UK UK - Kate Bushell, 14, Exeter, Devon, 15 Nov 1997

[tes1984]

I don't think the orange fibre line of enquiry will ever get anywhere. Same with the blue car line of enquiry.

AFAIR the police consulted with abbatoir workers, regarding the killer's MO. The profiles suggested someone who might have slaughterhouse experience, but I'm not sure if any men within that industry were considered suspects.

 

[wtiger]

i think that this offender must clearly be pretty much local to the area - i think that focusing on people with abattoir experience should come second to focusing on known people in the area who might have a propensity to attack a young girl out walking.
99.99% of the population are not local to that area AND 99.99% of the local population wouldn't dream of butchering a young girl out walking.
this should really not have been the hardest case in the world to solve in my opinion

 

[Sweeper2000]

I don't think the orange fibre line of enquiry will ever get anywhere. Same with the blue car line of enquiry.

AFAIR the police consulted with abbatoir workers, regarding the killer's MO. The profiles suggested someone who might have slaughterhouse experience, but I'm not sure if any men within that industry were considered suspects.

i understand. Generic orange safety workwear isn't exactly a rare thing to see right? where did you get the info about police consulting the abbatoir workers? Its just a guess from me but i don't think working in abbatoirs would be a job many people would want to do which means the workforce is likely temporary and perhaps workers within it worked menial jobs, somewhat similar to generic railway work. this may narrow the list of suspects. My thinking was that it was someone used to that kind of work and just takes whats available which means they could have picked up that clothing from any of those jobs. May also be someone who kind of drifts from job to job and so may have only worked any of these jobs for short periods of time.

ETA on the vagrant posted upthread, he must have been subsisting in one way or another maybe doing menial jobs?

 

[Sweeper2000]

i think that this offender must clearly be pretty much local to the area - i think that focusing on people with abattoir experience should come second to focusing on known people in the area who might have a propensity to attack a young girl out walking.
99.99% of the population are not local to that area AND 99.99% of the local population wouldn't dream of butchering a young girl out walking.
this should really not have been the hardest case in the world to solve in my opinion

yeh makes sense to me. only thing is the individual may not ahve been known for such things or known by many at all. The police do believe it was someone with local knowledge. it also follows from your info and police appeals that someone knows or suspects the person who did this and has not come forward. its in the appeals posted upthread.

 

[tes1984]

i think that this offender must clearly be pretty much local to the area - i think that focusing on people with abattoir experience should come second to focusing on known people in the area who might have a propensity to attack a young girl out walking.
99.99% of the population are not local to that area AND 99.99% of the local population wouldn't dream of butchering a young girl out walking.
this should really not have been the hardest case in the world to solve in my opinion

A local offender is a very good possibility, but police have also looked at the idea that the perp was a commuter offender. IIRC one theory was that the killer was in the area as a delivery driver.

If there is a link with the Lyn Bryant murder, then a local marauder killer either moves, or becomes a commuter offender.

 

[Sweeper2000]

A local offender is a very good possibility, but police have also looked at the idea that the perp was a commuter offender. IIRC one theory was that the killer was in the area as a delivery driver.

If there is a link with the Lyn Bryant murder, then a local marauder killer either moves, or becomes a commuter offender.

where r u getting ur info ? i know the blue car theory suggested an out of town person as they checked so many cars. they thought it a blue vauxhall astra.

<a href="Murders of Kate Bushell and Lyn Bryant - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a> They noted that she was looking straight at them, which they thought was unusual, and slightly further up the road they saw a man stood by a small blue van that was parked on the southern side of the lane.<a href="Murders of Kate Bushell and Lyn Bryant - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a> It was parked facing away from Exwick, and police believe it may have been a blue Vauxhall Astra van.

 

[tes1984]

Kate Bushell 1997 murder case in doubt after forensic errors

A killer who stabbed a teenager to death in 1997 may escape justice after evidence was contaminated during forensic work, the BBC can reveal.

www.bbc.co.uk

Article about how the forensic evidence in the KB case was accidently contaminated by one of the forensic scientists in 1999.

 

[dotr]

MURDER APPEAL - Catch Kate Bushell's Killer - Devon & Cornwall Police

Devon & Cornwall Police need your help: - MURDER APPEAL - Catch Kate Bushell's Killer

news.devon-cornwall.police.uk

''A critical piece of evidence was the presence of orange clothing fibres, more than 100 of which were found on Kate’s body and one on a nearby country stile.

Detectives have carried out substantial work on the fibres which are from a bright orange azoic-dyed cotton material predominately used in non-fluorescent workwear such as boiler suits, aprons and gloves.

“Does anyone remember someone with orange non-florescent clothing who was acting strangely around the time of the murder? If someone does have suspicions then please give us a name,” said DI Back.''

 

[Hustling01]

I want this case solved i do believe she wasnt the first or last killing he committed

 

[hannah246]

I want this case solved i do believe she wasnt the first or last killing he committed

Same and time is ticking i would hate to know the killer is dead and escaped justice.

 

[Sweeper2000]

Would anyone know how to go about finding what the police knows? it narrows the options and highlights potentials. I don't know if and what the police would be willing to give out though?

ETA it seems so much like the delphi murders as well, especially with the guy seen running back tot he estate where she had come from. a local perp through and through.

 

[tes1984]

Would anyone know how to go about finding what the police knows? it narrows the options and highlights potentials. I don't know if and what the police would be willing to give out though?

ETA it seems so much like the delphi murders as well, especially with the guy seen running back tot he estate where she had come from. a local perp through and through.

You need a contact within the relevant local police force. Generally the police don't like sharing information with amateur researchers though.

 

[Sweeper2000]

You need a contact within the relevant local police force. Generally the police don't like sharing information with amateur researchers though.

NO harm in asking right? different thing as well to ask what if anything they could give out. Couldn't see any harm in them telling what has been ruled out already.

 

[Sweeper2000]

anyone think they would say what their list of msot likely suspects is? from what i read its blue hatchback man as number 1, running man number 2 and then the homeless guy as number three but i think the last isn't a high priority. he disappeared before the murder.

 

[tes1984]

anyone think they would say what their list of msot likely suspects is? from what i read its blue hatchback man as number 1, running man number 2 and then the homeless guy as number three but i think the last isn't a high priority. he disappeared before the murder.

I think that the running man is the most suspicious, but IIRC there isn't a great description of him.

 

[Sweeper2000]

I think that the running man is the most suspicious, but IIRC there isn't a great description of him.

I'm not sure the running man is number one though ffrom the police pov. chek this


"Several witnesses also saw a man running fast in the Farm Hill/Cornflower Hill area of Exwick between 5pm and 7pm. This man has never been traced.

DI Back said: “The sightings of these two men are just as important now as they were in 1997. Who are they and why have they never come forward? If you know who they are or if it was you and you were there for a genuine reason then please contact us.

“The man next to the blue vehicle is highly likely to have seen Kate in the lane but has never contacted us despite repeated appeals.”"

MURDER APPEAL - Catch Kate Bushell's Killer - Devon & Cornwall Police

Devon & Cornwall Police need your help: - MURDER APPEAL - Catch Kate Bushell's Killer

news.devon-cornwall.police.uk

That last line makes me think they suspect the blue car man.


do we know if this man is the same as the man seen running from the scene half hour after her body was found? dont think it is but cant tell.

Half an hour after Bushell was found dead and half a mile away, a man was seen running from the direction of the lane into Cornflower Hill in Exwick, while the police helicopter was circling above.<a href="Murders of Kate Bushell and Lyn Bryant - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a> Police did not know for sure if the sighting of the man was connected, and when Bushell's murder was featured on Crimewatch in January 1998 they appealed for him to come forward.<a href="Murders of Kate Bushell and Lyn Bryant - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a> He never did.

 

[Hustling01]

Would anyone know how to go about finding what the police knows? it narrows the options and highlights potentials. I don't know if and what the police would be willing to give out though?

ETA it seems so much like the delphi murders as well, especially with the guy seen running back tot he estate where she had come from. a local perp through and through.

They wouldnt give you anything juicy

 

[forensicswannabe]

I wonder what the motive was? What are the theories here for motive?

 

[Sweeper2000]

I wonder what the motive was? What are the theories here for motive?

tey didn't rule out a sexul motive as her clothes were disturbed. thats all there is on the motive though.police think there is a high chance the same killer murdered someone else as well.

"Bushell, was found with her throat cut 300 yards (270 metres) from her home. Bryant was stabbed a number of times, her killer had apparently returned to the scene four months later to place her missing glasses back at the site. The apparently motiveless killings, as well as their particularly brutal nature and apparent links, led to fears that a serial killer was at large in the south-west at the time."

Lead detective Chris Boarland concluded: "This was a planned murder. It was not about Lynda Bryant. This is somebody who was looking for somebody in an isolated location." both the Bushell and Bryant cases it was ultimately concluded that the motive was sexual, even though neither of the victims had been sexually assaulted." In both cases this was because of the way their clothes had been disturbed by her killer.

Murders of Kate Bushell and Lyn Bryant - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Hustling01]

These men are never going to come forward even if they are innocent because its not as simple as saying hi it was me we shall chat about it and thats that his entire life would be scrutinized and turned upside down and his friends and neighbours would forever be suspicious. Only real way to solve the cases is dna and if nobody comes forward and no dna is found is is too poor to use then im afraid to say it but sometimes people do get away with murder