UK UK - Melanie Hall, 25, Bath, Somerset, 9 June 1996

[tes1984]

There are loads of potential sightings of Melanie between 1am and 2.15am, but AFAIK none of them are confirmed sightings.

The sighting at 1am might be genuine, as might the Walcot Street sightings, but I'm not sure they were made by people who actually knew Melanie.

JMO but I'm going with the 1am conversation with her friends as the last absolutely confirmed sighting.

Change the first and third 1ams to 1.10am in this post.. I'm getting my timeline confused!

*1.10am last confirmed sighting*

 

[Konstantin]

Change the first and third 1ams to 1.10am in this post.. I'm getting my timeline confused!

*1.10am last confirmed sighting*

04:53
Monday, 10 June 1996 (BST)
Sunrise in Bath, UK

So whatever happened did so after 1:10 am.

Not many hours of darkness left.

Given that the killer would surely want to dispose of Melanie's remains under cover of darkness, it seems plausible that she wasn't dumped in the M5 junction slip road undergrowth that same night. But presumably soon after because it would have been pretty hard and unpleasant to conceal a body for long.

 

[tes1984]

Man admits killing B’klyn dancer after meeting her at Manhattan club

Michael Mele (AP)GOSHEN — A sex offender suddenly admitted Monday that he suffocated an aspiring dancer from Brooklyn he met at a Manhattan nightclub, stuffed her body into a laundry basket and dum…

nypost.com

It's very rare for a killer to meet a victim in a nightclub, but here's a similar case from the USA.

The murder of Laura Garza from 2008. Laura met a convicted sex offender called Michael Mele in a nightclub and went back to his place.

Eighteen months later Laura's skeleton was found in woods 85 miles away.

Mele claimed Laura had suffocated when he placed his hand over her mouth to stop her yelling and calm her down. Somehow he managed to get a manslaughter plea and was sentenced to 23 years in 2012.

With good behaviour Mele could apparently be released in 2031.

 

[tes1984]

I'm not really convinced that Melanie dumps her boyfriend on the spot, and goes home with a mystery Romeo.

PB goes to the toilet for a few minutes, yet during this time she hooks up with another guy?

There's no evidence that Melanie even knows PB has left the club. PB storms off at some point between 12.30 and 1am. The police mention a 40 minute window for Melanie to have met someone else. The mystery man isn't there when Melanie's friends leave either.

I suppose stranger things have happened, but Melanie was supposed to be staying at her boyfriend's and all her stuff was there.

So she dumps him on the spot, and goes home with someone else, who then decides to kill her?

The theory of a Romeo stranger seems unlikely to me. More likely IMO that she encounters someone she knows and trusts from her four years in Bath, and accepts what she expects to be a lift back to her boyfriend's. Or jumps in a predator's taxi? Or walks back but is forced into a car?

 

[Rookie D]

Is there anyone to corroborate that Melanie's boyfriend did indeed storm off out of the club between 12.30 - 1am?

 

[tes1984]

Is there anyone to corroborate that Melanie's boyfriend did indeed storm off out of the club between 12.30 - 1am?

I'm going by memory, but IIRC they said in the documentary that his car was seen on CCTV. Not sure where or at what time though.

For what it's worth, in the documentary, one of the ex cops turns his nose up at PB's story and alibi.