Loophole allows man who confessed to killing Cheryl Grimmer to walk free | 60 Minutes Australia

working out who abducted and murdered three-year-old Cheryl grimmer almost 50 years ago should be easy 18 months after the sickening crime at a crowded Wollongong beach a man claiming to be the killer admitted it he gave detectives a detailed confession but if you think that made it case closed you're wrong cursory police work and an extraordinary legal technicality mean this man's never been prosecuted he continues to walk free for the grimmer family the insult of knowing that combined with the loss of their beautiful Cheryl is as painful today as it ever was but it hasn't lessened their incredible resolve to seek justice for her murder [Music] fairy meadow beach long gone without a sound and without a trace three-year-old Cheryl grimmer disappears so it's 90 seconds of my life 50 years on this terrible day Shira gone three brothers still haunted by their sister's disappearance yeah okay Paul [Music] this cop broke the case have we got it man bloody out to be ever but then it broke him that was the time are you I couldn't be a police officer anymore the final straw how can you walk when you've committed a murder and you confess to it the man who confessed to killing Cheryl gets to walk free if there's a murderer walking the streets don't we all want him locked up it's July 2016 and detective Frank San Vitale has just been handed a fifty-year-old cold case it's a case the Wollongong cop knows well as do most who live in the Illawarra the taking of three year old Cheryl grimmer Frank of all the cases you've worked on how do you describe the Cheryl grimmer case this is probably the hardest case to hope the work done personally because I've did in the other world my life changed my life has changed I think a lot of people in the Illawarra when she went missing I think there's a bit of an innocence lost her waist I can hear where where did this little girl go what happened to her Frank pulled through boxes of police archives going back in time to the summer of 1970 when there was no bigger news no more desperate search than that surrounding the missing toddler so how did that day start out it was a very hot summer's day being early January and we lived across the road in the hostel and sort of nagged my mum you know we're new to the country got a beautiful beach and we wanted to come down the beach as kids this scratchy photo captures the day Ricky just seven along with his brother Steven aged five and Paul four are playing on fairy meadow Beach with their mum and baby sister Cheryl it was a beautiful day I was a really nice day and kids being kids building sandcastles and chill running up and down the water liners as we did we didn't venture into fur because the surfs was all new to us coming from Bristol and the UK but within a few hours this idyllic outing comes to an end with the onset of a southerly change everyone backed up and started all over so you could imagine how many people are up near the circle up trying to get out the wind and shower remember the kids mum 26 year old Carol grimmer sent the kids ahead while she packed up on the beach my mother asked me to take Steven and Paul and Cheryl up to the shower blocks wash the sand off it's a walk back to the sort of hostel had you done that before no on the way to the showers Cheryl stops for a drink at the bubbler so back in 1970 this part of the building wasn't here but this was before and so on that day Cheryl's here she was standing just over there nearly teasing me that I couldn't come in having got Cheryl showered in the men's changing room Ricky was then unable to coax his playful sister out of the nearby lady's shower block I said look I've gotta go get mama you're gonna get into trouble and she still wouldn't consciousness laughing smiling and a care in the world my brothers were playing just over here and I just wish every day I would have sent one of them and just stood here but I didn't walk been to the beach to get my mother and to swish I dragged her why didn't you go in and grab her I was a boy I didn't didn't want to go into the girls shower block there was other girls in there they want to go in they're told not to go it makes perfect sense not really now I just wish I would have just reached in and dragged her you were seven still given the responsibility to look after I didn't do in a decision he still can't forgive himself for Ricky leaves Cheryl to fetch his mother followed by his little brothers mum was still packing ups is actually I can see are bending over Nia um it's okay it's alright take a moment take a moment it was all of 90 seconds but by the time Carol grimmer got her boys back to the change shed there was no sign of Cheryl nothing seemed to be wrong - my mom was sort of just shaking man saying with your lever and I told her several times over and then it said in she was gone it was freaking out none was freaking out this terrible day when as a seven year old what was going through your mind at that point you went because she was somewhere here yeah you weren't thinking strangers taken her yeah another time I didn't know what abduction was or anything about taking a child I didn't know anything could be up that a minute and a half is all it took for a family to be forever changed to suffer a lifetime of grief and guilt it does it does just too much poor okay here's a nightmare here we have 50 years later two three not four for me it's like living the day every day of my life [Music] Cheryl's disappearance galvanized the people of the Illawarra to mount one of the biggest searches ever seen in New South Wales there's just no trace on at the moment so even the army got involved supporting Cheryl's dad Vince who was one of their own well if in fact she has been taken away by someone have you any words for that particular person I got some I got some words all right I tell you that now it's on if anybody has got my daughter I would honestly and truly I would like her back unharmed as early and as quick as possible that's about all I can say there were leads multiple reports of a man taking a toddler but no trace of shell was found and the police investigation went cold mom made a hard life after that just like dad was a really nice man but he was really hard you know sort of like hey you for lost my baby daughter that's what it felt like some days some days it was great other days you think he's blaming us for losing Cheryl and that's not nice but mostly it seemed the broken Vince blamed Ricki we had a strange relationship from that day on unfortunately if he had a drink too many of the blame would come out why did he leave her why did he leave you here that enough and you start start question why do you not for decades the case of shale grimmer went untouched year after year the tormented family not knowing what happened to their baby girl but 47 years after she disappeared Wollongong detective Frank San Vitale made a stunning find Cheryl's fate may have been known all along her killer right under their noses when you first read that confession did any part of you go well he could have made this up no no no way in the world I'm like a dog with a bone a cop's determination pays off I come around the front of the pavilion behind her and grabbed her a confession stacks up how could somebody give that much detail what she was wearing I couldn't believe it but why wasn't the family told this boats confessed to it and they're telling us now this is 47 years later that's next on 60 minutes the disappearance and suspected murder of three-year-old Cheryl grimmer in 1970 rocked the Elora community the case was high-profile and heartbreaking so it's hard to imagine that it would languish for nearly 50 years in police archives but that's exactly what happened making it one of the oldest cold cases on record without much hope of success the files were finally dusted off in 2016 and handed to Wollongong detective Frank San Vitale what he would ultimately find would break open the case but it would also bring a new wave of untold grief to the grimmer family as a police officer been given the opportunity to look into it even perhaps solve it did you welcome that I did I knew hold the case was I'm like a dog with a bone and I when I picked it up I couldn't let it go not long into the new investigation Frank found himself with a new partner the equally dogged detective Damien loon I still remember we stood there in front of these boxes and damos said to me how I call him de mer he said to me Frank the murders here in these boxes somewhere I had a bit of a laugh to myself but okay for the next couple of months Frank and his partner would sift through thousands of running sheets cross-checking leads long gone cold interviewing and eliminating formas spec's and then one day in yet another box they uncovered this a chilling confession made in 1971 would you like to tell us what you know about the disappearance of this girl nearly a year and a half after Cheryl disappeared a 17 year old runaway made a startling admission to police I come around the front of the pavilion behind her and grabbed her volunteering he had abducted Cheryl though some blokes sitting on the wall in front of the pavilion so I had to put my hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming because if she heard of scream he would have heard it when you came across this confession what was the reaction to that the first thing was the detail how could somebody give that much detail a very meta bitch of Cheryl of where he took her what she was wearing which suggests what all suggest he was telling the truth what was your intention I was going to have sexual intercourse with her the detail of what he said he eventually did to little Cheryl is deeply disturbing did you have sexual intercourse with her no because she started to scream as soon as I took the gag of her what did you do when she started to scream I put my hands around her throat and told her to shut up what happened then I guess I must have strangled her she stopped breathing and stopped crying and I thought she was dead so I panicked and covered her up with bushes and run fur on that day he says he gets here early in the morning and he hangs around the cirfairy he Frank's is retracing the confession gives a clearer picture of how Cheryl was taken DQ says he runs around the lady shells around the back of the shell block then grabs her just along here and takes over to the Sandhills straight across to the left there to the Sandhills just over there yeah that's where he says he ties her up with his shoelaces and and handkerchief we know at the time he was had escaped from a juvenile detention home you know previously lived in the area we were told what he had done it's a hard part talk about the grief for Cheryl's brothers Ricky Paul and Steve creamer is compounded by anger they were staggered to learn through Frank but this confession even existed we were shocked we looked at each other as they hang on this boats confessed to it and they're telling us now and this is 47 years later they're telling us that someone admitted to killing our sister I couldn't believe it that's disgusting as far as I'm concerned it's hard to fathom now but police at the time made cursory inquiries before filing it to be forgotten for half a century the fact that the police investigating it at the time didn't do much with the confession that it sat in this box for all those years what does that tell you about what they thought of his confession the police said there was not enough substantial evidence to to arrest the person so that so what he was talking that couldn't be corroborated correct do you accept that no how do you respond to the comments made at the time on the running sheet by those investigating officers that this person wasn't a reliable witness that he was prone to untruths and highly suggestible everything he said in that coefficient we found to be true we did not find one law with Frank's help we've been put in touch with one of the two detectives who took the original confession Phil Finlay who was the junior officer on the day the 17 year old made his damning admissions on face value which certainly fitted the framework that we were looking at he seemed to be familiar with the dressing shade area at the time did you feel like he was telling you the truth well I had no reason to think he wasn't because he was so fluent answering was there any hesitation just that all just flowed on from his mouth how did you strangle her in my hands but the officer in charge on the day took a skeptical view of the confession he judged it didn't warrant further investigation because police couldn't substantiate the details given to describe the place where the teenager said he murdered Cheryl but even so to fill Finlay the confession was compelling for you personally at any stage do you think we should arrest this guy yeah but it was decided by my partner to believe the case open but not he know why eliminate the guy we've spoken to as a suspect did you agree with that well I went along with the case going along with that when you're in tune you can't is defense agreeing with it well well that's you've hit the Nile main so if you'd been the senior cop on the day the outcome might have been different well Cordoba could have been yeah so for 47 years the confession was forgotten so back in the day this sort of all been fun but in 2016 with Frank San Vitale came fresh eyes and a new determination to either corroborated or eliminated once and for all this is where we believe Cheryl's body was left by the accused in his confession he talks about walking from the beach with Cheryl up to this area here 50 years ago this was all farmland about to be turned into a new suburb but on the 12th of January 1970 I put my hands around her throat it also became a grave site Albert according to the man confessing to the murder of Cheryl she stopped breathing you believe that first confession very much sir there's a little girl in that area there really to the original investigators the suspect said when he brought Cheryl here he remembered distinct touval of fencing and a cattle really details those officers could not confirm but he gives so much data he he talks about the first the grid how he left the body half a century later Frank had a different result confirmation from the very family that owned the farm at the time the sons the he built the fence he built the category from las Artes railing so he remembers that quite clearly thank you were able to cooperate everything he said in that confession yeah we're police officers in the past couldn't we did I took the little girl swimsuit with me in his confession the teenager said after killing Cheryl he took with him her towel and swimming costume he described where he dumped those items the towel in a drain outside a service station and the costume in an incinerator at a camping ground on the beach going up towards Carmel while neither piece could be retrieved the service station and incinerator were both where he said they were he talks about the costume they tell where he took the tale and we dumped the tower where he burned the costume Michele's costume and that's the first thing caught me and I said well and there's a lot of they told he Heather's somebody come up with that story that really stood out for me but it was this next detail that made the confession ring true to the boys who were there he saw Cheryl have a drink at the bubbler did the little girl come out with the other children yes she had a drink at the water fountain someone lifted her up I think that someone was Ricky do you remember her voice do i scan you for a drink I don't remember the asking for a drink I could just say that she wanted a drink so I hoped her how critical was it in your opinion that he described seeing Ricky give Cheryl a drink at the bubbler that would you call a Eureka moment just that detail there he had to be here he had to be here and he saw what he saw so Rick for you to learn that within that confession was a description of you picking up Cheryl to give her a drink what was that like surreal for me I mean that disconfirm leave us there watching waiting for his opportunity if you weren't there you wouldn't have known that Rick picture all up to give her a drink at the bubbler and it's in his statement so in my eyes that's 100% yes he's telling the truth I killed your sister coming out he knows he's guilty we know he's guilty the police know he's guilty so why isn't he in prison how can you walk when you can and you confessed to it and confronting a confessed killer third Tara Brown from 60 minutes that's next on 60 minutes this is the man who confessed to murdering three year-old cheryl grimmer in 1970 she would not be quiet not be so I put my arms around her so no strength of us he can't be identified because he was 16 at the time now 65 he's free to go about his life in suburban Melbourne protected by anonymity and the certainty that he's now beyond the law he knows he's guilty we know he's guilty that police know he's guilty if the police would have just done their job 48 years ago when he walked in and gave such a detailed confession we wouldn't be sitting here today our lives would have been totally different I'm sure as the years have gone by for brothers Ricky Paul and Steve the outrage has only ever grown never did they imagine their fight for justice would be such a cruel road this guy's been hiding in boxes for 50 years nearly because no one else took the time to look investigates their job for the last three years on that road with them has been former Wang Gong Detective Frank san vitaly it's one of those cases that you get in your career with he just can't let go we're talking about a free roll goalie we're talking miss Cheryl so I mean looking at these brothers and and knowing it's their sister you're talking about it affects you so deeply how do you feel about them these three guys are like brothers to me now I don't know what they go through and sometimes I sometimes I deeply feel I should never pick up that bloody brief it was in that brief that Frank found the Forgotten confession that seemed to crack open the case that may Justice seem so much closer when you first read that confession did any part of you go well he could have made this up no no no way in the world there too much detail in 21 years I've I've seen some confessions I've heard some stories that takes the cake every bit of what he said if we found that to be true there's nothing in that they in that story that he gave that we fear not to be true Frank's next step was to find the suspect that was surprisingly easy but the most astounding surprise what still staggers Frank today was what he had to say I get a phone call on my mobile phone this is what do you need to speak to me about and I said you taught me there's a very long pause and then he says to me is there something it is it's something I did when I was very young which I regret every day of my life he said those words to you he said those words to me it's in my statement then he says is that about a young girl at ferry beach he didn't use very many just said ferry I remember that and I said it could be the man agreed to meet Frank and his partner detective Damien lune at a police station in Victoria though he'd been advised to bring a lawyer he showed up on his own the first question we asked him why haven't you got legal representation and he says I just want to get it off my chest off word then and there he was gonna confess to us Frank presented him with the 1971 confession to murder which he readily admitted he'd made but when it came to the critical question did you do it this time he had a different answer we put the confession in front of him will you go through the confession he actually signs it again so he adopts it he said yet that's me I made that confession he signs every page we got for every one of those questions until we got there - what happened Cheryl he says don't now I was never there when he sat there and said now I've never been there and he had 47 or 48 years to come up an alibi for me that was that was the moment I said yeah we've got our man given the detail of the area he'd given at the time his denial seemed false and pathetically inadequate and so after half a century Frank thought the shell grimmer case had finally been solved the man was immediately arrested which didn't seem to come as any great shock to him we said to him you gotta be charged with the murder of Sheryl grimmer and you'll be extradited back to New South Wales hey basis along I better tell someone I know if that was me and I didn't do it they'll be kicking up a storm look at the time you arrested him did he ever say you've got the wrong man this is a big mistake have we got a road man by the earth we have he's the man no doubt no they're for the grimmer brothers the news of the murder charge was met with mixed feelings it forced them to accept Sheryl was never coming home but also that finally someone was being held accountable for her death and their pain when you heard that a man had been arrested over the murder of your sister what was your reaction at that point mom was finally gone and we're gonna get some results we finally got the grub that took our little baby sister great well we're getting somewhere with it I'll just I just feel feel phenomena that I didn't get to hear this that they'd need they need to hear this they've got somebody all those years are not now [Music] for two years the murder suspect who pleaded not guilty was held on remand here at Silver water Jail his trial set for May this year but in February at a pre-trial hearing the judge was asked by his lawyers to throw out the confession they argued it was inadmissible because the 17-year old accused did not have a parent guardian or lawyer present when he volunteered his crimes in 1971 in those days it was not a legal requirement for a juvenile to have such a protection that law came in some years later but the judge in the grimmer case agreed to have that law applied retrospectively finding it would be unfair to the accused to have his confession included as evidence the judge also said at the time police should have cautioned the accused earlier in their interview making it clearer that he was a suspect not just a witness obviously disappointed we did what we what we thought was right in the circumstances at the time former officer Phil Finlay who took the confession all those years ago not only defends how it was taken but what's in it do you believe it was there yes yeah yeah there's too much there's too much detail later to exclude him from what was saying what he put in the interview do you believe he did it just but the damning confession was out and so was the suspect released from jail with the case against him now considered unwinnable the groomers were devastated how can you walk when you've committed a murder and you've confessed to it but you get away because you didn't have a parent holding your hand when you're questioned by the police all this evidence is now just sitting there again and possibly may not be heard again how can this happen I mean this this is not real surely we just sit and apply I mean this is just stupidity they can't happen twice surely we're not gonna let it ever definitely not will be the voice of their parents enough enough enough we just want at the end of the day all of the evidence to be heard if he walks out of that court a free man so big so big we don't believe that will happen [Music] the judgment broke Frank after 21 years with the police force he walked away from his dream job there was nothing wrong with there's nothing wrong with the confession the way it was taken I just could not believe it what was the overriding feeling for you to hear that this poor family might Christ there sometimes I think about Ricky and Paul and then how they still alive it's got me that was the time I knew I couldn't be a police officer anymore I gave that's one I just can't do it anymore that was the final straw not free Rob you'll know now they got to me we got a murderer walking the streets let's tell why still yeah we got the right man hello Tara Branson 16 head of fronting the confessor famous before this is your confession and why this cup won't give up I say Cheryl my braids blonde girl just keeps on saying don't go we'll get there that's next on 60 minutes nearly fifty years ago this was a man prepared to talk about a most heinous crime when he confessed to snatching and then strangling three-year-old Cheryl grimmer today he won't say a word have you got away with murder sir even though the murder charge against him was dropped in February before this is your confession where you tell the police who strangled her he certainly won't explain why he gave such detail of a murder to police all those years ago how's the death the murder of Sjogren's I'll hold you do all these years or is it something you've forgotten or is it something that thrills you sir what did you do to that little girl and why don't you come clean though it's just disbelief I mean how do you put into words how we feel that a person that we know did what he did this Cheryl just walk out of that courtroom how because he didn't have an adult present when it wasn't required at the time for Ricky and his brothers Steve and Paul grimmer this man has got off on the worst type of legal technicality and former Supreme Court Judge Anthony wheely agrees the judgment is not about the truth of the confession but how that confession was taken would you accept that the further police investigation cooperates that confession confirms its truth yes if that were the issue I think that would be so however that wasn't the issue the judge was looking at the judges task not to test the validity of that confession but to test the circumstances of the interview itself and the condition of the young person according to Anthony as mad and maddening as the result might seem the judge on the day was working within the dispassionate confines of the law which means there are no grounds on which to appeal do the police or the family have any more avenues to pursue this particular person I understand that the Attorney General has taken advice and has come to the conclusion regrettable though it is that now appeal would would be likely to succeed and I must say that would be my view as well so the answer to your question is no there doesn't appear to be any further Avenue can you understand and sympathize with the family of course of course it's a terrible situation if I were in that position where a child of mine had been murdered or disappeared I would be so distraught and angry and understand perfectly that they are but the law has been upheld and that's what as citizens we have to it's like we're on our own we're on our own fighting the New South Wales justice system in our eyes stinks now we're here we're trying to get a get him back in call it get him where he belongs in jail that's where he belongs can you accept do you accept that there may not be any more avenues no I'm not accepting you no no it's we've made a promise to our mother and we're going to keep it no matter what it takes what people we hurt what toes we stand on we are going to stand on toes until my sister is heard and we will not stop the raw anguish this family suffers is hard to witness so it must be unbearable to live with day after day I mean deserve happiness with her standing there but we we all shouldn't have left her I know you were the Auris but we're all there we all should have left her at all but pain little kids you don't expect someone to come and pick your little sister up and run off of them [Music] former detective Frank San Vitale driven by a desire to bring justice and peace to families like the grima's feels instead he's let them down by not getting his man how do I feel towards him right now say I think you know how I feel towards you if this what the community wants so be it I think it is [Music] Frank may have left the force but that doesn't mean he's given up on Cheryl and nor it seems has she given up on him I see Cheryl my briefs it's a dream it's not a nightmare I stare standing on the beach little blonde girl just keeps on saying down there girl we'll get there I'm not a police officer anymore but it's still my case that's how I see it give share of her a chance let her be heard we wanted heard and I think people wanted heard if there's a murderer walking the streets don't we all want him locked up don't we want him off the streets he's sitting at home now well here still fighting common sense come on please hello I'm Tara brown thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe 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Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 420,323

Rating: 4.725183 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Ellen Fanning, Ray Martin, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Peter Harvey, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, Cheryl Grimmer, wollongong, Fairymeadow beach, police, investigation, crime, fight for justice, legal technicality, murderer

Id: n0G8kskOkrQ

Length: 41min 10sec (2470 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 25 2019