UK UK- Eve Stratford, 21, Bunny @ Playboy Club, posed for mag. cover, later her mutilated & grotesquely staged body found @ home, London 18/03/75 *DNA*

[Der Detektiv]

How long do you think he was in the property for? IIRC he spent a surprisingly long time at the much more public Lynne Weedon murder scene.

I thought I had read that Eve returned home at approximately 4pm and the police believe she was met, or surprised, just as she was arriving at the door, as the neighbours heard no knocking.

Calm conversation was definitely heard upstairs at 4:30.

If I recall, the thud and footsteps downstairs were heard at about 5:10 or 5:15, placing him in the property for just over an hour.

 

[Eastend Eagle]

I thought I had read that Eve returned home at approximately 4pm and the police believe she was met, or surprised, just as she was arriving at the door, as the neighbours heard no knocking.

Calm conversation was definitely heard upstairs at 4:30.

If I recall, the thud and footsteps downstairs were heard at about 5:10 or 5:15, placing him in the property for just over an hour.

Why would there have been a thud?
From the description of the murder scene I don't see how a thud would have occurred.

 

[Der Detektiv]

IIRC he spent a surprisingly long time at the much more public Lynne Weedon murder scene.

Personally, I don’t think he did. Unless I’m mixed up, wasn’t the supposed attacker seen running out of the alley at about 11:45? Leaving him 25 minutes or so at the scene of the crime.

I’ve never believed the “agitated” and “foul-smelling” man with a briefcase who tried to hitch a ride at 1am had anything to do with this.

I think this was simply an innocent bystander who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[Der Detektiv]

Why would there have been a thud?
From the description of the murder scene I don't see how a thud would have occurred.

It was from the description by the neighbours downstairs. Police believe Eve was struck from behind and she fell forward onto the floor, dead. They believe this was the cause of the thud they heard.

 

[Eastend Eagle]

It was from the description by the neighbours downstairs. Police believe Eve was struck from behind and she fell forward onto the floor, dead. They believe this was the cause of the thud they heard.

I thought she was found on her bed virtually decapitated by way of a knife. Do the Police believe these injuries were done after she'd been killed?

 

[Der Detektiv]

I thought she was found on her bed virtually decapitated by way of a knife. Do the Police believe these injuries were done after she'd been killed?

Eve was found face down either on/or next to her bed.

The "bed" was just a mattress on the floor and police believe she would have fallen onto it when her throat was cut from behind, hence the "thud" that was heard from downstairs.

 

[tes1984]

Personally, I don’t think he did. Unless I’m mixed up, wasn’t the supposed attacker seen running out of the alley at about 11:45? Leaving him 25 minutes or so at the scene of the crime.

I think 25 minutes is a fairly long time to spend at that crime scene, but that's JMO.

 

[tes1984]

In my theory, I don’t believe it was necessarily a “secretive” plan, just one that had been concocted last-minute, perhaps that very day, and thus no-one else had been made aware. A 21-year old in Eve’s position was probably jumping at the chance to earn a bit of extra money and potentially further her modelling career. Any red flags would have been dismissed.

We know the killer was quite a strong man - he may have arrogantly believed he could overpower her boyfriend, especially with Eve bound. Alternatively - did he believe Eve even had any roommates? Bear in mind in the Mayfair article she claimed she lived alone.

It's possible that someone turned up and offered Eve a business opportunity, but I doubt she had been allowing photographers to visit her at home for photoshoots.

She wasn't really struggling for money and had official work lined up with her agent. She had earned a lot of money from the Mayfair shoot, her rent was paid up, Tony was her first boyfriend and she was apparently very loyal to him etc etc.

The killer does seem to have been a strong man, based on the Lynne Weedon murder. Perhaps he thought he could deal with anyone who turned up. He would almost certainly have quickly realised that Eve didn't live alone, if he didn't already know that.

It's also possible that there were two perps involved in Eve's murder... descriptions of two men seen outside Eve's property, and the suggestion that two DNA profiles were found in the flat.