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Forensic Tales discusses topics that some listeners may find disturbing. The contents of this episode may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. In August 2002, the case of two missing 10-year-old girls captured the attention of the entire world. Thousands of people came forward pleading for anyone to provide information into the girls' whereabouts.
The uber-famous soccer star David Beckham even came out to make a public plea. Where were Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells? Two young English girls with their entire lives ahead of them. And how could investigators learn to use experts in the field of forensic botany to help solve the case? This is Forensic Tales, episode number seven, The Psalm Murders.
Thank you.
Welcome to Forensic Tales. I'm your host, Courtney Fretwell. Forensic Tales is a weekly true crime podcast that covers real, bone-chilling true crime stories with a forensic science twist. Some of the cases have been solved by the help of forensic science. Others have turned cold.
The stories we cover each week send a chilling reminder that not all stories have happy endings. If you're interested in supporting the show and getting early access to weekly episodes, bonus material, ad-free episodes, merchandise, and so much more, consider visiting our Patreon page, patreon.com slash Forensic Tales.
Another great way you can help support Forensic Tales is by leaving us a positive rating with a review or telling friends and family who love true crime about us. Now, let's jump right into this week's case. Hey there, thank you so much for joining me for episode number seven of Forensic Tales. The case we're covering this week not only shook the lives of our friends across the pond in England...
But it's also a case that truly captured the attention of the entire world. The world followed the story of two 10-year-old missing girls from England. Anyone who turned on the television and heard about the girls' disappearance wanted answers. Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were two 10-year-old classmates who had been friends since they were four years old.
Even at four years old, the girls instantly became best friends, practically joined at the hip, and looked more like sisters than merely best friends. Jessica Chapman was the youngest in the family of three girls. Her family described her as being a lively girl, known for being polite towards everyone she met. Her family also described her as being a tomboy,
She didn't mind getting her jeans dirty now and then and liked to play sports. Holly Wells was more of the girly girl in the friendship. She wanted to do things like play dress-up and put on her mother's makeup. But their differences didn't stop the girls from becoming instant best friends. They always say that opposites attract. Both families described the girls as being very mature for their ages.
They were responsible even for being 10 years old. Whenever the girls were away from their parents' house, they were both very good at telling mom and dad exactly where they were and when they would be home. Jessica and Holly were the types of girls every parent would be proud to raise. On August 4, 2002, Holly and Jessica were at Holly's family home in Somme.
Somme is a tiny town in England with only a population of about 8,500 people, making it a city in which everyone knew everyone. The two young girls were doing like any other girls their age and just playing around the house, simply enjoying a family barbecue. They were living the carefree, fun life we all did when we were only 10 years old.
At approximately 6.15 p.m. on the evening of August 4th, Holly and Jessica decided they wanted to leave Holly's home and go do something else. When you're 10 years old, hanging around your parents' house at a family barbecue doesn't sound all that fun. The girls didn't tell anyone they were planning on leaving or where they were planning on going that evening. They were kids.
Holly and Jessica decided to leave the home to walk down to the local sports center to go grab some candy out of a vending machine. This part of the story reminds me of how innocent we are as kids. Holly and Jessica walked past several homes in the neighborhood during their walk back from the vending machine. One of the houses belonged to Ian Huntley, a caretaker at a local secondary school.
And to clarify here, a caretaker is an English term used to describe someone who basically ensures that buildings are safe, well-maintained, and clean. So Ian Huntley was a maintenance-type worker for the secondary school. At 8 o'clock p.m., Holly's mother decided to look for the girls around the house because she didn't remember seeing Jessica or Holly in quite some time.
The mother decided to check on the girls and have them say goodbye to the family barbecue guests. But the girls weren't in the upstairs bedroom. After searching the entire house, she couldn't find the girls anywhere. Similar to any young girl, both Holly and Jessica had a strict 8.30 p.m. curfew. I can relate to this because I know I had a curfew until I was 18 years old.
Once 8.30 p.m. rolls around, Holly's mom and dad are anxious about their daughter and friend. Holly's mother decided to call Jessica's parents because she thought maybe the girls decided to go to Jessica's house and maybe the girls lost track of time. As soon as Holly's mom spoke to Jessica's mom, the fear inside of her grew. That's because Jessica's parents were just as worried about the girls.
After all, it was way past their curfew and neither girl had returned home. Holly and Jessica's parents report both girls missing to the police at 9.55 p.m. Police in England immediately begin an all-hands-on-deck search for Holly and Jessica. Over 400 police officers were assigned full-time to search for the missing girls.
These officers began knocking on every single door throughout the town of Somme. News about the missing girls began to spread even outside of Somme, which led to thousands of volunteers joining the missing girls search. The United States Air Force, stationed nearby, even offered up several of their officers to assist in the investigation. Jessica and Holly had taken a photo together the night they went missing at the family barbecue.
The photograph depicted the two girls both wearing red Manchester United replica football jerseys, and both of the girls were wearing black shorts. The police used the photo on local news media to get the word out about the missing girls. The press urged anyone who saw the girls wearing those matching red Manchester United jerseys any time that afternoon to call the police.
By this point, law enforcement highly suspects that someone kidnapped the girls. Both girls had a perfect track record of abiding by their curfews and both described by friends and family as being very mature and responsible. It was just not like these girls to not return home and go missing like this. Police started to make contact with every single registered sex offender in the area.
And it turns out there were over 260 registered sex offenders across the UK, including 15 high-risk pedophiles, all of which who police interviewed. Police even looked into the girls' internet history, thinking that they may have arranged to meet up with someone they met online. But the police just came up empty-handed after every single interview.
Four days after their disappearance, on August 8th, police released CCTV footage of the girls to the public. The CCTV footage showed Jessica and Holly arriving at the local sports center at 6.28 p.m. The video tells police and the public that the girls were alive when they arrived at the vending machines.
By this point in the investigation, several public members came forward claiming to have seen Jessica and Holly after their disappearance. Over 2,000 tips arrived at the police station, making it extremely difficult for police to try and sift through the good and the bad leads. I want to think that the public only calls the police with good, legitimate tips,
But unfortunately, this doesn't always happen out in the real world. And you get things like girls calling in and suspecting their ex-boyfriend was somehow involved. One person who called the police was from a tip by a guy named Mark Tuck. Mark Tuck told police that he had driven by the girls on Sand Street around 6.30 p.m. that night.
He told police that he remembered seeing the girls because they were both wearing those red Manchester United jerseys, and it caught his attention. He said to his wife in the car, quote, Hey, look at those two Beckhams over there.
Another woman, Karen Greenwood, also came forward to the police, telling law enforcement that she remembers seeing the girls walking, quote, arm in arm along College Drive about two minutes after Mark Tuck remembers seeing the girls. Unfortunately, none of these leads leave police any closer to finding Holly or Jessica. Investigators were back at square one.
The police decide they want to go back to the one person who was most likely the last person to see Holly and Jessica that night. Ian Huntley, the person who made contact with the girls that evening. He admitted to police that, yes, he did talk to Jessica and Holly that evening.
He told the police that the two girls asked him if his girlfriend, who happened to be the girl's assistant teacher, got that permanent position she applied for. Ian told the girls that unfortunately she didn't get the teaching position. Holly and Jessica's parents both told police later on that their daughters adored Ian's girlfriend, Maxine.
The girls then told Ian that they were sorry that Maxine didn't get that permanent teaching position. And then the girls left in the direction of a bridge leading towards Clay Street. But police were highly suspicious about Ian Huntley. Something about his story didn't sit right with them. A single police officer searched Ian's residence for any evidence that the girls were inside the home. But the police found nothing.
The police officer noticed several clothing items on the outdoor clothing line, even though it had been raining. During the search, Ian reportedly told the officer, quote, Excuse the dining room. We had a flood. A comment that made the hair on the back of the officer's neck stand straight up.
During the first week after Holly and Jessica went missing, Ian Huntley, the man police suspected just may be involved in their disappearance, began making media appearances. He interviewed with Sky News and even appeared on BBC's show, BBC Look East. Ian Huntley told a reporter that during the second week of the search for the missing girls, that he had, quote, a glimmer of hope.
that Holly and Jessica would return home safe and sound. Many thought this comment seemed highly inappropriate, given that Ian didn't even know the girls too well. Ian Huntley involved himself in the search for the girls. He told police and the media that he last saw the girls walking in the local library direction. He was continually contacting the police to see what the status of the investigation was.
He even asked police how long DNA evidence could survive before it started to deteriorate. At this point, Ian Huntley is asking the police very unusual questions, especially since Ian doesn't have any connection or relationship with either Holly or Jessica. This guy is just some stranger.
Ian Huntley has become overly and unusually interested in the investigation. We see this many times when potential suspects want to figure out what the police know about the case. They're trying to fish for information and see if the police are on to them. When in reality, this makes an offender stand out in the eyes of the police.
While most people are out there searching for the missing girls, this guy is trying to figure out what the police know and how long DNA evidence can survive. This behavior isn't what a typical person would ask or say to the police during a case like this and should undoubtedly be considered a red flag.
From a forensic psychology perspective, this tells me that police need to start looking a little closer at this Ian Huntley character. That his interest and fascination with Holly and Jessica's disappearance is not typical.
And what we see with other potential offenders is that this is usually a sign to law enforcement that they are somehow involved or connected to the crime. Unfortunately, many offenders, especially potential predators like Ian Huntley, just can't keep their mouths shut. The police pick up on Ian Huntley's behavior, and they also see it as a huge red flag.
but they keep their suspicion about him pretty close to the chest. While the public was growing more and more frustrated with the lack of progress in the case, police were making sure they had their suspect. They just didn't have any physical or forensic evidence yet. The disappearance of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman became nightly headline news.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, was searching for those two missing girls. Manchester United superstar David Beckham even made a television appearance pleading for anyone to come forward with any information in the case.
David Beckham also spoke directly to the girls in the event, the unlikely event, I should say, that they ran away. And he basically told them to come home, that they weren't in any trouble, and that their families missed them very much. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.
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Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash tails to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash tails. On August 16th, 12 days after anyone last saw Jessica and Holly, police interviewed Ian Huntley and his girlfriend Maxine Carr for over seven hours.
Little did Ian know was that the police already knew that he had been accused of rape just a couple years earlier. Charges were ultimately dismissed in the case, which explains why Ian had no formal police record and ultimately was allowed to work at the school. But this prior arrest gave some insight into who Ian Huntley might be.
When Maxine Carr spoke to the police, she repeatedly told them that she was home the evening Holly and Jessica dropped by the house and that she was upstairs taking a bath when Ian briefly spoke to the girls, but that was it. Well, this is a problem for the police because the police already had several reports that Maxine wasn't in Somme the night the girls went missing and
She was in Grisby Town, having been seen by several people who reported that Maxine was out of the bars and she was drunk that night, raising another red flag to the police. While Ian and Maxine were both being questioned separately by police, crime scene investigators and detectives were busy collecting valuable forensic evidence that could tie either Ian or Maxine together.
They knew something wasn't right, and Ian or Maxine had to be somehow involved in the girls' disappearance. But without the forensic evidence to prove it, they wouldn't even be able to arrest them. Crime scene technicians began searching the grounds of Psalm Village College, where Ian worked, as well as searching his vehicle. Vehicles are an excellent place for investigators to find forensic evidence.
Many offenders will often transport their victims in a car or drag valuable trace evidence from the crime scene into their vehicles. So it was a huge priority for investigators to go through Ian's entire vehicle in hopes of finding anything. The search of Ian Huntley's car was extremely successful from a crime scene investigator perspective.
It was like hitting the forensic science jackpot. As soon as investigators opened the car door, they could tell that Ian had extensively cleaned the vehicle. This vehicle was wiped completely clean. The inside of the car even still had the scent of a freshly cleaned car. No matter how much you clean up a crime, it doesn't matter how much bleach you use, the
It's impossible to get rid of every single piece of forensic evidence. Just because a car or even a room seems to be thoroughly cleaned up, there is still so much forensic evidence that we may not be able to see with the naked eye, but it's forensic evidence that we can test for, that we can look for.
Lisa Nichols-Drew, a forensic science lecturer, was one of the people in charge of conducting the forensic search of Ian's car. Although Ian cleaned the vehicle, she immediately saw a very distinctive mixture of brick dust and what looked like concrete on the vehicle's floor. Police also collected pollen grains from beneath one of the car's tires, thinking that it might tell a story about where the car has been.
It's hard for forensic investigators to know precisely when evidence means something in a case and when the evidence doesn't mean anything. But it's the job of the forensic investigators to collect everything. Holly and Jessica were still missing at this point. So investigators don't know if the brick dust found inside the car is somehow linked to their disappearance or if the pollen grains will lead police to the girls.
We collect this type of evidence hoping that it will leave the police to their suspect or explain a particular aspect of the case. So crime scene investigators decide that the pollen grains found under the car's tire might be necessary. So they collect it and retain it as evidence.
At approximately 12.30 p.m. on August 17th, a man named Keith Pryor discovered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman's bodies lying side by side in a five-foot deep ditch. They were found in a location about 10 miles from where the girls went missing in Psalm. Holly and Jessica were finally found after 13 long days.
On August 17th, the same day the girls were discovered, Ian Huntley and his girlfriend Maxine Carr were arrested for abduction and murder. Police strongly believe the girls were kidnapped and murdered the same day they went missing from the family barbecue. In an attempt to destroy forensic evidence in the case, Ian Huntley attempted to burn both Holly and Jessica's bodies.
Instead of destroying all the forensic evidence, Ian Huntley left behind forensic breadcrumbs that led the murders right back to him. While in custody, police and prosecutors worked quickly to build their case against Ian Huntley and his girlfriend Maxine Carr. Police and forensic scientists began building their case with the most unlikely piece of forensic evidence –
and that was the pollen grains found underneath one of Ian's tires. The police called in forensic botanist Patricia Wiltshire to work on the case. Forensic botany is a niche area of forensic science that studies plants and applies plant science to criminal investigations. Botanical evidence can be incredibly helpful in a case because it can tell a story about whether a body has been moved.
It can detect the presence of unique pollen found on a suspect's clothing. It can tell police that they were present at a particular crime scene. The forensic botanist who was called in to help on the Holly and Jessica case, Patricia Wiltshire, found stinging nettles, which is a common green leafy plant that's found in many parts of the world. The forensic botanist found the nettles along the path where Holly and Jessica's bodies were found.
And what she noticed about these stinging nettles was that they were growing new side shoots. New side shoots form when a plant has been trampled on. So using this information, Patricia Wiltshire was able to determine that without a doubt that the nettles had been stepped on precisely 13 days earlier.
This valuable evidence told police investigators that someone walked this path precisely 13 days earlier, the same day when Jessica and Holly were officially reported missing. Besides the nettles, pollen found in a soil sample further led police to believe that Ian Huntley was their suspect.
Fiber evidence, as well as the soil found inside of Ian Huntley's car, matched the soil and fiber evidence that was found right where the girls' bodies were dumped. This further told police that after Ian left the bodies, traces of soil from his shoes were transferred onto the vehicle's floor.
This evidence proved that Ian drove Holly and Jessica's body to that path, dumped their bodies, and returned home in the same car. Forensic botanist Patricia Wiltshire was able to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt that Ian Huntley and his car were at the dump site the day he murdered Holly and Jessica.
The study of plants as valuable forensic evidence was able to solve the case and bring a sense of justice to Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman's families. This case ended up being one of the most prominent cases in history ever solved by forensic botany. The funeral services for Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were held on consecutive days in September 2002.
On June 16, 2003, Ian Huntley pleaded not guilty to the formal charges accusing him of murdering Colleen and Jessica. His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, also pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and assisting an offender. Police and prosecutors believe that Ian tricked the girls into coming inside his house the evening they showed up.
They think Huntley tricked the girls by telling them that his girlfriend Maxine Carr, the assistant teacher they adored, was inside and would love to see them. However, the police knew that Maxine Carr wasn't even home at the time. Police then believe Ian Huntley murdered Holly and Jessica and drove their bodies to the dump site, a place where he attempted to burn the bodies to make them unidentifiable.
Police and prosecutors weren't able to establish a motive for Ian Huntley to murder Holly and Jessica, but the case was solid enough without it. The work of the forensic botanist in this case established a solid one. Ian Huntley was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison. He must serve a minimum of 40 years.
He'll be eligible for parole in the year 2042, when he'll be 68 years old. The court sentenced Maxine Carr to three and a half years in prison for lying to the police. The Psalm Town Council representatives unveiled an orange patelled rose in 2003 that was dedicated to the memory of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. It's all thanks to something as small as stinging nettles that
that another murderer is brought to justice and is put behind bars. To share your thoughts on the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, be sure to follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at Forensic Tales. Also, to check out photos from the case, be sure to head to our website, ForensicTales.com. Don't forget to subscribe to Forensic Tales so you don't miss an episode.
We release a new episode every Monday. If you love the show, consider leaving us a positive review or tell friends and family about us. You can also help support the show through Patreon. All right. Thank you so much for joining me this week. Please join me next Monday. We'll have a brand new case, a brand new story to cover. Until then.
Remember, not all stories have happy endings.
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You can also help support the show by leaving us a positive review and telling friends and family about us. To check out sources from this week's episode, please visit ForensicTales.com. Please join me next week. We release a new episode every Monday. Until then...
Remember, not all stories have happy endings. So
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