What happened to Eloise Worledge? Police offer $1 million for 1976 missing person case

Fifty years on from the disappearance of eight-year-old Eloise Worledge from her family home in Beaumaris, detectives from Victoria Police’s Missing Persons Squad have announced a $1 million reward for information leading to the closure of the case.

What happened? Worledge’s parents reported their daughter’s disappearance on the morning of January 12, 1976, with initial details pointing to Worledge being abducted from the family home on Scott Street in Beaumaris.

• In one of the largest search operations in Victoria at the time, more than 250 police canvassed more than 6,000 properties in Beaumaris and nearby suburbs, including parks, reserves, vacant properties and the foreshore over the next 18 days.

• Police originally offered a reward of $10,000, or about $79,000 today.

On Tuesday, Victoria Police confirmed their belief is that Eloise has been murdered since her disappearance.

All information welcome: Missing Persons Squad Detective Inspector, Dave Dunstan, said 50 years was not too long to give up on determining who was responsible for her disappearance – or finding Worledge’s remains.

• 🗣️“Eloise would be 58 years old if she was alive today,” said Dunstan. “She has missed growing up, finishing school, travelling, building a career, starting a family.”

To report any information, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report via the Crime Stoppers website.