Brother calls for body to support cold case families

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 15 Oct, 20:32 · Archive

Paul Grimmer, whose sister disappeared 56 years ago, is calling for a representative body for families of long-term missing persons.

Paul Grimmer, brother of Cheryl Gene Grimmer who disappeared on 12 January 1970 outside a shower block at Fairy Meadow Beach in Wollongong on the NSW south coast, has called for reform to how police support families in long-term missing cases. Cheryl was three years old and with her mother and three brothers at the beach when she was abducted. A coroner ruled in 2011 that she was very likely dead, but her body has never been found and the cause and manner of her death remain undetermined.

In a written submission to a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry examining long-term missing and murdered cases, Mr Grimmer criticised NSW Police for failing to keep his family informed of updates throughout the years. He called for the establishment of a peak body to represent the loved ones of long-term missing persons and victims of unsolved homicides. 'As I got older I felt inadequate to stop my parents from suffering,' he said. 'No family should feel how my family was made to feel. If police had shown empathy in the beginning when Cheryl disappeared and updated my family, my parents may have been a little less broken.'

NSW Police conducted a new search for Cheryl in bushland in the Wollongong suburb of Balgownie last year, acting on fresh information.

How it is being reported

• Call for representative body for cold case familiesThe brother of a girl who disappeared 56 years ago says the way police dealt with his family in its search for answers left them "broken," calling for reform.Perth Now · 15 Oct, 20:02
• Call for representative body for cold case familiesThe brother of a girl who disappeared 56 years ago says the way police dealt with his family in its search for answers left them "broken," calling for reform.The West Australian · 15 Oct, 20:02

In this story: Paul Grimmer · Cheryl Gene Grimmer · NSW Police · Fairy Meadow Beach · Wollongong · NSW · Balgownie

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem