The unresolved homicides of Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock at Wanda Beach near Cronulla in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, have become known as the enigmatic "Wanda Beach Murders" or simply "Wanda." These two 15-year-old inseparable companions and residents of the West Ryde neighborhood were partially laid to rest the following day. Given the heinous nature of the crimes and their occurrence on a desolate, windswept coastline, the case garnered extensive media attention.
By April 1966, the police had conducted approximately 7,000 interviews, marking it as the most extensive investigation in Australian history. The subsequent inquiry into the homicides became one of the lengthiest and most perplexing in the annals of Australian crime. Despite numerous leads and relentless media scrutiny, the case remains unsolved.
Significance in Australian History
The Wanda Beach murder case marked a pivotal juncture in the annals of Australian law enforcement. It reshaped how the police collaborated with the media, enabling the press to uncover leads and raise public awareness about this pressing issue. This case drew the public's attention to child safety and protection, leaving many wary and suspicious of strangers. It remains the oldest unsolved murder case in New South Wales and one of the most infamous murders of the 1960s in Australia.
Background
Marianne Schmidt and her family emigrated from West Germany to Melbourne, Victoria, in September 1958. Her parents, Helmut and Elisabeth Schmidt, along with Helmut Jr., Hans, Peter, Trixie, and Wolfgang, constituted the family at that time. Norbert joined the family in the following year. Before relocating to Temora, New South Wales, the Schmidt family resided in a migrant hostel in Unanderra. After Helmut Schmidt's diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease in 1963, the family relocated to Sydney, settling in West Ryde. In June of the subsequent year, Mr. Schmidt passed away.
Christine Sharrock's grandparents, Jim and Jeanette Taig, were next-door neighbors to Marianne Schmidt. Sharrock was Marianne Schmidt's contemporary and close friend. Following her father's passing in 1953, Sharrock's mother, Beryl, remarried and moved to the Seven Hills neighborhood in northwest Sydney. With the Schmidts moving in next door, Sharrock and Marianne, who were of the same age, developed a close friendship. Sharrock opted to reside with her grandparents, although the reasons behind this choice remain unknown.
Overview of the Crime
On January 1, 1965, Sharrock and Schmidt visited Cronulla Beach, a location favored by the Schmidt family for picnics. Entries in the girls' diaries after the incident revealed that they had engaged with a few boys at the beach that fateful day. The following day, the Schmidt children returned to the beach without Sharrock, as Mrs. Schmidt was undergoing a major surgery, leaving Helmut Jr. and Marianne in charge of the household. Schmidt and Sharrock received permission from Mrs. Schmidt on January 9, while she was still in the hospital, to take the younger children to Cronulla the next day, but the outing was canceled due to inclement weather.
On Monday, January 11, the girls and Schmidt's four younger siblings boarded a train bound for Cronulla. They arrived around 11 a.m., but the beach was closed due to strong winds. Consequently, they proceeded to the southern end of the beach, taking refuge among the rocks. Eight-year-old Wolfgang, who desired to swim, was taken by Schmidt to a shallower surf area, away from the rocks. After returning to the group, they enjoyed a picnic. Later, Sharrock temporarily separated from the group and wandered off on her own.
Upon reuniting with the group, they collectively decided to traverse the sand dunes behind Wanda Beach. Around 1:00 p.m., they reached a location approximately 400 meters past the Wanda Surf Club. They halted behind a sand dune to shelter the younger children from the rain, who had begun complaining. Schmidt informed her younger siblings that she and Sharrock would return to the rocky area at the south end of the beach, where they had concealed their belongings, before retrieving the children and heading home. However, the girls continued onward into the sand dunes. Despite Peter's advice that they were heading in the wrong direction, they chuckled and continued.
The Schmidt children waited behind the sand dune until 5 p.m., at which point they retrieved their belongings, including Schmidt and Sharrock's handbags, and caught the final train home, arriving around 8 p.m. Sharrock's grandmother reports that the last sighting of Schmidt and Sharrock occurred at 8:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, January 12, Peter Smith took his three young nephews for a walk through the sand dunes at Wanda Beach. A short distance north of the Wanda Surf Club, he discovered what initially appeared to be a store mannequin buried face-down in the sand. He brushed away the sand and realized that it was a lifeless body. At this juncture, he believed he had found only one young woman. She had sustained multiple stab wounds. The discovery sent shockwaves through the community, leading to an extensive police investigation.
The Investigation and Its Challenges
Upon closer examination of the crime scene, Schmidt was found lying on her right side with her left leg bent, while Sharrock was found face down with her head resting on the sole of Schmidt's left foot. A 34-meter-long trail indicated that Sharrock had attempted to flee, perhaps while Schmidt was in the throes of dying, only to be pursued, subdued, and dragged back to her friend's lifeless body. The murder weapons, which included a lengthy knife and various blunt instruments, were never recovered, despite extensive efforts by law enforcement.
Extensive sifting of sand from the crime scene yielded several findings, including a bloodied knife blade. However, the authorities could not definitively link it to the homicides. Sharrock had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.015, whereas Schmidt's showed no alcohol consumption.
Sharrock had consumed a different meal from the rest of the group, and her skull bore evidence of a blunt force blow to the back of her head. Schmidt had her throat deeply slashed and had sustained six stab wounds. Curiously, despite their underwear being torn and signs of attempted assault, both girls' hymens remained intact. Hans, Schmidt's brother, after viewing photographs of her body, estimated that she had been subjected to between 25 and 30 stab wounds.
During Sharrock's absence, Wolfgang encountered a boy approximately his age who was searching for crabs. He claimed to have seen this same boy twice more: once in the company of his sister and Sharrock and once alone. The last confirmed sighting of Schmidt and Sharrock occurred around 12:45 p.m. when local firefighter Dennis Dostine encountered them. He was walking in the area with his son and observed the girls approximately 730 meters north of the surf club. Dostine relayed that they appeared to be in a hurry and that one of the girls frequently looked over her shoulder, as if sensing they were being followed. In February, a £10,000 reward was offered, as several individuals seen in the area had not come forward or could not be located.
In April 1966, the coroner issued his report. Nevertheless, the murders remained unsolved, and none of the three primary suspects matched the description of the young surfer who was never located. In 2000, the case was revisited, and in February 2012, a small quantity of weak male DNA was extracted from Sharrock's white shorts. In July 2014, the police reported that a sample of Schmidt's sperm, recovered from his body, could not be located after an extensive search.
Suspect
In 1975, Alan Bassett presented a painting to Cec Johnson, a former detective who had investigated the Wanda Beach murders. Johnson discerned what appeared to be blood trails, a broken knife blade, and the deceased individual's body in the painting. He began to suspect that it alluded to a detail of the murders known only to the perpetrator. Despite skepticism from his colleagues, Johnson authored a book about the case before his untimely death in a car accident. Bill Jenkings reiterated Johnson's claims in his memoirs, "As Crime Goes By," which were ghostwritten on his behalf. Subsequently, Bassett sued Jenkings for defamation in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Following a ruling on the nature and substance of the imputations, the publisher justified its defense by disclosing Bassett's prior conviction for murder, ultimately concluding the case.
After being released from prison, Bassett submitted a DNA sample to clear his name, although the efficacy of this endeavor remains uncertain. Christopher Wilder and Derek Percy were both examined as potential suspects in the Wanda Beach murders. Wilder relocated to the United States in 1969 and, in the early 1980s, perpetrated eight murders and attempted more. Percy had been incarcerated since 1969 for killing a child on a Victoria beach. He is also the primary suspect in several other child deaths in Melbourne and Sydney. Although Percy was present at the location of the murders on the fateful day, no other conclusive connections were established. Hope for a deathbed confession from him went unfulfilled.
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