Criminal Files: The Wanda Beach Murders - Beaumont Children Mystery

The Wanda Beach Murders, sometimes referred to simply as Wanda, refers to the case of the unsolved murders of Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock at Wanda Beach near Sydney on 11 January 1965. Their partially buried bodies were discovered the next day. The victims, both aged 15, were best friends and neighbours. The brutal nature of the slayings and the fact that the twin killings occurred on a deserted, windswept beach brought publicity to the case. It remains one of the most infamous unsolved Australian murder cases of the 1960s. Marianne Schmidt had arrived in Melbourne from West Germany with her family in September 1958. At the time, the Schmidt family consisted of parents Helmut and Elisabeth and Marianne's siblings, Helmut Jr., Hans, Peter, Trixie and Wolfgang. Another child, Norbert, was born in Australia the following year. After arriving in Australia, the Schmidts lived in a migrant hostel in Unanderra before settling in Temora. In 1963, Helmut Schmidt moved the family to Sydney after contracting Hodgkin's disease and they found a home in the suburb of West Ryde. In June the next year, Helmut Schmidt died. Christine Sharrock lived with her grandparents Jim and Jeanette Taig. Her father died in 1953 and her mother Beryl remarried and was living in the north-western Sydney suburb of Seven Hills. Christine moved in with her grandparents by choice and when the Schmidts arrived next-door, she developed a strong friendship with Marianne, who was the same age. It has never been revealed as to why Christine decided it was best for her to live with her grandparents and not her mother and stepfather. On 1 January 1965, Christine and Marianne visited the beach at Cronulla, which had been a popular picnic spot for the Schmidts. The following day, the Schmidt children visited the beach there again without Christine. Elisabeth Schmidt had meanwhile been admitted to a hospital for a major operation, leaving Helmut Jr and Marianne in charge of the household.[4] On 9 January, Marianne and Christine asked Elisabeth if they could take the younger children to Cronulla the next day and were given permission; however, rain prevented the trip. On Monday 11 January, accompanied by Marianne's youngest four siblings, the girls again set off for Cronulla. They arrived at about 11am, but it was very windy and the beach was closed. The group therefore walked down to the southern end of the beach and sheltered among the rocks. Eight-year-old Wolfgang Schmidt still wanted to swim, so Marianne went with him to a shallow part of the surf away from the rocks. After they returned to the group, they had a picnic. At some point during this time, Christine left the others and went off by herself. There is no evidence of her whereabouts during this period, but after her death, it was discovered she had consumed alcohol and some food that was different from the rest of the party; it is suspected this occurred while she was alone. It was also during this time that Wolfgang noticed a boy hunting crabs. Later, he claimed to have seen the same boy twice more, once in the company of his sister and Christine and again sometime much later walking alone. There has been doubt about his description of this person, as Wolfgang variously suggested he had a homemade speargun, a knife, or both.
When Christine returned to the group, it was decided to take a walk into the sandhills behind Wanda Beach. Around 1 pm, the group had reached a point around 400 metres beyond the Wanda Surf Club, and they stopped to shelter behind a sandhill as the younger children were complaining about the conditions. Marianne told her younger siblings that she and Christine would return to the rocky area at the south end of the beach where they had hidden their bags, then return to fetch the children and head home. Instead, however, the girls continued into the sandhills. When Peter Schmidt told them they were going the wrong way, they laughed at him and walked on.
The Schmidt children remained waiting behind the sandhill until 5 pm. They returned to collect their bags and then went home. The girls were reported missing at 8:30 pm. The last official sighting of Marianne and Christine was by local fireman Dennis Dostine, who was walking in the area with his son and saw the girls walking about 800 yards north of the surf club. He told police that they seemed to be hurrying, and one of the girls was looking behind her as if she were being followed. Dostine did not see anybody else. On Tuesday, 12 January, Peter Smith was taking his three young nephews for a walk through the Wanda Beach sandhills. Some distance north of the surf club, he discovered what appeared to be a department store mannequin buried in the sand. He brushed away sand from the hand and realized that it was a body. The police were called from the surf club. At this point Smith believed he had found only one young woman.