On August 25, 1973, a South Australian National Football League match was taking place at Adelaide Oval. Joanne Ratcliffe was there with her parents, and Kirste Gordon was there with her grandmother. Both families had season tickets and sat next to each other every week.
During the game, Joanne went to the toilet, and Kirste’s grandmother asked her to take Kirste along. They came back a few minutes later. About half an hour after that, Kirste wanted to go to the toilet again, and Joanne took her — but this time, they never came back.
Fifteen minutes later, the families began searching for the girls. Most parts of the stadium were checked, while Kirste’s grandmother stayed at their seats in case the girls returned. They were not at the toilets. Mr. and Mrs. Ratcliffe and Kirste’s grandmother spent the rest of the game looking for them.
Ken Wohling, the Assistant Curator of the Oval, saw the girls leaving with a man. Over the next 90 minutes, there were four separate sightings of this man with the girls. In three of them, Joanne seemed upset. In one case, a driver stopped his car after seeing them but decided not to get involved and drove away. The last time they were seen was about three kilometres from the Oval, still with the man, 90 minutes after leaving.
After that, neither the girls nor the man were ever seen or heard from again.
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