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.

 

[rvlvr]

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.

Yeah, I’d forgotten (I think it was @tes1984 that said it) that Melanie wasn’t reported missing until the Monday? So that gave her killer and perhaps his accomplice more time to work with. Particularly in June I don’t think you’d want to keep a body around for too long. I suspect it was disposed of that weekend.

 

[Konstantin]

Yeah, I’d forgotten (I think it was @tes1984 that said it) that Melanie wasn’t reported missing until the Monday? So that gave her killer and perhaps his accomplice more time to work with. Particularly in June I don’t think you’d want to keep a body around for too long. I suspect it was disposed of that weekend.

I think so too.

There's something about it that feels personal to me - the smashing of her head and jaw is personal somehow? Attacking her face and identity?

Its also an act of rage. Not like strangulation. Did a profiler like Britton ever get involved with this case?

If it was someone who knew Melanie the accomplice angle could be because they thought she somehow deserved it? Thinking of Claudia Lawrence and the police theory that someone she knew killed her but others involved in cleaning up.

All speculation and JMO

 

[rvlvr]

It’s difficult to know how the conversation might go down, isn’t it. It was an accident? She tried to rob me? If you’ve already bagged the body you can probably spin any old story. Or maybe if you have something on the other guy then it’s a you scratch my back kind of situation.

 

[Konstantin]

It’s difficult to know how the conversation might go down, isn’t it. It was an accident? She tried to rob me? If you’ve already bagged the body you can probably spin any old story. Or maybe if you have something on the other guy then it’s a you scratch my back kind of situation.

Or just plain misogyny - "she did this" or "she wouldn't do that". If it was personal, that makes sense. But finding an accomplice to risk everything to help you afterwards is a harder one to understand, unless as you say some sort of criminal connection. But Melanie doesn't seem to have been connected to those circles at all. It's so extreme for just a one off killing from a stranger - surely if a stranger did it he would strike again at some point?

Her boyfriend going off like that does seem really out of all proportion to me - they had spent the day together apparently with no problems (though who knows?) and she didn't seem to notice or mind that he had gone, as she stayed on in the club. I guess when people have been drinking, perhaps all day, and perhaps something more in the club, they might not behave rationally, and he could have been the jealous type. How did he expect her to get to his house? Did he think she would go to a phone box and call him?

The Bible John case is another case of a killer meeting women in a club - or a dance hall! - and going off with them to then kill them.

Bible John - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

He has never been caught despite striking three times and several people seeing him including with the victims. In one case, the victim's sister shared a cab with him and her sister and could describe lots of things about him.

 

[tes1984]

Its also an act of rage. Not like strangulation. Did a profiler like Britton ever get involved with this case?

There's definitely signs of rage, but would the autopsy have been able to determine if Melanie was strangled or stabbed?

It's an extremely difficult case to profile. So many different possibilities.