{"id":511895,"date":"2026-01-12T23:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/511895\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T23:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:26:16","slug":"police-post-1m-reward-50-years-after-eloise-worledge-8-disappeared-from-melbourne-bedroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/511895\/","title":{"rendered":"Police post $1m reward 50 years after Eloise Worledge, 8, disappeared from Melbourne bedroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifty years after eight-year-old girl Eloise Worledge went missing<\/a> from her Melbourne bedroom, police have announced a $1 million reward for information regarding her disappearance.<\/p>\n

But a family member says Eloise’s loved ones’ lives were changed forever when the young girl vanished from her Beaumaris home.<\/p>\n

“My memories of waking up to find her missing are still very vivid and raw, and the passage of time has not eased the pain of this loss,” the unnamed family member said in a statement this week.<\/p>\n

“Ella was and remains deeply loved, she was more than a missing person or a case file \u2014 she was a daughter, a sister, a friend, someone who mattered greatly to all who knew her.”<\/p>\n

\"Eloise<\/p>\n

(ABC News: Daniella Bonica)<\/p>\n

Today’s announcement is a vast increase on the original reward of $10,000.<\/p>\n

It is the only reward of its kind in the state, because it includes payment for information that leads to Eloise’s remains \u2014 rather than just identifying a person or people responsible.<\/p>\n

A mystery that remains unsolved<\/p>\n

Eloise’s parents reported her missing on the morning of Tuesday, January 13, 1976.<\/p>\n

The primary school student, who was the eldest of three siblings, was last seen in her bed, at their house in Scott Street about 11:40pm the night before.<\/p>\n

Her parents, Patsy and Lindsay, found the flyscreen on their daughter’s window cut and rolled open, but nothing else appeared to have been taken from the room.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Investigators still do not know why, or how, the flyscreen in Eloise’s bedroom was slashed. (Facebook: Eloise Worledge – Missing Person Australia)<\/p>\n

Eloise’s disappearance sparked one of the largest search investigations recorded at that time, with more than 250 police deployed over 18 days.<\/p>\n

But the search of the area and nearby suburbs, along with parks, the foreshore and thousands of nearby homes, found no trace of the eight-year-old.<\/p>\n

A missing child, the botched case and the aunt who never stopped asking why<\/a><\/p>\n

Fifty years after Beaumaris schoolgirl Eloise Worledge vanished, could new leads solve one of Australia’s most haunting cold cases?<\/p>\n

Extensive police efforts in the years since, along with further appeals, have also failed to turn up any credible evidence that conclusively explained the disappearance or who might be responsible, police say.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Missing Persons Squad reviewed the case as part of a request from the Board of Enquiry, looking at alleged sexual offenders linked to Beaumaris Primary School<\/a>, which Eloise attended.<\/p>\n

Police were not able to determine any links between the alleged offending at the school and Eloise’s disappearance, but today said any new information provided would be thoroughly assessed.<\/p>\n

With no confirmed sightings, police said they “sadly hold the belief that Eloise has been murdered”.<\/p>\n

‘A lifetime of immense grief and pain’<\/p>\n

The Worledge family this week said the ongoing public interest and suspicion surrounding the family \u2014 “found to be unsubstantiated more than once \u2014 caused a lifetime of immense grief and pain”.<\/p>\n

“Despite this, somehow, we managed to find our own peace,” the family said.<\/p>\n

“However, the anniversary brings up a multitude of emotions and causes a great deal of distress yet again.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A drawing by Eloise. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“We understand this reward increase is being announced to keep it in line with today’s standards, but that doesn’t take away from the anguish it will cause.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Eloise’s aunt, Margie Thomas, released a separate statement, saying that “after 50 years, we are still waiting for the truth”.<\/p>\n

“Someone knows what happened to Eloise, and we are asking them to come forward,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Margie<\/p>\n

Margie Thomas has long pushed for answers to what happened to her niece, Eloise. (ABC News: Daniella Bonica)<\/p>\n

“On this anniversary, I’m asking the community to leave their porch light on for Eloise tonight. It’s a simple way to stand together, to show that she is remembered, that she matters, and that her story still lives in our hearts.”<\/p>\n

Ms Thomas said for 50 years, her niece had been “a little girl living in the shadows of unanswered questions”.<\/p>\n

“She went to bed in her own home and never came back, and our family has lived with that silence ever since,” she said.<\/p>\n

She said Eloise mattered then, and still mattered now.<\/p>\n

“This reward brings her back into the light and reminds people that she has not been forgotten,” Ms Thomas said.<\/p>\n

“Someone knows what happened to her, and after all this time, I’m asking them to come forward and help give her the truth she deserves.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Missing Persons Squad Detective Inspector Dave Dunstan acknowledged that the announcement of the substantially increased reward was in many ways “bittersweet” for Eloise’s family.<\/p>\n

“While it may provide them with answers about what happened to her, or even result in information that leads to police locating Eloise, what this can’t do is bring her back,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It cannot give them the 50 years they have missed with their daughter and sister; 50 years that have been so cruelly taken from them.<\/p>\n

“I know that those decades have been incredibly difficult for Eloise’s family, and to this day, they live with the trauma of her disappearance and it continues to impact them.”<\/p>\n

Years of ‘unfair speculation’<\/p>\n

Inspector Dunstan said Eloise’s parents not only died without knowing what became of their daughter, but also “endured years of unfair speculation that they were involved”.<\/p>\n

Her father Lindsay died in 2017, followed by her mother Patsy in 2022. Before she died, she told reporters that she had been able to find some sense of peace with Eloise’s loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

A clipping from The Age newspaper in 2003. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“I want to be very clear that police have never been able to locate any evidence to implicate either of Eloise’s parents in their daughter’s disappearance,” Inspector Dunstan said today.<\/p>\n

The couple, who separated officially in the months after Eloise went missing, both went on to marry new partners.<\/p>\n

But they faced another shared tragedy two decades later, when their son Blake was killed in a car accident<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Case can still be solved, detective says<\/p>\n

Inspector Dunstan said Eloise would be 58 if she was still alive today, and had missed growing up, finishing school, travelling, building a career and starting a family.<\/p>\n

However, while 50 years was a long time, it was not so long that the case could not be solved or Eloise’s remains located, he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s not so long that there isn’t potentially someone out there who may have information about who was responsible for Eloise’s disappearance and where she is now,” Inspector Dunstan said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Police hope new information over Eloise’s disappearance may come to light. (Supplied: Margie Thomas)<\/p>\n

“Whatever the reason those people may have had for not coming forward previously, I am hoping they can put those aside and provide that information to police now.<\/p>\n

“For anyone who may have had preconceived notions about this case and what happened, I urge you set those aside and talk to us.”<\/p>\n

Anyone with information should phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifty years after eight-year-old girl Eloise Worledge went missing from her Melbourne bedroom, police have announced a $1…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":511896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,5624,228832,228831,5425,228833,50,13273,8344],"class_list":{"0":"post-511895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-cold-case","10":"tag-eight-year-old-missing-from-bedroom-in-beaumauris","11":"tag-eloise-worledge","12":"tag-missing-person","13":"tag-mystery-of-missing-girl-beaumaris-1976","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-reward","16":"tag-victoria-police"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115884719606753774","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}