The following day at 6 p.m. Graeme Thorne's empty school case was found a few yards in from the Wakehurst Parkway, a busy highway through several miles of bushland on the outskirts of Sydney. Although it wasn't relevant at the time but would be of significance in the future, it was on the way to the ocean side suburb of Seaforth, about ten miles from the heart of Sydney as the crow flies.
The school case with the name Graeme Thorne on it was found by an elderly man collecting bottles who fortunately had seen the television coverage of the kidnapping and immediately recognized the importance of his discovery and contacted police. Within hours hundreds of police assisted by army units, helicopters and tracker dogs were combing the rugged bushland area for further clues. That night Commissioner Delaney again appeared on television with an appeal to the kidnapper, "Please let us know if the boy is safe."
On Saturday night, police arranged with the Bank of New South Wales for a special withdrawal of 25,000 pounds from Bazil Thorne's account, just in case the kidnapper should get in touch with them again. When they had heard nothing by the Sunday, Mr. Thorne went on television and offered all or part of the 25,000 pounds in cash for any information leading to the return of his son.
Sitting alongside Mr. Thorne was the Rev. Clive Goodwin of St. Marks Church of England in Sydney's Darling Point, who said he was acting as intermediary and promised anyone who came forward that there would be no interference from the police.
All the announcement did was to attract the heartless con artists in search of a quick buck. One such call, which sounded genuine, was from a woman saying she was acting as a go-between. Police were reluctant to allow Mr. Thorne and Rev. Goodwin to contact the woman without their assistance and only permitted the contact if they could shadow Rev. Goodwin as he made the money drop and collected the information.
They followed the reverend to Sydney's outer western suburbs at the foot of the Blue Mountains where he was instructed to hand over an envelope containing 100 pounds addressed to a Mr. Day to the owner of a fish and chip shop. The reverend delivered the envelope as instructed but there was no money inside it. A woman collected it and disappeared before police could catch her.
On Monday, after an exhausting weekend, the hundreds of searchers were rewarded for their efforts. Graeme Thorne's school cap, raincoat, lunch bag — with an apple still in it — and math books were found about a mile from the school case on the opposite side of the highway. But was Graeme Thorne still alive? That was the question that was on Australia's lips. It would be quite some time before they knew the answer.
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