Every Town - Australias Most Creepy Disappearance - Was Eloise Worledge's Dad Involved?

Episode Date: June 30, 2023

They put their 3 children to bed that night and in the morning there were only 2 of them. The eldest child in the family, 8-year-old Eloise Worledge had just disappeared from the house sometime during the night and 47 years later….theres still no concrete evidence as to what happened, just theories. It’s a strange case that police may have botched, the dad may have been involved in or a random intruder may have committed based on neighbors eyewitness accounts.💥 Watch On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries🎧 Our Other Podcast: https://scarymysteries.buzzsprout.com💥 Exclusive Podcasts: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579/subscribe 💀 Follow Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 💀 Follow Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg👁 Follow Our TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald💥 Follow Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial🗣 Business Inquiries: [e-mail] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Every town has a dark side. They put their three children to bed that night, and in the morning, there was only two of them. The oldest child in the family, an eight-year-old Eloise Warlidge, had just disappeared from the house sometime during the night, and 46 years later, there's still no concrete evidence as to what happened, just theories. Hey guys, I'm Andevich Gerald,

and thank you for tuning into another episode of Everytown. but this week we're headed down under to explore the mysterious disappearance of a young girl. It's a weird case that police may have botched, the dad may have been involved in, or a random intruder may have committed, based on neighbor eyewitness accounts. On a warm night in Bomberus in Victoria, Australia, the three world-edged children,

8-year-old, L-O-Ease, 6-year-old Anna, and 4-year-old Blake all headed to their bedrooms and went to sleep. That day was an ordinary one for the children, though their parents, Lindsay and Patsy, have been going through a rough patch for some time and have been arguing a lot. A couple had been married for 10 years and built their family together. They lived in a nice house near the ocean, but it was trouble in paradise. By January of 1976, they were preparing to separate. The couple probably thought that ending of their marriage was going to be the worst thing

that would happen to their family, but on the morning of January 13th, their youngest child, Blake, came into their bedroom to tell them something that would change their lives forever. That day, when he woke up shortly before 7.30 a.m., four-year-old Blake raised the alarm when he noticed his sister was not in her room. The parents looked around the home, but she definitely wasn't there. Upon a closer inspection of her room, there appeared to be no signs of a struggle. When Blake told them what he had heard the previous night, the police were then immediately called in. When they arrived, Blake would go on to tell them that he had heard robbers in the house who had kidnapped his sister, but that he was too scared to say anything because he

thought they would kidnap him too. He described hearing some crackling noises that police believe would be consistent with footsteps on the seagrass rug that covered the young girl's room. Because there wasn't much more than that to report no signs of any sort of fired or violent. The investigators surmised that it was likely Eloise was enticed to get up from her bed by someone she knew and then left with that person through the front door, which had been left unlocked and open. But it was also possible, of course, that she was abducted by a stranger. an intruder who happened to be in the area, and some neighbors came forward to report what they saw, which gave credibility to that theory. One of them reported hearing a car speeding down the street at around 2 a.m. that night.

Another also reported seeing a green Holden station wagon she didn't recognize, parked near the Whirledge's house. Around midnight and same, another neighbor told authorities about having seen a young man walking along the fence line of the road. the Whirledge home. In fact, he made her feel so uneasy that she crossed the street in order to avoid passing right next to him. At around that same time, Molly Salt, a neighbor from further down the street, saw a young man jump the fence and into the world edge property after running in front of her car and across the street. At about 2 a.m., Daphne Owen Smith heard a child's cry and a car door slam, and Anne Same reported hearing that exact thing. Other telltale signs, investigators' fans, that Eloise may have possibly been taken away by someone where small pieces of tree bark found

on the floor of her bedroom, as well as a small hole that had been cut into the screen of her window. But ultimately, forensic investigators determined that hole was cut from the inside of the bedroom, and it was far too small of one for the abductor to fit in and out of Eloise's bedroom. Lindsay and Patsy were looked into his possible suspects. At the time of Eloise's disappearance, both her parents had been having affairs, and her father was believed to be in a dark depression due to the expected divorce. Lindsay, a former teacher and business advisor, was actually set to move out on the exact day that his daughter disappeared. Senior constable, Robert Nazarician, said in 2002 that Patsy told police almost immediately that

she felt her husband was involved in the disappearance as a means of prolonging the inevitable and as a way of spiting her. The constable further described it as striking in its timing, but Mr. Warlidge denied any involvement. On the night, his girl disappeared. Lindsay had gone to bed an hour and a half after Eloise had fallen asleep, and about an hour after Patsy had gone to bed. He left the front door open because he didn't know Patsy had forgotten to close it. There was a light that was always left on in the hallway for the children and was turned off by the last parent to go to bed. But it was stated in the police report that on that night, Lindsay Warlidge did not turn off the passageway light. At around 4.45 a.m. Patsy awoke to go to the bathroom and notice that the light was off.

It was almost certain that Louise had already disappeared by this time. So someone was in the house, possibly turning on and off light. entering through the front door most likely, despite a very extensive search effort. In fact, the largest and missing person search efforts in Victoria's history and a $10,000 reward back in 1976, no trace of Eloise has ever been found. Authorities looked for the green Holden station wagon, but that was a dead end. So other than the neighbor's accounts and the tree bark in the room, it really wasn't any hard evidence to catch the person who was in the end.

there, if in fact an intruder did this. And without Eloise or her remains, there was nothing to actually charge the father with, just circumstantial theories. Perhaps Lindsay had hired someone or even helped in the kidnapping, but again, none of this could be proven. Homicide cold case detectives reinvested the case in 2001, but nothing new was discovered. There was still no evidence to implicate the parents of Eloise in her disappearance. In 2002, 22, 205,000. years after she had disappeared, Lindsay took a lie detector test and ministered by police, and the results were inconclusive. He then explained that the family had long ago accepted that their eight-year-old daughter's disappearance was a mystery, one that may never be solved. As he put it,

that the family had come to our form of closure years ago. When first told about the new investigation into her daughter's disappearance, Mrs. Worlaidge said that while she'd like to have closure to it all, She was no longer obsessed with finding her daughter's abductor. She stated, If I can't find out what happened, that will be good. It's not I'll have to find out I can't live my life until I do. I'm not driven by it at all. I feel content that I've done everything.

I don't have any guilt about it. Moreover, Detective Senior Constable Nazarecian told the Melbourne Coroner's Court that despite Lindsay being considered a prime scientist, suspect in the 1976 disappearance, the 2001 case didn't find her parents as the possible culprits. Lindsay was treated as a suspect, not because there was any evidence pointing at him, but because there was no obvious alternatives. During the new investigation, they looked into sex offenders that they now knew existed, including convicted teachers and librarians, and a man who coached the school's soccer club at Balmerie's primary school. But all that failed

uncover any evidence. Nor was there anything linking killer Raymond Mr. Stinky Edmonds to the crime, who was active in the area of Victoria during the time. He was convicted of killing an 18 and 16-year-old girl back in 1986. Coroner Frank Hender said that Eloise was a shy girl who would not have voluntarily left home with someone she didn't know. He said the significant information given to the police was a neighbor's account of hearing a child cry out in a car door slamming at 2 a.m. on January 12th. The question is, why were these leads not aggressively pursued by the authorities at that time? Lindsay Whirlidge died in 2017, 41 years after his daughter disappeared, and without ever knowing exactly what happened to his daughter. A police review of the case found, at the conclusion of investigations into Lindsay Wurlidge, no evidence in regards to his involvement.

has been uncovered. The ultimate head of the initial investigation agreed. Detective Superintendent Warnock believed he was unfairly judged. Mr. Wurledge, I think, has been seen in a bad light, he said nine months after the abduction. A lot of people thought he acted callously, but as described, he was not the kind of person who wore his heart on his sleeve. By all accounts, deep down, he cared about his children, was very distressed about the whole situation. After his marriage to Patsy ended in divorce, he remarried and tried to live quietly, but his name was always linked to his daughter's case, both as a grieving parent and a possible suspect. So forever, Eloise will be missed.

The girl had been safely tucked away in her bed one night 46 years ago before vanishing. She's dearly loved and missed by her family and friends, and they've been denied the opportunity to watch her grow up and enjoy life and will never know who she could have become. The search for Eloise is one of Australia's most enduring mysteries because when somebody vanishes without a trace, there's a special kind of pain in the not knowing. So that's going to do it, guys, for this week's episode of Everytown.

Thanks again for tuning in. If you want more stuff from us, you guys got to check out our Patreon page. Just go to patreon.com slash scary mysteries. because over there we have stuff that you can't see anywhere else. Remember to come back next week for another episode filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.