Cheryl Grimmer arrest

Cheryl Grimmer with her father Vince.

POLICE have made a major breakthrough in one of the state’s longest mysteries – the abduction and murder of toddler, Cheryl Grimmer, at Fairy Meadow Beach, 47 years ago.

Strike Force Wessel investigators travelled to Frankston in Melbourne and yesterday arrested a 63-year-old man over the three-year-old’s abduction in January, 1970.

The child was visiting the beach with her parents and three older brothers when she was kidnapped.

Wollongong police, working with the State Crime Command’s Unsolved Homicide Team, re-examined the case late last year, focussing on witness accounts and the evidence gathered in and around the local surf club almost 50 years ago.

Around 1pm yesterday (Wednesday March 22), Strike Force officers, acting on fresh information, took the suspect into custody, with the assistance of Victoria Police. He faced Frankston Magistrates Court where police successfully sought his extradition to New South Wales.

The man is being taken to Wollongong Police Station and will be formally charged later today with murder and detain for advantage (abduction). He is expected to appear in Wollongong Local Court on Friday March 24.