This is the story of an almost perfect murder. Of a killer whose crime would go undetected for 21 years, and of a woman whose body was cleverly concealed in the murky depths of Coniston Water in the Lake District. Real Crime [with Mark Austin] s6e2: Lady in the Lake, ITV 2007
Dental records finally confirmed her identity as 30-year-old Carol Ann Park, a teacher and mother of 3 who’d gone missing from home in 1976. Carol was married to fellow schoolteacher Gordon Park. ibid.
His passion was the great outdoors. ibid.
In 1974 Carol took a lover, left home … there she made plans for a new life. ibid.
Carol’s watery grave was discovered by chance. ibid.
[Diver]: ‘Got a knife and cut the package open thinking it was going to be some sort of treasure. But it wasn’t what we was wanting to find. It looked very much like a body to me.’ Forensics: Catching the Killer, Sky Crime 2024
In August 1997 amateur divers retrieved what they believed to be a body from the depths of Coniston Water. ibid.
Carol had been missing for 21 years. ibid.
Although Carol went missing on July 17th Gordon Park didn’t report her disappearance until September 4th, 6 weeks later. ibid.
This forensic knot analysis was crucial in rebuilding a case against Gordon Park. ibid.
January 2004: Gordon Park rearrested. ibid.
PARK, NICK: Forensic Investigators TV -
2:30 p.m. Wednesday, 27th August 1997, Watagan State Forest, NSW: When a suitcase is found in a remote bushland area, its contents would begin a murder investigation. Forensic Investigators s3e9: Park Family Murders
Police first began their investigation into Susan and the children’s disappearance, which was 10 months before their bodies were found, they had gone to the flat where Susan lived. And her husband Nick Park was there. ibid.
Susan had been married to Nick Park [Sung Eun] aka for four years. They had met in Brisbane where Susan worked in her uncle’s Chinese restaurant. However, one month before Susan disappeared, she learnt that her husband had been seeing another woman. ibid.
Nick was an avid gambler. ibid.
PARKER, BONNIE & CLYDE BARROW: Timewatch: The Real Bonnie and Clyde TV - Jeff Guinn - Emma Parker - Blanche Barrow - Great Crimes & Trials of the 20th Century TV - John Dillinger - Bonnie Parker - Bonnie & Clyde 2014 – Natural Born Outlaws TV - Love & Death: The Story of Bonnie & Clyde TV - Bonnie & Clyde 1967 - Bonnie & Clyde 2013 -
Hollywood portrayed them as the most glamorous outlaws in American history. Timewatch: The Real Bonnie & Clyde, 2009
The most infamous outlaws of all were a pair of young lovers whose two-year crime spree included armed robbery, car theft, abduction, murder and a series of dramatic gun battles across at least eleven states. Some saw them as modern-day Robin Hoods. ibid.
There is some evidence that Clyde tried to go straight. ibid.
The bungled robbery of a grocery store led to the death of its owner. ibid.
He faced the electric chair if caught, but she vowed never to leave him. Bonnie and Clyde were already beyond the point of no return. ibid.
A deputy sheriff was murdered at this notorious Dallas safe house. ibid.
Already wanted for four other murders Clyde and his lover Bonnie took to the road. Their life on the run was romanticised and made glamorous. ibid.
Clyde had become obsessed by a dark episode from his past. ibid.
Fast cars, big guns and relentless travel were the secrets of the Barrow Gang’s epic crime spree. ibid.
J Edgar Hoover was personally outraged by Clyde Barrow’s audacious raids of military armaments. ibid.
Hoover’s agents would play a significant part in the downfall of Bonnie & Clyde. ibid.
While Frank Hamer has long been regarded as the archetypal lone ranger, the FBI file reveals that he was actually working in close harmony with J Edgar Hoover’s agents. ibid.
Bonnie & Clyde’s families’ telephones had been tapped. ibid.
There is no evidence that Bonnie pulled the trigger here or at any of the other murders attributed to the Barrow gang. ibid.
On a lonely road in Louisiana Bonnie & Clyde’s deadly game of cat and mouse reached its inevitable conclusion. ibid.
The Barrow Gang’s chaotic crime spree had claimed seventeen lives including those of Buck Barrow and Bonnie & Clyde themselves. ibid.
You can’t really understand what motivated them if you don’t understand the economic hopelessness of the time. Jeff Guinn, author ‘The True, Untold Story of Bonnie & Clyde’
For these young people there is a chance of fun and excitement. Jeff Guinn
Federal law changed so that murder and bank robbery became federal crimes. Jeff Guinn
There seemed to be a strange and terrifying change going on in the mind of my child. Emma Parker, Fugitives
All of us had a lot of fun together but to me there always seemed to be a shadow hanging over us like a dark cloud. Blanche Barrow, memoir
Buck was in danger at any and all times with Clyde. Blanche Barrow
I was glad they died together. Blanche Barrow
Clyde Barrow was born on 24th March 1909, the sixth of eight neglected children. Great Crimes & Trials of the 20th Century s2e22: Bonnie & Clyde, BBC 1994
Bonnie had been born at Rowena, Texas, a year after Clyde; her father died when she was four. ibid.
The loyal and lively Bonnie had joined him in a crime spree across Texas. ibid.
Between robberies they larked about, posing for snapshots. These added to their notoriety, giving the press the chance to portray them as ruthless lovers. ibid.
During his time in jail Clyde had learned to be bisexual, and he and Bonnie shared their fellow gang member Ray Hamilton who enjoyed sex any way he could get it. ibid.
For all their fame the sums they stole were tiny. ibid.
Their bodies had been riddled with about fifty bullets each. ibid.