Manchester's Serial Killer aired on Channel 4 last night, you will be able to watch it on 4 on demand. It explored 3 of those 28 "unexplained" cases where nothing can be ruled out.
The cases were:
Nathan Tomlinson
Left club alone in cold snowy weather and was caught around town on cctv - taking more than the long way home - including running at one point? authorities say it is him in the poor quality images but his parents and private investigators who carried out various timing exercises and reenactments in the program think otherwise
David Plunkett - A friend phoned David's parents as David had gone missing on their night out and he couldn't get hold of him and wanted to check if David had went home. David's parent's called David's mobile - which was answered, but no one spoke. They could hear the person - whom they assumed was David - walking and the call continued for 8 minutes while they tried to speak to their son met with silence. After 8 minutes they heard a sickening scream and the call cut off. Had someone done something to David or had he jumped/fell in the river? His phone was found on the embankment and specialists think that if the scream was him falling in the river then they would have heard him hit the water, and the phone may not have cut off.
Souvik Pal - He was thrown out a club early in the night for skipping the queue for the toilets. His friends attested he had not had much to drink. He was spotted on CCTV standing outside the club whilst he messaged his friends before chatting to an unknown man, whom he left with on CCTV. CCTV records them at the canal side & then strange mostly offscreen movement that is caught on the edge of the CCTV, it is hard to make out and both are off camera. Later the man Souvik is with leaves by himself (recorded on CCTV). Efforts to trace and identify the man - who may be able to provide information on what could have happened - have been unsuccessful.
Daily Mail has posted an article on the documentary
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-eight-years-experts-fear-deaths-linked.html
My thoughts:
Whilst there are unanswered questions in relation to the deaths, they are still "unexplained".
Watching the program a couple of things were apparent to me - it showed the vast canal network walkways that people regularly walked along in the dark of night, under bridges, along embankments etc on the way to / from town. There were no railings to prevent accidents so tripping or falling, fooling around, bad weather or fighting could easily mean entry into the water ways. The secluded and dark pathways are also an ideal spot for gangs to operate drugs/women/thefts.
Secondly, the show plays on the statistics of bodies recovered as the main hint of a serial killer. Statistics and history shows that there can be pockets & trends of suicide in certain areas or by certain means. There is a town in Wales (name escapes me right now but i can dig) where there is a really high rate of suicide by hanging among the local teenage population, that the press reported it as an "epidemic". Aokiogahara forest is another example. It can become a symbol for those who see no way out.
Between suicides, accidents due to the poor layout (cmon council get some lamp posts & barriers in there), muggings etc I can see the figure being that high - no evidence of a serial killer