A fresh insight in to one of South Australia’s most baffling missing person cases, but are they any closer to finding the killer?
Feature image credit: Simon & Schuster
If you are an adult living in Australia, you’d have to be living under a rock to not have heard of the Beaumont Children. It is arguably South Australia’s most famous missing persons case: Three siblings, Jane, Arnna, and Grant Beaumont went missing from Glenelg beach on Australia Day in 1966. It was a day that changed South Australia forever; not only were the children taken, but so was a sense of safety, community, and a carefree childhood.
Any true crime fan has probably read or watched something to do with the Beaumont Children over the years. Unmasking the Killer of the Missing Beaumont Children revisits what we already know about the highly publicised case but there are some new details from previous victims and family members that give further insight to the mind, actions, and danger of one of the persons of interest that this book focuses on. The book is written by Bill Hayes, a former SA Major Crime Squad detective turned private investigator, and Stuart Mullins, who grew up locally and has personal connections to the case.
It is clear that the books’ authors are very passionate about this case and have put in years of work, following up leads, conducting interviews, and going back over evidence to try and solve this case, more so than the police, it seems. While the book is quite interesting, what really let it down for me was constant repetition. The book needed to be better edited, and perhaps even written in a more succinct style; it easily could have been cut down by 100 pages. It actually made it really hard for me to want to continue reading as I grew bored of reading the same information again and again.
The book is very much written with the belief that one particular person of interest killed the Beaumont Children, and while there is strong circumstantial evidence to support that theory in this book, and in other publications about the case, it was never proven before that individual passed away. It seems that many secrets were taken to the grave.
While it would be nice to finally have some closure to this case and to know where their bodies are buried so they could be properly farewelled, I fear it is all too late, as their parents Nancy and Jim Beaumont have now both passed away, never knowing what fate came to their precious children.
However, the names and faces of Jane, Arnna, and Grant Beaumont are forever etched in our minds and their memory will live on.
Reviewed by Karlie Naulty
The views expressed in this review belong to the author and not Glam Adelaide, its affiliates, or employees.
Distributed by: Simon & Schuster Australia
Released: July 2025
RRP: $36.99
More News
