Australia Marsel Guerin, 7 MO old, July 6 1974, Sydney, Australia

[Luce2842]

I haven't managed to find a thread for Marsel Guerin and there is no photo of him!
Here is His details:
Missing since: Monday, July 8, 1974
Last seen: Kings Park, WA
Responsible jurisdiction: NSW
Year of birth: 1973
Age now: 50
Gender: Male
Height: 61cm
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Complexion: Fair
Circumstances:
Marsell or Marsel Guerin, a seven month old infant, was allegedly last sighted in Kempsey Arcade, Kempsey, NSW, however the last definitive sighting of him was in Kings Park, WA.

If you have any information that may assist Police in locating Marsell, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

He's still listed as missing on Australia's government website! Marsell GUERIN

From a newspaper clipping: Detectives interviewed dozens of people on the NSW North Coast today in the search for missing baby, Marsel Guerin,
aged seven months.
The baby's parents, Mr John Francois Guerin, 30, and his wife Helen, 22, told
police on Monday that Marsel had disappeared from his pram, parked on a footpath while they were shopping at Kempsey 500 kilometres (300
miles) north of Sydney. Detectives have been called in from as far as Sydney to
search for the Child! Search for infant - The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) - 11 Jul 1974

 

[Luce2842]

@Caring1 is there anything you can find regarding this case? So strange that there is no photo and doesn't seem to be much more information? Xxxx

 

[Caring1]

@Caring1 is there anything you can find regarding this case? So strange that there is no photo and doesn't seem to be much more information? Xxxx

No updates. Nothing other than the original article in the Sydney Morning Herald dated 7/11/74, which is quoted above. Nothing located on Ancestry yet.

 

[Luce2842]

Bumping for Marsel! Xxxx

 

[Luce2842]

Bumping for Marsel! Xxxx

 

[Luce2842]

Found much more details regarding baby Marcel Guerin and a picture of him thanks to a post I came across on reddit.

Case details update: In July 1974, 2-month-old Marcel John Guerin disappeared from his pram in Kempsey, NSW.

His parents, Jean/John Francois Guerin (sometimes reported as “Gene”), 30, a bricklayer, and Helen Guerin, 22, had each come to Australia separately from Britain and reunited in Perth earlier that year on a working holiday.

The couple were travelling east toward Queensland and living in their station sedan. On the day of Marcel’s disappearance, they parked in Clyde Street, Kempsey and went shopping with Marcel and his 3 year old sister.

They entered several shops and an arcade, leaving Marcel in his pram on the footpath for short periods during their trip.

When they returned to their car around 1 pm, Marcel was gone. They reported seeing no one take him and could not say exactly when or where he vanished.

Police mounted a large-scale search — more than 100 officers and volunteers set up roadblocks, searched the shopping centre, and scoured the district, but no trace of Marcel was found.

Detectives later retraced the Guerins’ journey from Perth to Kempsey, highlighting the challenging conditions of travelling across the Nullarbor Plain in a family car with a baby and toddler.

A commenter has noted that, in the 1970s, this journey was particularly difficult because much of the highway was unsealed, services were sparse, and heat and exposure made travel hazardous.

His case remains unsolved.

 

[Luce2842]

I found more information relating to Marcels case:

The child’s parents, Jean (John) and Helen Guerin, were a young couple from Britain who had come to Australia on a working holiday. Jean, 30, was a bricklayer, and Helen, 22, cared for their young daughter, Rose-Marie.

While other reports described the daughter as two years old, others listed her as three — one of several small but persistent inconsistencies in coverage at the time.

The Guerins had been in Australia for less than a year, travelling the country in a vehicle described by newspapers alternately as a dark blue panel van or a station wagon.

Around June 15, 1974, they left Perth to drive across the country toward Queensland, where they hoped to settle permanently.

By early July, they arrived in the Macleay Valley, setting up camp near Kempsey.

On Monday, July 9, 1974, the family drove into town to shop. According to The Macleay Argus, they parked on Clyde Street, unloaded the pram from their van, and wheeled it into Smith Street, the town’s main shopping strip.

They stopped at the Co-op Arcade, outside a milk bar, and left the pram there while browsing nearby shops with their daughter.

When they returned about 1 p.m., the pram — described as an “old English” model with a distinctive design and weather shield — was empty. Baby Marsell had vanished.

The Kempsey police launched an immediate and extensive search. Within hours, over 100 officers were involved across the Taree–Lismore corridor.

Roadblocks were set up, villages were searched, and the family’s steps were retraced in hopes of finding a clue.

The Guerins were taken separately to various roadside camping sites they’d used between Perth and Kempsey to see if any pattern might emerge.

Despite these efforts, no witnesses came forward to say they had seen the baby in the pram that day — only the couple and their daughter.

Investigators described the case as deeply puzzling. Interpol was contacted to monitor departures from Australia, in case the baby had been taken overseas, but no leads surfaced.

The Guerins were reportedly distraught and waited daily outside the Kempsey Police Station for news. After weeks of dead ends, they left Kempsey for Queensland in mid-August 1974, with the mystery unsolved.

-----

In an exclusive interview with The Macleay Argus, the couple said they had left Perth in mid-June and arrived in Kempsey on Saturday, July 7, just two days before the disappearance. The paper described the case as having “baffled police” and noted that all avenues — from re-enactments to international alerts — had failed to produce results.

I found a Facebook post that was posted in 2019, where residents began discussing the case in the private Facebook group “Blast from Kempsey’s Past.” Several locals shared vivid recollections of the event and the search that followed.

One woman wrote:

> “I remember it well. I was working at Peads and they came into the shop. The pram was a beautiful old English pram and it had a weather shield on it so we couldn’t see in it. The couple were a hippie looking pair and it seemed strange.”

Another recalled:

> “My late father, Eric Hayes, gave the child's father a job. He was a bricklayer and needed work to stay in town. The fellow could not speak very good English and had an elder boy to interpret to his father. Long time ago, but I often wonder what happened to them.”

A man who identified himself as a photographer for The Macleay Argus added:

> “Yes, very clearly. I was the photographer at the Argus then. Pat Riggs sent me to a rest stop on the road to Port Macquarie, not far from Kempsey, to walk through the bush to see if I could find something. The parents had stopped there on their way to Kempsey. There were suspicions at the time the baby was not in the pram when they were walking around town. I also photographed the parents leaving the courthouse — the shot ran in one of the Sydney papers".

One witness, who had worked at the old Medical Centre on Belgrave Street, remembered police visiting local clinics and shops, warning staff to watch for anyone who “suddenly” turned up with a child they hadn’t seen before then.