On Saturday, 4 November 2000, an Adelaide sales consultant named Trevor Terrell discovered the skeletal remains of three children beneath the house he was renovating in the Adelaide suburb of Queenstown. Detective Superintendent Paul Schramm of the South Australian police announced soon afterwards that the remains were not those of the Beaumont children.
Mr Terrell, 35, had been renovating the house in Victoria Street, Queenstown, when he discovered a trapdoor that had been concealed beneath a carpet. When he opened the trapdoor he found some bones, including a small skull, that had been half buried and wrapped in wallpaper. He immediately realised that the remains were human and took some photographs, before taking the skull to police to inform them of his discovery.
Police went to the house to investigate and discovered more remains. It soon became apparent that the remains were of three babies and were too small to have been the Beaumont children. Police forensic experts examined the remains but beyond stating that they were decades old, could not reach any firm conclusions. They were unable to discover if the babies had been murdered or had died of natural causes.
The local Port Adelaide police were left in charge of the case and it was reported that police were considering taking a police archeologist to the house to try to work out what had happened. They had been unable to establish the identity of the babies and were also waiting for a professor from Adelaide University to return to South Australia from another state, as they were hoping that he could determine when the babies had died.
Land title records revealed that the property had been owned a local family named Simmons from 1900 to 1992. The house itself had been constructed in around 1910. Police said that the remains might have dated to when Charlotte Simmons lived in the house with her four children, in the mid-1960s. Her two sons had since died but police were trying to locate her daughters. However police admitted that they might not be able to find out how the children had died.
Mr Terrell, who was reported to be consulting with media outlets about the sale of the pictures and details of the discovery, later said: "I thought I might have solved something. I was thinking it would be good if it was the Beaumonts." 12
Other false leads: