Trigger Warning (TW): This blog post discusses the deeply distressing topic of child abduction, including details of real-life cases and the traumatic impact it has on families and communities. We understand that reading about such events can be highly upsetting and may trigger emotional distress, especially for those who have personal experiences related to this subject. Reader discretion is advised. If you feel overwhelmed or need support, please consider reaching out to a trusted friend, family member, or mental health professional.
Hello and welcome back to another blog post Freaky Friday Files! In today's blog, we cover The Adelaide Oval Abduction where two girls Joanne Ratcliffe (born 1962) and Kirste Gordon (born 1968) were abducted from an Australian Rules Football (AFL) game between Norwood and North Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval on August 25th 1973. Joanne was 11 at the time and Kirste was only 4. This case is thought to be related to that of the missing Beaumont children case (which I'll go over another time).
The Abduction
According to Wikipedia, Joanne was attending the AFL game with her parents, older brother, and family friend Frank and Kirste was at the game with her grandmother. The two families were seated next to each other at the game. I believe that the families knew each other and that they allowed Joanne and Kirste to go off to the bathroom twice by themselves during the game. Around 3:45pm the two girls went off to the bathroom for a 2nd time. However, by 4pm, they had not returned to their seats and the families began to search for the two. They were unable to locate Joanne and Kirste but Joanne's mother was able to get an announcement over the PA system around 5:00pm after the game ended, and the girls were reported missing at 5:12pm. The two girls were never seen again (no bodies have ever been recovered).
The Investigation
The girls were allegedly sighted a few times in the 90 minutes after they had left their families in the following scenarios:
Trying to get a stray cat's attention
Once with some other children
Distressed with an older man carrying Kirste
Allegedly near the railway station (although this has never been confirmed)
As the old bystander effect goes, people were unaware of the kidnapping and assumed it was a family altercation. The last reported sighting of the two little girls was on a bridge near Adelaide Zoo. Witnesses who did sight the two girls report that the person who took them was "a tall thin-faced man wearing a wide-brimmed hat".
Potential Suspects
A lot of the suspects in this case are similar to those of the suspects to the Beaumont children's disappearance suspects. However, here's a compiled list of suspects in the Adelaide Oval abductions:
Bevan Spencer von Einem and Derek Percy - two convicted child k*llers and suspected serial k*llers because witness reports said that Joanne and Kirste were taken by a middle-aged man and the police sketch of the man last seen with the Beaumont children resembles the same as the sketch of Joanne and Kirste.
Arthur Stanley Brown - again a suspect in both cases and he had a striking resemblance to the police sketch. A witness identified this man when she was 14 and then again when she was 25. This witness also said that Arthur looked eerily similar to Stanley discussed below.
Stanley Arthur Hart - An avid football fan who never missed a North Adelaide game at the Adelaide Oval and 10 years after the abduction, Hart was found to be a childer ab*ser. Joanne's sister Suzie strongly believes that Hart was the perpetrator.
Frank (the family friend) - In 2013, Suzie asked for an investigation to look into family friend Frank. Frank went to the game that day in 1973 and left for about 30 minutes before the girls' disappearance. However, authorities never officially questioned him even though he chose not to participate in helping to look for the girls. Kirste's grandmother thought that this was odd behaviour. I mean, this is really odd behaviour - why wouldn't you help?
Errol George Radan - a serial offender of a**aulting young girls under 14 who had been imprisoned many times. His picture looked similar to the police sketch. There was also a rumour that authorities found scrapbook clippings of Joanne and Kirste after he had left his home in the drainage system.
As time passed, the case went cold. However, in 2009, a written confession came to light.
A Written Confession
Prison Mark Trevor Marshall wrote a confession to a counsellor that his grandfather Stanley Arthur Hart had abducted and m*rdered Joanne and Kirste. Suzie believed that this confession had too much detail about the girls so believes that Hart was in fact the man who committed the crime. Many people believed that Hart operated a p*dophile ring in South Australia.
Others still believe that it was Arthur Stanley Brown who looked very similar to Stanley Arthur Hart with many speculations that they may have known each other and even worked together. This has never been confirmed.
Sociological Theories
As we've covered the true crime part of this awful event at Adelaide Oval, let's take a look at some sociological theories about the case (as it's still "unsolved" or "cold").
Serial K*ller: there is the theory that the girls could have been targeted by a serial k*ller at the time of their disappearance. However, there has yet to be any conclusive evidence suggesting this was the case.
Opportunist Abduction: this is the theory that a predator that happened to be at the AFL game in 1973 saw the two girls while they were alone and thought "Now's my chance" (this theory also suggests that the perpetrator had no connections to the girls).
Multiple Individuals were involved: somehow this theory is probably the most likely (especially with how so many suspects had things in common). This theory posits that it would have been someone who knew the girls already or had some sort of connection to them (even if it was in a roundabout way).
Human Trafficking or Organised Crime: I would say that this one is purely speculation as there's nothing to suggest that this is the path the girls ended up on. However, it's still possible but I personally think other theories are more likely at this time.
Accidental Death or Misadvetnure: Yeah, nah, there's no way, especially with multiple eyewitnesses at the time seeing a man take the two girls.
One article by Shutt et al. (2004) discusses how there are two myths surrounding child abduction. These are: (1) child abduction is generally being committed by strangers and (2) child abduction is a growing problem. They suggest that stranger abduction occurs significantly less than that of family/acquaintance abduction but they do say that parental abduction is widespread. Shutt et al. (2004) also suggest the need for more longitudinal studies to occur surrounding child abduction, increased efforts into verifying interview data, theoretical predictions of behaviour that leads to child abduction, and new typologies to analyse data. Spilman (2006) also posits that media sensationalism has a lot to do with the distress of children's disappearance - especially when it comes to their families (and I agree, they have absolutely every right to be distressed) but how the media portrays stranger abduction does not help solve cases.
I hope you enjoyed this week's Freaky Friday Files and I'll see ya'll next week with some more! Much love,
Ash xx
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