E38 | The Sandhills of Wanda

On a windy Monday in January 1965, two fifteen-year-old best friends, Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock, took four young children to Cronulla. When the little ones tired, the girls walked on into the sandhills behind Wanda Beach and never returned. Their bodies were found the next morning, stabbed and partially buried, a thirty-four-metre drag mark telling the story of one friend's desperate, failed escape. Sixteen thousand people were interviewed. Three men were named and never charged. A weak DNA profile survives; a crucial sample was lost. Sixty years on, it remains New South Wales' oldest unsolved homicide.

Sources used

• Wikipedia — "Wanda Beach murders" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_Beach_murders): primary backbone for timeline, crime-scene reconstruction, autopsy findings, drag mark, weapons, reward, investigation scale, suspect summaries, 2012 DNA, 2014 lost sample, Kruger/Dowlingkoa linked cases.
• Illawarra Mercury — "Blood spot offers new Wanda murders clue" (2012) and "Australian serial killer Christopher Wilder linked to the Wanda Beach murders" (2018): corroborates the knife-wipe blood mark / weak male DNA profile; Wilder named as official police suspect, Det Insp Ian Waterson "number one suspect," family not told, ~9-month delay before seeking to interview Wilder.
• that's life! — "Hans Schmidt breaks silence over his heartache": corroborates 2007 cold-case reopening, 2012 DNA, 2014 lost semen sample, mother died 2009; Hans's belief that someone still knows.
• Alchetron (mirror) and en-academic (Wikipedia mirror): corroborating detail on autopsy, alcohol/food findings, suspect profiles, reopening.
• NZ Herald — "Derek Percy believed to be Australia's worst child serial killer": Percy family Sydney holiday Jan 1965 / Ryde; story found in Percy's belongings with "striking similarity" to Wanda; map marked at Ryde.
• serialkillercalendar.com (Percy & Wilder pages): Percy's "I could have done it but I can't remember" reported remark; underwear-slashing at Mount Beauty late 1964; Wilder biography and US spree.
• Penguin Books AU (Australia's Least Wanted promo): senior-police confidence in Wilder; "lost crucial evidence."
• A&E — "Elusive 'Beauty Queen Killer'": Wilder profile match, proximity, delay before interview.
• murdersheposted (Substack) — "Death on the Sandhills": Bassett conviction (Carolyn Orphin, near Cronulla), painting, no physical link; Percy could not be physically placed at scene; right-to-silence detail.
• crimeimmemorial.com: corroborates semen present / hymens intact / attempted-rape inference; body positions.
• NFSA (Nine News / Ten News archive descriptions): investigation scale (7,000 by 1966; >16,000 and ~5,000 suspects by 1981); Wilder named 2018.
• Goodreads / "Lambs to the Slaughter" (Percy biography listing): Yvonne Tuohy murder July 1969, NGRI, held indefinitely; Wanda among suspected cases.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.