The Beaumont Children: 1966 – 2012

Forty-six years ago, Jim and Nancy Beaumont were confronted with a nightmare that has been ongoing ever since. Their beloved children, all three of their children, vanished without a trace. It broke their hearts, their hopes, and their marriage.

Over the years, South Adelaide Police did investigate more leads. They checked into child serial rapist and killers. They checked into child trafficking, pedophiles, and child prostitution circles.

And of course, they kept their eyes open for anyone suddenly showing up with children while nobody knew they were expecting.

We now have a story to add to the possible leads. David Estes claims that there is a possibility that he is the youngest missing Beaumont child: Grant Ellis Beaumont. He has contacted the local authorities in the USA and has made contact with the police in Australia. His aim is to reach Jim and Nancy Beaumont who live separated and protected lives away from all the media.

He asks you to place yourself in his shoes. Would you not want to know whether you belong to a different family? The newspaper article says that in 2004, Estes’ blood was compared to the woman who raised him. Was that Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing and did it show that Estes could not be the biological child of the woman who raised him? I have not been able to find more details about the kind of blood testing that was done. If it was a DNA test the article should have said so, right?

This claim by Estes raises many questions and I still have a lot of question in the Beaumont case. Just to list a few:

First, how could Grant Ellis Beaumont have been moved from Australia to Kentucky, USA, without leaving a trace. Who accompanied him on that trip?

Second, what happened to Grant Ellis’ sisters Jane Nartare and Arnna Kathleen? They were nine and seven years old when they vanished.

Third, we still have no explanation for the gap in the timeline from the moment the three children were seen leaving the beach around 12.15p, and the time the postman saw them and waved around 3pm.

Four, the man who claimed that he stole the baby from the hospital and gave it to the Estes couple, is there anything to back up his story that he indeed stole a baby from a hospital and that the baby stolen was indeed the man we now know as David Estes? This man is dead now if I understand the news article correctly.

Five, if it really was all about the money as Estes says in the article why did he not have more non-biological siblings? The article says that he grew up with “four brothers and sisters, “her biological kids”, as far as Mr Estes knew.” If this was all about claiming child support would there not have been more kids possibly not-biologically related to Mrs. Estes?

Six, there is still the unusual meat pie purchase and the fact that Jane paid with a note while her mother had given her coins only.

Last, I understand that the South Adelaide Police did indeed ask for certain items to explore Estes’ claim as per the article. According to me that means that they asked Estes to send them any materials that contain his DNA for comparison to the parents.

In my imagination, I tried to place myself in David’s shoes. To answer your question, David, whether I would really want to know whether I belonged to a different family … if I really wanted to know … I would have mailed the SA Police my toothbrush, hair samples, finger prints, and a blood sample years ago!

But tomorrow, my thoughts will be with Jim and Nancy.