As well as looking for Mr Kipper, detectives were looking for a dark BMW car. ibid.
Michael Cannan: but the lead from Reading wasn’t pursued. It was marked No Further Action At This Stage. ibid.
137,296. On Thursday 8th October 1987 Shirley Banks, a 29-year-old clothes designer from Bristol went missing after going shopping … The striking similarities between the two cases was soon headline news. ibid.
Cannan was also a suspect for the murder of 27-year-old office worker Sandra Court in Bournemouth in 1986. ibid.
In April 1989 Cannan had been convicted at Exeter Crown Court of several violent sexual assaults against women, including the rape in Reading … Cannan was also convicted of the murder of Shirley Banks. ibid.
Tuesday 19th February 2008 Day 1: 9 months after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, 9-year-old Shannon Matthews goes missing. Her disappearance is a total mystery. It triggers the biggest investigation in the region since the Yorkshire Ripper. This is a story of deception and betrayal and a plot nobody believed imaginable. The Disappearance of Shannon Matthews, captions, Channel 5 2021
West Yorkshire Police escalate her disappearance to the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team. ibid.
14 premises with connections to Shannon and her family are searched for any clues to her disappearance. ibid.
‘The last afternoon I saw her something didn’t seem right. ’Cause someone told her her brother was picking up that day after school but he never showed up.’ ibid. Megan Aldridge, best friend
West Yorkshire Police are attempting to trace and eliminate hundreds of sex offenders living in close proximity to the home of Shannon Matthews. Investigators are also building up a detailed profile of Shannon Matthews’ family. ibid. captions
Karen Matthews has been defending her boyfriend Craig Meehan in a series of media interviews. ibid.
Then Karen Matthews drops a bombshell. She suggests someone she knows has abducted Shannon. ibid.
But as the community pulls together, some journalists are becoming increasingly suspicious of Karen’s and Craig’s behaviour. They now seem to be relishing the spotlight. Doubts are also growing amongst the police family liaison officers assigned to Karen. ibid.
The documentary crew film Karen joking with her neighbour. She appears comfortable and relaxed. ibid. journalist
During their inquiries the police receive a tip-off about a local man. He has not been seen since Shannon went missing three weeks ago: Michael Donovan [born Paul Drake]. Police head to Donovan’s house in Batley Carr just one mile from Shannon’s home. ibid. caption
I knew that the voice had come from within the room. I couldn’t work out where it was coming from. And then there were some noises from within the double-bed base. The Disappearance of Shannon Matthews II, investigating rozzer
Two grizzly old detectives with tears in their eyes. ibid. rozzer #2
Nine-year-old Shannon Matthews has just been rescued from a flat a mile from her home. The police are still searching for her suspected abductor, Michael Donovan. ibid. captions
She didn’t ask any questions about the child’s welfare. ibid. rozzer #3
Michael Donovan is still being held at Halifax police station. He’s been arrested on suspicion of kidnap and false imprisonment. He has implicated Karen Matthews. ibid.
A hotel with a notorious past is the site of another bizarre case. It’s one of the most obsessively followed true crime cases of the century. Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Hotel Cecil I: Lost in Los Angeles, television news, Netflix 2021
The Cecil is a very deceiving hotel. There’s a lot of beauty to it. But it was the complete opposite of beauty. ibid. man
We’ve got missing persons, suicides, overdoses … ibid. woman
With Elisa Lam, you’re talking about a 21-year-old college student that just completely disappears. ibid. man
Her laptop had been left behind, her prescription medications, other items of value … ibid.
The LAPD has released bizarre surveillance footage [elevator] of 21-year-old Elisa Lam. ibid. television news
It’s [video] been intentionally knocked out … They determine the video has essentially been slowed down 33 to 35 per cent … The edits could have possibly been done by the hotel before it was supplied to the police. Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel II: Secrets of the Cecil, web sleuth
There is a ladder on the roof to get to the tanks. On top of the tank there’s a little hatch. And when I went to look that’s when I saw her. (Disappearances & Hotel & Accident) ibid. hotel maintenance man
Jack Unterweger begins to research a story about how the police deal with prostitution in downtown Los Angeles … Jack Unterweger is actually a convicted killer. A pimp. A rapist. Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel III: Down the Rabbit Hole, woman
There appeared to be no evidence of external or internal injuries that could have led to her death. ibid. man
If you reduce the plot of Dark Water down to its basic elements, it’s almost the story of Elisa Lam. ibid.
She had at least four prescription medications … Elisa stopped taking her medications. Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel IV: The Hard Truth, woman
You would also then have to come up a ladder with a body. ibid. man
The death of 21-year-old Canadian tourist Elisa Lam has been ruled an accident due to drowning. ibid. newswoman
She looked like she could be having hallucinations. ibid. woman
This is a tragedy about a woman who was suffering. ibid.
The USS Cyclops: It just disappeared without a trace … one of the most famous mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle … The USS Cyclops was one of the largest coal-hauling cargo ships in the United States’ navy. Curse of the Bermuda Triangle IV: Unexplained Encounters
The fate of the five planes known collectively as Flight 19 has baffled experts for more than 70 years … The vanishing of Flight 19 is one of the most notorious disappearances to ever occur within the Bermuda Triangle. Curse of the Bermuda Triangle V
In Colombia there have been 92,000 people disappeared. Abby Martin, The Empire Files: Human Rights Hypocrisy: Colombia vs Venezuela, Dan Kovalik
Steven Clark’s case was classified as a missing person investigation for 28 years. And during that time was subjected to numerous reviews by senior police officers, who all classified Steven as missing. But then in 2020 a new police team reviewed the case and classified Steven’s disappearance as murder. Accused of Murdering our Son: The Steven Clark Story, captions, ITV 2021
14 September 2020: Charles and Doris Clark are arrested on suspicion of their son Steven’s murder. ibid.
There were two reported sightings after Steven’s disappearance by people who knew him. ibid.
If Charles and Doris killed Steven, then not only are they the best actors I’ve ever met but they’ve got me beat, because I don’t think they murdered Steven. ibid. investigator
Two people who were arrested on suspicion of the murder of Steven Clark have now been released from the investigation without charge. ibid. caption
In Britain 76,000 children go missing every year. By the end of this programme, 13 more will have disappeared. Most will have been found within a few days. But not all. In March 2002 the disappearance of one teenage girl shocked the nation. But it was to no avail. From missing person to murder, the hunt for Millie Dowler’s killer was the biggest in the history of the investigating force. The Abduction of Millie Dowler, Channel 5 2021
In the short time it takes Millie’s friend to board the bus and look out of the window to where Millie should be, from this very stretch of a busy main road, Millie has vanished into thin air. ibid.
Two young boys disappeared off the streets of Chelmsley Wood on Boxing Day night 1996. Never to be seen again … They were only 11 and 13. And they became known as the Milk Carton kids. In the Footsteps of Killers s1e1: David Spencer & Patrick Warren, Channel 4 2021
Chelmsley Wood is a working-class area. ibid.
‘Brian Field was a gardener … He’d actually been convicted in 2001 for the rape and murder of a schoolboy called Roy Tutill.’ ibid. Leda Reynolds, local journalist