CHERYL GRIMMER MYSTERY: ‘I'll never stop searching for my sister'

Even after 52 years, the Grimmer family are hopeful a new podcast will help uncover the truth about her disappearance

- Emma Levett

In November last year, people around the world breathed a collective sigh of relief when four-year-old Cleo Smith was found after being snatched from her family’s tent at a campsite in Western Australia. It was widely described as a miracle and ended an 18-day nightmare for her mother and stepfather.

But not all missing children cases end so well, and shockingly there are still many families out there waiting and hoping for information on a stolen child. The Grimmers are one such family.

Three-year-old Cheryl Grimmer disappeared on January 12, 1970, and despite a 52-year hunt for answers, they have received none.

Cheryl, a bubbly blonde toddler, had spent the day at Fairy Meadow Beach in Wollongong, NSW, with her parents Vince and Carol, and her three older brothers, Ricki, Stephen and Paul.

The family had recently emigrated to Australia from the UK in search of a better life, but horrendously all their lives were to be completely shattered that day.

FINAL MEMORY

Talking on a new podcast, Fairy Meadow, Cheryl’s brother Ricki Nash, who was seven at the time, remembers the last time he saw his little sister giggling at the door of the changing room. His mother had sent the children to get dressed while she cleared up at the beach.