A new search for 11-year-old Joanne Ratcliffe and four-year-old Kirste Gordon who were last seen alive more than 50 years ago will begin on the weekend.
Joanne and Kirste disappeared from a football game at Adelaide Oval on August 25, 1973.
They had left their families to walk to the oval’s toilets, but never returned.
There have been several leads since, including reports a man was seen taking two young girls from the oval, but the two girls have never been found.
On Monday, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens confirmed a private search, north of Adelaide, would be conducted but that SA Police did not believe there was any new evidence to warrant further investigation.
“There is a private search being conducted in the north of South Australia, we have previously searched that location and at this point in time we don’t believe there is any evidence that warrants any further investigation in relation to those circumstances,” he said.
Sister ‘hoping for answers’
Suzie Ratcliffe, Joanne’s younger sister, supported the new search and said she was hopeful it would bring answers.
“It’s time to be able to put these girls to rest,” she said.
“I always say don’t get my hopes up… but you can’t help but feel hopeful.
“We’re still very much hoping for answers and still very much hoping to bring the girls home.”
Ms Ratcliffe said the search would focus on excavation around the tunnels — near to where barrels were located in a 2014 search in South Australia’s Mid North.
She confirmed the new search will begin on the weekend and that further searches were planned for another one or two sites.
Ms Ratcliffe, who says she still feels like she grew up around Joanne despite being born 14 months after her disappearance, told ABC News that she was “eternally grateful” for the efforts of those involved in the search.
She said “it’s the not knowing” what happened to Joanne which she found most difficult.
“It’s like a living nightmare, you’re living in limbo,” she said.
Ms Ratcliffe encouraged anyone with information, no matter how big or small, to contact Crime Stoppers.
In 2014, there was a renewed search at a property at Yatina, located between Jamestown and Orroroo.
Despite the extensive search, including the excavation of a well, nothing of importance was found.
At the time, Detective Inspector Greg Hutchins said the search had resulted from a culmination of information police had gathered over time as well as a call made to Crime Stoppers.
“The previous occupant of the Yatina property is one of a number of people who have been linked to the girls’ disappearance over the years, but to date police have been unable to substantiate his involvement,” he said.
The latest search follows a seven-day search of the former Castalloy site in Adelaide’s west for the missing Beaumont children, which failed to unearth any signs of remains.
Nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant went missing from Adelaide’s Glenelg Beach on Australia Day in 1966.
