Unsolved Girls that went missing from Adelaide Oval 1973

anquer

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I wonder what happened to the reading glasses that spilled out of the abductors pocket, it was said to be picked up by the lolly seller.
Moving towards bonython park, you would imagine the abductor had accomodation in that direction. And not taken his car/van on the day, possibly indicating the abduction was not premeditated. other sighting suggest they were moving toward the zoo, but they were logged a few years later and may not be reliable.
August 25, 1973 was a Saturday and VFA was only played on Sundays back then.
Also, no broad Scottish accent mentioned by the lolly seller who heard the abductor speak briefly.
 
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Bits

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The Adelaide Oval game was SANFL.
The VFA game was on their TV according to the witness.
 

johnymac1

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This is the direction they could have headed, after their last sighting in Bonython Park.
I do have a very weak theory who took them.
 

Angus Young

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https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news...-/news-story/2a4aec7cb560f4b2fdd81206a1b04020

Man claims he saw Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon loaded into van at a boarding house after their disappearance from Adelaide Oval
DETECTIVES are investigating claims that Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon were loaded into a van at a Prospect boarding house soon after disappearing from Adelaide Oval 40 years ago.


CRAIG COOK
August 31, 2013 - 10:01PM
Sunday Mail (SA)

View attachment 1005865

MAJOR Crimes detectives are investigating claims that Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon were loaded into the back of a van at a Prospect boarding house soon after disappearing from Adelaide Oval 40 years ago.

Prospect man Robert McMahon, 73, approached the Sunday Mail during the week claiming he saw the girls at a Vine St boarding house on the day they were supposedly abducted from the 1973 SANFL match between Norwood and North Adelaide.

He said the girls were accompanied by a man known as 'Scotty' with whom he shared the boarding house.

He said Scotty, who claimed the girls were his grandchildren, paraded the pair in front of his housemates before taking them outside and ordering them into a cream-white van parked in a laneway at the back of the boarding house.

Mr McMahon said he was so disturbed by the incident he drew pictures that night of what he claims he saw and wrote a letter detailing what happened at the property on August 25, 1973.

The artist said he kept the sketches and letter in a box before later placing them in a sealed envelope.

He opened the envelope in front of the Sunday Mail this week and produced sketches that appear to be accurate portrayals of Joanne, 11, and Kirste, 4.

There are also drawings of Scotty and a cream white van along with two scribbled notes.

Major Crime detectives collected the documents on Friday and intend to interview Mr McMahon this week.

Mr McMahon claims that late on the afternoon of August 25, 1973 he was sitting in his room watching a VFA football match on TV when he "heard a racket" out the back of the house.

"I went to check and there was one of the borders coming in and he had two children with him," he said.

"He had the little one under his right arm and the other one was ahead of him.

"He walked them around in a circle in front of us (four or five men) laughing and joking.

"He said the kids were his grandchildren but when the older one went to speak he told her to 'shut up' and not say anything.

"I can still see the taller girl now as she walked passed me."

"It was all very weird,"

Mr McMahon, who was 33 at the time of the girls' disappearance, went to the kitchen area of the boarding house where he said he watched the man drag the small girl to the back of his van that was parked in a laneway.

"He threw the little one in roughly and motioned to the bigger one to jump in," he said. "He slammed the back door and then locked it.

"It's not the way you treat your grandchildren."

Mr McMahon said he was so concerned he returned to his room and did sketches of the girls, Scotty and the van.

He said he rang police the next day when news broke of the possible abductions.

"When I saw the photos I knew for sure it was those girls that I'd seen." he said.

"But the police said they had hundreds of sightings and would get back to me."

He claimed they never did. He said he rang police a week later and then again around the first anniversary of the abductions with the same result. He said he didn't pursue it further out of frustration.

But he contacted the Sunday Mail this week after reading a story published in the paper last weekend, marking the 40th anniversary of the girls' mysterious disappearance.

Mr McMahon said Scotty - he never knew his real name - did not return to the boarding house and he never saw him again.

He described Scotty as being in his early 40s, with a broad Scottish accent. He said he was about 165cm, had grey receding hair and limped on his right side.

Former Adelaide Oval assistant curator Ken Wohling reportedly saw the back of a man walking with the two girls and noticed he had a 'stoop'.

Mr McMahon, raised in a Catholic orphanage in Geelong, said he was fully aware of the pain and distress his story could cause if he was lying.

"I will tell the same story on my death bed and if I ever get to face my God," he said.

"I have a bit of guilt that I didn't try even harder at the time to get it out but we all have things we have to live with and I did try."

If he did ring the cops twice and they didn't follow it up...wow just wow
 

anquer

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I am happy to be wrong but I dont think we in SA had VFA shown on our tv in the 70s
VFL was on ABC television broadcast in NSW when South Melbourne were in the competition. Dedicated program briefly had round and match-of-round highlights only.
 
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anquer

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download (3).jpg


I‘ve put this in a couple of other threads but missed this one. Suzie Ratcliffe is involved in this podcast. First ep was good.
In the episode referred, Ms Ratcliffe describes the suspect as being described as... tall... stooped... thin... wearing, like a, "bowler's hat"... very thin, drawn face... no facial hair. Voice-over mentions: check coat, brimmed hat.
 
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sprockets

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VFL was on ABC television broadcast in NSW when South Melbourne were in the competition. Dedicated program briefly had round and match-of-round highlights only.
VFL and VFA were entirely separate competitions.
 

johnymac1

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In the Podcast, Bear the Bikie claims MM is Grant B.
Really an earth shattering theory??

It has me thinking, why this forced march to this distant house or secluded car.
As I mentioned before, they would have covered nearly 1.5km to be sighted in bonython park.
The abduction lacks any pre-meditation. so personally I would rule out Heart or Brown.
I would have imagined they would have parked closer. One being a footy fan!, the other being elderly
 
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anquer

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August 25, 1973 was a Saturday and VFA was only played on Sundays back then.
The Adelaide Oval game was SANFL.
The VFA game was on their TV according to the witness.
I am happy to be wrong but I dont think we in SA had VFA shown on our tv in the 70s
VFL was on ABC television broadcast in NSW when South Melbourne were in the competition. Dedicated program briefly had round and match-of-round highlights only.
VFL and VFA were entirely separate competitions.
If VFL was broadcast, delayed with editing, never live broadcast in NSWRL territory back then it's possible VFA was live broadcast in SANFL territory. A TV guide from newspaper hard copy or Trove NLA website may verify the witness' account and fill in the timeline.
 
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anquer

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In the Podcast, Bear the Bikie claims MM is Grant B.
Really an earth shattering theory??

It has me thinking, why this forced march to this distant house or secluded car.
As I mentioned before, they would have covered nearly 1.5km to be sighted in bonython park.
The abduction lacks any pre-meditation. so personally I would rule out Heart or Brown.
I would have imagined they would have parked closer. One being a footy fan!, the other being elderly

LeaveALightOninc facebook currently has a 9 News Adelaide video post about Mark Trevor Marshall, 7 July 2017.
"The now 48 year old..."
2017 minus 48 = 1969

Today Tonight video on YouTube, 14 September 2011.
"41 year old Mark Trevor Marshall."
2011 minus 41 = 1970

Grant Beaumont was born in 1961.
 

sprockets

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If VFL was broadcast, delayed with editing, never live broadcast in NSWRL territory back then it's possible VFA was live broadcast in SANFL territory. A TV guide from newspaper hard copy or Trove NLA website may verify the witness' account and fill in the timeline.
The witness account was from a Saturday. VFA was played on a Sunday. I even checked the fixture from that year and every match was on a Sunday. If it were broadcast live into SA it would have been on a Sunday.
 

johnymac1

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LeaveALightOninc facebook currently has a 9 News Adelaide video post about Mark Trevor Marshall, 7 July 2017.
"The now 48 year old..."
2017 minus 48 = 1969

Today Tonight video on YouTube, 14 September 2011.
"41 year old Mark Trevor Marshall."
2011 minus 41 = 1970

Grant Beaumont was born in 1961.
Are you going to be the one to tell him he's wrong?
 

sprockets

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Assuming VFL wasn’t broadcast into Adelaide live at the time?
McMahon was quoted in the article as saying he was watching VFA not VFL.

"... Mr McMahon claims that late on the afternoon of August 25, 1973 he was sitting in his room watching a VFA football match on TV when he "heard a racket" out the back of the house. ..."
 

emuboy

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This abduction at a football ground with thousands of people in attendance would have to be one of the most audacious I have heard of.

Unlike the Beaumont Children in 1966, which was done in a sneaky covert way in the cover of crowds at Glenelg (although wild inconsistencies in the times and locations of the sighting of the three children by witnesses throughout the day cast much doubt over what actually happened), or Rhianna Barreau who seemingly seemed to vanish into thin air in 1992 leaving not a single clue, this perpetrator grabbed the younger girl at a crowded football match and took her away with the older girl (the babysitter) following.

Witnesses who saw the trio at the time thought it was a case of a young grandfather/older father who had taken the two girls for a day out at the football and things had ended badly given the way the younger child was screaming and crying and that's why they did not intervene, but all the older girl had to do was to attract the attention of the police or yell the dreaded words 'Stranger danger!' or call for help and the abduction would have been stopped while in progress, with the sicko nonce no doubt sporting some bruises, black eyes, broken bones and other injuries by the time the police arrived to arrest him.

In fact thinking about this case, one of the biggest mysteries is why the older girl - aged 11 at the time - didn't call for help with so many people around.
 

charlie20

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LeaveALightOninc facebook currently has a 9 News Adelaide video post about Mark Trevor Marshall, 7 July 2017.
"The now 48 year old..."
2017 minus 48 = 1969

Today Tonight video on YouTube, 14 September 2011.
"41 year old Mark Trevor Marshall."
2011 minus 41 = 1970

Grant Beaumont was born in 1961.
mm is not grant b
 

charlie20

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This abduction at a football ground with thousands of people in attendance would have to be one of the most audacious I have heard of.

Unlike the Beaumont Children in 1966, which was done in a sneaky covert way in the cover of crowds at Glenelg (although wild inconsistencies in the times and locations of the sighting of the three children by witnesses throughout the day cast much doubt over what actually happened), or Rhianna Barreau who seemingly seemed to vanish into thin air in 1992 leaving not a single clue, this perpetrator grabbed the younger girl at a crowded football match and took her away with the older girl (the babysitter) following.

Witnesses who saw the trio at the time thought it was a case of a young grandfather/older father who had taken the two girls for a day out at the football and things had ended badly given the way the younger child was screaming and crying and that's why they did not intervene, but all the older girl had to do was to attract the attention of the police or yell the dreaded words 'Stranger danger!' or call for help and the abduction would have been stopped while in progress, with the sicko nonce no doubt sporting some bruises, black eyes, broken bones and other injuries by the time the police arrived to arrest him.

In fact thinking about this case, one of the biggest mysteries is why the older girl - aged 11 at the time - didn't call for help with so many people around.
most likely because the abductor was threatening to harm kirste if joanne had done anything like that, joanne had promised to look after kirste and, to her mind, this meant staying with her no matter what
 

charlie20

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View attachment 1006184
This is the direction they could have headed, after their last sighting in Bonython Park.
I do have a very weak theory who took them.
it was reported in the advertiser as far back as 2015 that a most likely theory is there was no distant house or car, at least in the vicinity of the parklands, and that in fact the three boarded a gawler line train at north adelaide station
 

charlie20

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Also, no broad Scottish accent mentioned by the lolly seller who heard the abductor speak briefly.
more like broad australian, he yelled "clear off" to joanne, and when she didnt, and kicked him in the shin, he yelled "*** bitch" at which point he grabbed her by the arm too, this broad australian voice is similar to what was described by witnesses on the reserve at glenelg, in 66 ...
 
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