UK UK - Maureen Mulcahy, 23, strangled after leaving Green Meadow pub, Wales 23 Feb.1976 *Fresh incentive*

[dotr]

The unsolved murder of mum feared to be victim of Saturday Night Strangler

Maureen Mulcahy who was murdered in Aberavon in 1976

''Mary Fox was in bed when she was disturbed by a cry at midnight.

“I heard a petrified scream”, said the 57-year-old resident of Pendarvis Terrace in Aberavon.

“It was as though there was a fight and somebody was being hurt and then I heard a girl say: ‘Oh my God!’”.

Doubtless terrified herself, Mrs Fox would recoil when she learned what she had witnessed.

The scream had been the final breaths of 23-year-old Maureen Mulcahy, whose body was discovered by a man walking his dog having been throttled to death on nearby waste ground.

The mother-of-two, of Burns Road on the Little Warren estate, had enjoyed a night out with friends drinking bottles of her favourite cider when she told them she was going to the Green Meadow pub, where she was a regular, to meet someone.

A friend later told reporters: “We were in the car and she opened the door twice as we drove along and threatened to jump out if we did not stop outside the Green Meadow.

“To think if we had insisted on taking her home this would never have happened."

''Remarkably, Miss Mulcahy was the fourth victim to have been discovered strangled in the Neath and Port Talbot area within three years.''

''Police later said it appeared she had been punched in the face before she was strangled. But there was no sign she had been robbed of anything or of sexual activity.

Maureen's neighbours described her as a shy, quiet, inoffensive girl who was devoted to her children. The former St Joseph's RC school pupil lived with her parents and had worked at the Fred Liebetruth paint box company in Addison Road.''

 

[dotr]

BBC One - Dark Land: Hunting the Killers, Series 1, Maureen Mulcahy


Watch now

''Maureen Mulcahy
Dark Land: Hunting the Killers Series 1
Episode 1 of 4
Maureen Mulcahy was a 23-year-old single mother of two, living with her parents on a council estate in Aberavon. On Saturday 21 February 1976, Maureen went out drinking with a friend. At 11:30pm, she was dropped off outside the Green Meadow pub to meet somebody. What happened next is unknown, but Maureen’s body was found the following morning by a man walking his dog behind Aberavon Rugby Club. Maureen had been strangled, and although her clothes were disturbed, there was no evidence of sexual assault. Initially, the investigation was focused on the pub, which was full of migrant workers and local men celebrating the Welsh rugby team’s recent victory over Ireland. In total, the police interviewed over 1,000 men, but few suspects emerged, and the case went cold.

In this episode of Dark Land, the team attempts to solve the crime that has cast a shadow over Aberavon for many decades. In a major breakthrough, the team discovers clues that suggest Maureen may have been the victim of a serial killer. And a new witness comes forward and breaks a silence of 30 years with a shocking new testimony.''

 

[dotr]

 

[Tortoise]

I don't think the pub would have been open at 11:30pm in the 1970s, although I realise it says to meet somebody. Perhaps outside the pub?

Thanks dotr, I shall have a watch of those.

 

[dotr]

Have to admit that the idea of Maureen M working at the Fred Liebetruth paint box company on Addison Road, made me think of the former US artist who was murdered in Wales. fwiw...

Ws thread..
UK - UK - Shelley Morgan, 34, (Former Iowan), Bristol, stabbed,11 June 1984

 

[Philpot]

I don't think the pub would have been open at 11:30pm in the 1970s, although I realise it says to meet somebody. Perhaps outside the pub?

Thanks dotr, I shall have a watch of those.

Closing time was 10.30 then.

 

[dotr]

Closing time was 10.30 then.

Welcome to Ws Philpot, thanks for chiming in!
If the bars close at 10:30, wondering if MM wanted to meet an employee outside the bar at 11:30? speculation.

 

[Tortoise]

In the BBC programme linked above they showed a few newspaper articles from the time, which reported that she went there at 11pm. I've got a feeling Saturday nights closing time was half an hour later than other nights?

The programme closed by saying they have the DNA of the serial killer Joseph Kappen who lived in the area, and they have asked the police to examine items of evidence retained from the murder scene against his profile. He died in 1990 and his body was exhumed and the DNA obtained.

 

[jslk]

Frustratingly, doesn't appear to be any update on potential DNA testing yet!

 

[AcbMurders]

In the BBC programme linked above they showed a few newspaper articles from the time, which reported that she went there at 11pm. I've got a feeling Saturday nights closing time was half an hour later than other nights?

The programme closed by saying they have the DNA of the serial killer Joseph Kappen who lived in the area, and they have asked the police to examine items of evidence retained from the murder scene against his profile. He died in 1990 and his body was exhumed and the DNA obtained.

This should be an interesting watch

Steeltown Murders: How a DNA-first caught a serial killer 30 years on

Pioneering scientific analysis found a child murderer and inspired new BBC drama Steeltown Murders.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[dotr]

May 15 2023

The real story behind Steeltown Murders and the Saturday Night Strangler

The painstaking police investigation has been turned into a new BBC drama

www.walesonline.co.uk

''With the help of a psychological profiler, the team slowly whittled down the 35,000 names and, eight months later, arrived at a figure of 500.

Painstaking passport, driving licence and criminal record checks followed, leading to 353 men, one as far away as New Zealand, being tested. Nevertheless, although all elected to cooperate, none matched.

Among the 147 not checked was suspect number 200, a night club bouncer from Port Talbot called Joseph Kappen, who'd initially been quizzed at the time of the deaths but somehow slid under the radar - despite driving the same model of car spotted on the night in question.''

''And, when detectives knocked on his door, his ex-wife Christine appeared to deliver the revelation that Kappen had died of lung cancer 12 years before.

The team were not yet done with the late doorman - who was known to some on the force as a habitual petty criminal with a violent temper.

That is when the link with Sandra Newton's case became apparent and helped to provide a much needed lead. The developments in DNA meant that swabs proved the same man was responsible for all three murders.

The remoteness of the area in which Sandra's body was discovered also suggested her assailant had a strong local knowledge.''
''Steeltown Murders, Monday, May 15, 9pm, BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.''

 

[Pinkizzy]

The unsolved murder of mum feared to be victim of Saturday Night Strangler

Maureen Mulcahy who was murdered in Aberavon in 1976

''Mary Fox was in bed when she was disturbed by a cry at midnight.

“I heard a petrified scream”, said the 57-year-old resident of Pendarvis Terrace in Aberavon.

“It was as though there was a fight and somebody was being hurt and then I heard a girl say: ‘Oh my God!’”.

Doubtless terrified herself, Mrs Fox would recoil when she learned what she had witnessed.

The scream had been the final breaths of 23-year-old Maureen Mulcahy, whose body was discovered by a man walking his dog having been throttled to death on nearby waste ground.

The mother-of-two, of Burns Road on the Little Warren estate, had enjoyed a night out with friends drinking bottles of her favourite cider when she told them she was going to the Green Meadow pub, where she was a regular, to meet someone.

A friend later told reporters: “We were in the car and she opened the door twice as we drove along and threatened to jump out if we did not stop outside the Green Meadow.

“To think if we had insisted on taking her home this would never have happened."

''Remarkably, Miss Mulcahy was the fourth victim to have been discovered strangled in the Neath and Port Talbot area within three years.''

''Police later said it appeared she had been punched in the face before she was strangled. But there was no sign she had been robbed of anything or of sexual activity.

Maureen's neighbours described her as a shy, quiet, inoffensive girl who was devoted to her children. The former St Joseph's RC school pupil lived with her parents and had worked at the Fred Liebetruth paint box company in Addison Road.''

The Steeltown Murder girls were punched in the face before they were strangled

 

[dotr]

Lengthy, lots of detail. rbbm

The man who caught Wales' first serial killer after hunting him for 29 years

'I covered a lot of cold cases during my career and the mantra was always not only about finding the killer, but also about finding out who didn't do it'

www.walesonline.co.uk

''When the young detective, who joined Glamorgan Constabulary in 1967, worked on the original case in the early 1970s he remembers that there was no inkling that a new technique would come along to help assist in their enquiries.

"This case would go down in global criminal history for the revolutionary methods used by the South Wales Police," said Bethell. "Discovering DNA was a massive moment for us as investigators. We now had a golden opportunity to search for the killer of these girls.

"The enormity of the case never left me over the years. The brutal murders of three young girls. When we were first investigating we had no idea that something like DNA would come along, but credit must be given to the original team for keeping so much of the forensic material. Without them doing that there would have been no way we could have got the DNA that caught Kappen."

In the initial investigation, there were 150 detectives working the case but the second time around, it was just a team of three who had to trawl through 10,500 suspects and 14,000 statements.''

It was Paul who personally went to uncover the samples and the clothes that the girls had been wearing on the nights of their murders that had been kept and stored at the then forensic unit in Chepstow.

It was the key that Dr Colin Dark, of Chepstow-based Forensic Science Services, who came to the case in 1990, needed,

He has explained: "Much of it went into storage at Sandfields police station in Port Talbot where, because of the damp conditions, it turned to mush. It got very mouldy and mice had also nibbled away many index cards.

“Luckily I anticipated the sort of developments that might happen in DNA research and asked for the girls’ underwear to be stored at our labs in Chepstow. The key to cold case work is having material left to work with, you see."
''
That decision turned out to be vital as, in 1998, a scientific breakthrough would once again throw light on the case. The arrival of an ultra-sensitive testing system meant that the killer's genetic fingerprint, previously jumbled up with his victims', could be isolated from the ageing samples available.''

 

[Pinkizzy]

Kappen may have killed young women in other parts of the country, the TV series mentioned links to Leicester.