new photos of Eloise Worledge and Mr Cruel and JonBenet Ramsey

The father of Eloise Worledge, the eight-year-old taken from her Beaumaris home in January 1976, has died with police no closer to knowing what happened to his daughter.

Former teacher and business adviser Lindsay Worledge died two weeks ago, 41 years after Eloise was taken from her bedroom in Scott Street, sparking one of Victoria's biggest investigations and searches.

Her body was never found and the case remains open.

The public concern that a little girl could be taken from her home became the moment that many families started to lock their doors.

The flywire in her bedroom window had been cut, but police scientific experts checked the scene and concluded it had probably been cut from the inside.

The wind-out window had been opened to its maximum 38 centimetres.

Investigators concluded: "On balance, based on all the information on-hand, it appeared more likely that the person or persons responsible for Eloise Worledge's disappearance had affected their entry and exit through a point other than her bedroom window."

Lindsay was treated as a suspect, not because there was any evidence pointing at him, but because there were no obvious alternatives.

After his marriage to Eloise's mother, 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.

In 2003 he told me, "I am amazed at the reaction, even now."


Eight-year-old Eloise Worledge went missing in January 12, 1976.


In 2002 he took a police lie detector test, "The results were inconclusive. It did not produce a result which would satisfy police curiosity."

Because forensic evidence indicated Eloise was not taken through the open bedroom window, both parents were investigated.

"We were tangible. There was little else," he said.

"[The speculation] was hardly pleasant. It was not of my making."

He said he had his own thoughts on what happened that night, but they "are an interpretation of nothing. They are just theories".

A police review of the case found, "At the conclusion of investigations into Lindsay Worledge, 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 Worledge, I think, has been seen in a bad light," he said nine months after the abduction

"A lot of people think he has acted callously.

"He's not the kind of person who wears his heart on his sleeve. Deep down, he cares about his children and he is very distressed about this whole business.

A death notice said Mr Worledge would be remembered as "a brilliant teacher, a lively companion and for his indomitable courage".

ref http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/father-of-missing-eloise-worledge-8-dies-with-40year-mystery-still-unsolved-20170306-gus78e.html

wiki wrote:
A dark green car speeding down Scott Street at 2 a.m. was reported by a neighbour. Another neighbour reported seeing a green Holden station wagon she did not recognize parked near the Worledges' house. Around midnight, Ann Same, another neighbour, reported having seen a young man walking down the fenceline of the Worledge home, making her feel so uneasy that she crossed the street in avoidance. Around the same time, Molly Salts, a neighbour from further down the street, saw a young man jump the fence into the Worledge property after running in front of her car and across the street. At 2 a.m., Daphne Owen-Smith heard a child's cry and a car door slam; Ann Same reported also hearing this at the same time.