Vanishing Cousins: Key players in the disappearance of two teenage girls from Scarborough’s White Sands Hotel

The West Australian

Wed, 1 November 2023 4:19AM

The disappearance of two teens from Scarborough’s White Sands Hotel in 1974 remains one of Australia’s most baffling mysteries. The West’s exclusive series investigates what happened to the cousins.

Key players in the cold case

Raelene Eaton: Missing aged, 16. Lived in Bayswater with her parents Jean and Trevor Eaton. Saving to travel to Canada to visit her pen pal.

Crimestoppers - Raelene Eaton — Raelene Eaton. Credit: Unknown/WA Police

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Yvonne Waters: Missing aged 17. Lived in Maylands and engaged to boyfriend of two years Bob Webb. Accumulating a glory box for her wedding.

Missing: 16-year-old teenager Raelene Eaton and her cousin Yvonne Waters went missing after attending a concert at the White Sands Hotel, Scarborough, in April 1974. — Yvonne Waters. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Mike Hogan: Former doorman at The White Sands in 1974. Spoke to the cousins the night they disappeared and was the last person to see them.

Jill Broom: Yvonne’s sister and Raelene’s cousin.

Jill Broom and Yvonne Waters at Jill's wedding — Jill Broom (left) and Yvonne Waters at Jill's wedding. Credit: supplied by Jill Broom

Terry Sherman: Friend who lived in the same apartments as Yvonne. Also went out with the cousins the day they disappeared. The only one to return home.

Christopher Worrell: Truro murderer, killed seven women in seven weeks in 1978. A suspect in the WA crime.

Truro bush murders - Christopher Worrell — Christopher Worrell. Credit: Unknown/Supplied

Barrie John Watts: Raped and murdered Noosa schoolgirl Sian Kingi in 1987. Possible links to Perth in the 1970s.

Ken Gregson: Former police detective who looked at the crime in 1986.

Detective Senior Constable, Peter Shanahan: Reviewed the case as part of Operation Trace from 2015 – 2019.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR IN THE WEST’S GRIPPING NEW CRIME SERIES:

EPISODE 1: THE VANISHING

Explores the final movements of two teenage cousins who vanished without a trace on April 7, 1974.

Raelene Eaton, 16, and Yvonne Waters, 17, were last seen talking to three scruffy strangers at a Sunday session at the White Sands Hotel in Scarborough.

The scene is set in the Puberty Blues-era of Scarborough Beach with author Jane Caro describing the dark underbelly of 1970s beach culture.

WATCH NOW

EPISODE 2: THE SUSPECTS

Could a serial killer be responsible for the girls’ disappearance?

We learn how the Truro murderer - Christopher Worrell, who murdered seven women in seven weeks in South Australia – was living in Perth at the time the cousins disappeared.

Police also ask if violent offender and child killer Barrie Watts could be responsible.

Plus, bombshell new evidence is uncovered, about a white panel van linked to the disappearance.