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.

 

[Eastend Eagle]

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.

Police estimated that her virtual decapitation was caused by about 12 slashes of a knife. Presumably she would have fallen after the first or possibly second so is it assumed that about 10 slashes happened after she'd fallen?

 

[Der Detektiv]

Yes, I think that can be assumed.

Although it is still puzzling why such overkill was used in Eve's case and yet Lynne was still alive, albeit unconscious, when she was left, which surely the killer must have realised. I wonder if he was somehow disturbed in the latter case.

 

[Der Detektiv]

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.

Let's say there were two perpetrators, why do you think only one of them went to kill again?

 

[tes1984]

Let's say there were two perpetrators, why do you think only one of them went to kill again?

The police haven't confirmed two perps were there, so it's all just speculation at this stage.

If (and it's a big if IMO) there were two perps, then perhaps the secondary perp committed additional crimes but wasn't ever linked to them. Or got caught for something else and served a sentence before they started collecting DNA from serious offenders for the national database. Or was terrified about being caught for his part in Eve's murder and vowed never to do it again. Who knows?

 

[lee sumner]

Had the chance to re-watch the ITV doc on the cases of Eve and Lynne over the Christmas break. In it the friend of Lynne's mentions that they regularly went out to pubs in the evening. They would sit with other friends, males, and have a drink that would last them all night.
Could it be that the killer was someone who had seen Lynne in the pub and either knew her route home (presumably on her own such as the night of her attack) and then struck, or did it on the off-chance that night? If that's the case then it could be a local.

this is what i was thinking. did the killer see lynne weedon in the pub. was he a regular.

 

[lee sumner]

Very interesting theory. There's no evidence Eve was moonlighting, but she had lost her regular income so you never know.

I'm not sure about her agreeing to host anything like that at her flat though. The place was a bit of a tip, wasn't very private. They could have been disturbed at any time. What if the photographer turns up half an hour late, or if her boyfriend unexpectedly finishes work half an hour early? She's taking a big risk with such a secretive plan.

Eve was a Playboy bunny and published glamour model. If she was doing things off the books, then wouldn't she still have expected a certain amount of professionalism in terms of the location? Or did someone offer her hundreds of pounds but said it has to be today and it has to be at your place? When could it have been arranged?

I also think Eve would have been unlikely to invite someone round unless she knew them well. She had been receiving hang up phone calls, which had just been reported to the police. She was also worried she was being followed. With all this going on, would she really invite someone to her home, when she was alone?

the killer missed tony priest by about 10 mins. killer was believed to have run out of the flat around 515pm, and TP arrived home from work around 530pm and found eve stratford dead with horrific wounds to her neck. did the killer know TP was going to arrive home shortly. he had about a 50 min window to gain access to ES flat, rape her then kill her in the sadistic manner she was killed, and to think he got away clean makes me furious.

 

[lee sumner]

Man recalls unsolved killing

Police statements taken from a man stopped by a hitch-hiker 32 years ago, yards from where Hounslow teenager Lynne Weedon was murdered are being…

www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk

2007 By Colleen McDonnell rbbm
''Bernard Andrews, a retired BBC producer, now aged 74, was driving home to Wraysbury from London along the Great West Road at about 1am on the night Miss Weedon was murdered in September 1975.
A hitch-hiker flagged him down at the Sutton Lane junction with the Great West Road, Hounslow''.

Recalling what happened on the night of September 3 1975, Mr Andrews said: "A man waved me down and I rolled the window down to ask him where he was going. He said he was going to the west country, but he was very agitated. I had an instinctive sense I was to get away from him.
"I thought I have got to get out of here, so I drove off and left him there.''

"The next day I saw on the TV that a young girl was raped and murdered and I said I've got to tell the police what I saw the night before."

''Lynne Weedon, 16, was said to have been attacked between 11pm and 11.45pm on a footpath just 400 yards away from the spot where the hitch-hiker flagged Mr Andrews down.

He described the hitch-hiker as aged about 26 with longish hair, wearing a brown jacket and carrying a black executive briefcase.''

the mystery man who wanted a lift of mr andrews seems odd. the long hippy hair and executive briefcase dont seem to line up, strange. i think this was lynne weedon killer leaving the area. if mr andrews had given him a lift we would have more info on the mystery hiker, but he sensed something was amiss and drove off. good for him. RIP, lynne weedon and eve stratford.

 

[skepticsouth]

Let's say there were two perpetrators, why do you think only one of them went to kill again?

The other one committed suicide.

 

[lee sumner]

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 described as sounding like a chair being turned over.

 

[lee sumner]

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?

8 to 12 times her throat was cut. nearly decapitated.

 

[lee sumner]

Oh no I didn't get the impression that you felt he was involved.
Often police, press, investigators, armchair or otherwise, are interested in witnesses as much as finding the perp. Not even necessarily witnesses of a crime, but people that can fill in blanks, connect people that knew each other, describe how people behaved, if they mentioned anything, id they seemed worried, if people liked them and on and on. Like the people interviewed in these documentaries.

There certainly seemed to be connections across the West End. Life didn't begin and end in the Playboy club.

I get the impression Abdul Khawaja was friendly at other casinos and with management + employees. Networking. Not that I am saying he was involved in Eve's death though some seem to think so. I am partly interested in his contacts. He seems to connect various people.

Security would get to know various local characters too, not just clientele.

abdul was cleared years ago. DCI sutton is wrong in my opinion thinking stratford and farrow were killed by same perp. stratford murder was clearly a sex crime, but farrow murder looks like a domestic style murder. i believe farrow was killed by henchman working for her husband. his health was failing so he had others do his dirty work.

 

[dotr]

the mystery man who wanted a lift of mr andrews seems odd. the long hippy hair and executive briefcase dont seem to line up, strange. i think this was lynne weedon killer leaving the area. if mr andrews had given him a lift we would have more info on the mystery hiker, but he sensed something was amiss and drove off. good for him. RIP, lynne weedon and eve stratford.

rbbm
A band manager or record producer type comes to mind, or someone carrying a 'kill kit'', in the brief-case, or a pseudo door to door salesman, speculation.