What crime stories have you been obsessed by?

[WomenHour]

I was griped by the James Bulger murder 25 years ago

Bamber definitely.
Jon Benet messed up family at best.

I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts.
Best one is Crime Junkies, then Big Mad True Crime, then They Walk Among Us (UK true crime)

Sorry if these have been mentioned, these blow my mind:

Darlie Routier
Scott Peterson
The Dissapearace of Brian Shaffer
The girl scout killer (this one is horrible tbf so just a warning)

Amy Lee Bradley
JonBenet Ramsay
Abigail Williams and Liberty German
Asha Degree

@InFiveMins oh of course! Was the Bradley girl the one who they think got taken from a cruise ship?
And Asha Degree is so sad and I think rooted in racism

was the Bradley girl the one they think got taken from a cruise ship?

Yes that is her, almost certainly was taken from the cruise ship and probably trafficked.

I highly doubt Amy was trafficked. It is much more likely she simply fell off the cruise and drowned.

@Zaphodsotherhead

I was actually on a bus from Budleigh Salterton to Exeter, passing the end of the lane at the time that Genette Tate disappeared. I've often wondered if I saw something that may have been relevant, only without realising it - except that I know I didn't, I was just chatting with my mum. But knowing you were that close...

Any more Netlfix/Prime recommendations? I've watched loads (can't do Podcasts) but could do with some more, particularly British Strange Cases to watch?

Have you seen Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix? There’s quite a few bizarre cases including Ray Rivera and The Dupont de Ligonnès murders and disappearance in France.

Also, ‘Who Killed Little Gregory” ditto on Netflix.

@shrunkenhead Josie and her Dad live in North Wales, Josie is a textile artist. Her work is amazing and well worth looking up.

I grew up with the murder of Colette Adam- the first case to be featured on Crimewatch and finally solved after nearly 30 years. It hung over our community for many years. I remember the house to house enquiries and the police visiting everyone. I still remember what I wearing that night - it was a question we were all asked.

More recently, I think about the murder of Alesha MacPhail. Her poor mother.

I always had a hazy memory, as I was only 1,1 of a man killing 3 children he was babysitting. Over the years I thought about it from time to time but with no access to information, I began to doubt if I had imagined it as it seemed too horrific to be true.
Years later I was watching one of those Britain's Most Evil Killers programmes and there was the story - The Worcester Chile Murders - truly horrific.

@EveryPlanetHasAYorkshire

I highly doubt Amy was trafficked. It is much more likely she simply fell off the cruise and drowned.

It sounds weird, but I hope so, as the alternative is horrific. The picture of the poor prostituted woman that was circulated online looked so much like her.

Watching the Claudia Lawrence case at the moment on 'my five. '
I remember it being on the news and the crime watch appeal with the inspector saying she had ' complex' relationships.
I wonder if they will ever find her?
It's so sad for her parents and friends.
The car slowing down close to her home was suspicious ( on cctv) and not taking her passport too.

I think it has been proved by experts that the woman in the photo was not Amy. It's also highly unlikely that she was trafficked, a twenty something American woman on holiday with her family who immediately raised the alarm and supposedly taken to a tiny Carribean island where she could be easily identified. Traffickers usually take people that no one will miss.

Suzanne Capper
Kelly Anne Bates
Junko Furuta

I think the ones involving torture fascinate me the most because to torture someone is one of the most horrifically evil things a person could do.

Two things struck me about the Junko Furuta case - her incredible will to live, I think driven on by her love for her family and wanting to live for them; and the comment of the judge, once translated into English something like "her soul must be wandering the earth in torment".

I hope not, I hope in death her soul recognised the joy and love she brought to people's lives and was able to finally be at peace.

The Alesha McPhail case is horrific and her mum only found out she was dead from Facebook 😱😨

Its when you see the list of unsolved murders. It's scary that someone can murder and then go onto lead a otherwise normal life..especially when its chance they get caught for it.

Not sure it's been mentioned but "Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?". Not much actual evidence and to my knowledge no serious suspects. Such a bizarre crime.

Along the lines of old (officially) unsolved murders, The Black Dahlia. Although I pretty much believe retired LA police detective Steve Hodel who says that his father did it, Dr George Hodel. He built a pretty convincing case.

Poor Junko Furuta is the stuff of nightmares.

There are so many that have stuck with me. Here are two:

The disappearance of housewife Dorothy Forstein in Philadelphia, PA more than 70 years ago.

The Lost Girls of Panama - that backpack and the working electronics in it raised more questions than answers.

@AuntMasha

Thank you, I've seen all those. It was Unsolved that put me on to the Dupont case which so fascinates me. Those images of the father walking off into the mountains....and the fact that he called his son back from University, when he could have just left him... awful.

Suzi Lamplugh is one i always think of.She disappeared when i was 13 and it really stuck to me.

Meredith Kercher and Anni Dewani.

Quentin Smith who was murdered around 1946/7, murderer never found and Sheila Fox who went missing around that time, never found, both in the same area. We lived not far away and my life was blighted becuase my mother was so afraid when I was out. Years later, mid-70s, we were viewing a house and the vendor was a retired police officer who had worked the Smith case and he told us that the police knew who'd killed him but had insufficient proof, they let the perpetrator know they knew and he left the area.
I also recall the disappearance of Katrice Lee from a NAAFI in Germany, we had been in there the same day, she was never found.