Fact, Conjecture, Speculation and the Unsolved Murders of Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock

by John Bicknell

On 11 January 1965, 15-year-old best friends, Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock were overwhelmed and slaughtered in the sandhills behind Sydney's Wanda Beach. Not only had the killer struck in a public area and during the summer school holiday break, but he'd done it in broad daylight. Despite the brazenness of the act, several police investigations and their ostensibly ongoing inquiries have failed to bring the killer to justice.
Why did Marianne and Christine walk into the sandhills that ill-fated day? Why were they killed? How did their killer, who was almost certainly blood soaked, leave the area unseen? Why have the various police investigations failed to identify the killer? Were Marianne and Christine early victims of a 'True Crime Anti-Hero' like the vile Derek Percy, or the sadistic Christopher Wilder?
Were they victims of a sexual assault gone awry, or were they the 'gateway' victims of a short-lived 'ripper-esque' killing spree in the Sydney-Wollongong corridor?

254 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2021

About the author

John Bicknell was born, raised, and educated in Indiana. He was a journalist for more than thirty years, as a reporter, columnist, and editor in Florida and Washington, D.C. He is the author of two books on 19th century U.S. political history – America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion and the Presidential Election That Transformed the Nation and Lincoln’s Pathfinder: John C. Fremont and the Violent Election of 1856; co-editor of the 2012 edition of Politics in America; and senior editor of the 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 editions of The Almanac of America Politics. He lives in Haymarket, Virginia.