunately this may have led to less than ideal evidence handling,

because at some point over the last 51 years, that semen sample has been lost. It's unknown what the status of the broken piece of knife blade was that they found back at the crime scene. They couldn't test it any further back then, but with advances in DNA technology, maybe they can today, but like the semen sample that may have been lost too. So was Alan Bassett, Chris Wilder, Rod Derrick Percy responsible for the Wonder Beach murders, or is someone else responsible? Maybe his name has already been given to police, and it's buried somewhere amongst those thousands upon thousands of pages upon pages of,

that is the police file. Maybe a vital piece of evidence or information was lost in the thousands of phone calls that police received. Maybe it's someone completely unknown who's managed to avoid detection all these years, maybe it was two people. Is there someone still out there who was up on the beach that day in the sandhills, who saw something, who's too scared to come forward? Even to today, police think that there is.

Certainly there's been a number of people described who are at the beach that day who were never identified and who never came forward. It was a different time back then, homosexuality was still illegal. It was actually considered to be a psychiatric disorder back then. So society clearly held a very dim view of it. Just as a dim view would have been held of the nudists and, you know, some of the other unscrupulous characters that might have been in the sandhills that day. But times have changed, and we can only hope that if someone did see or hear something

that they are still alive and they may still yet come forward. Although that's probably a very dim hope at this point in time. For those people, what they saw or heard, they might even think that it was insignificant and wouldn't help in the investigation. So there's no use coming forward and risking exposure. But it could be the vital piece of missing information that's needed to solve the case and bring closure to the families of Christine and Marianne. The case is still as frightening today as it would have been back then

and affected a great deal of people. Obviously the families, that goes without saying, but even the detectives, the police that were close to the investigation, it really affected a lot of them. Now, a lot of people close to the case have passed on no longer with us, but the case still remains unsolved. And let's just hope that it's solved one day, whether it be a DNA breakthrough or some vital piece of information

that comes forward or something, until then, may Marianne and Christine rest in peace. you