Persons Unknown

Providence House lay in the picturesque village of Peasenhall in East Suffolk. The large property was owned by Mr and Mrs Crisp and in 1900 Rose Harsent, a young local woman, came to live and work as their domestic servant. Rose was a colourful character with a love of music and she attracted a fair amount of male attention. The night of the 31st May 1902 witnessed a fierce storm, and as the wind howled and thunder roared Rose sat on her bed waiting for a visitor. They had promised to meet her at midnight in an unsigned letter she received earlier that day. The night passed and the people of Peasenhall woke up, completely oblivious to the horror that had occurred when they were tucked up in their cosy beds. That morning Rose’s body was found by her father at the foot of her staircase surrounded by a pool of blood. 

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Sources:

• https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/britain-s-unsolved-murders-from-pen-sword-2617040
• https://www.unsolvedcasebook.com/the-peasenhall-murder-rose-harsent/
• https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.clermontsun.com/2020/12/09/marc-hoover-unsolved-the-tragic-killing-of-rose-harsent/amp
• http://strangeco.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-midsomer-murder-of-rose-harsent.html?m=1
• https://casebookclassiccrime.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/issue-1-e28093-conference-special-e28093-april-_15-e28093-free-download-just-open-the-page-and-click-the-link.pdf
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107381464/rose-annie-harsent
• http://murderrevisited.blogspot.com/2009/07/murder-in-peasenhall.html?m=1
• https://www.getthedata.com/peasenhall/where-is-peasenhall

British Newspaper Archive

Eastern daily press
02/06/02
22/01/03
Diss Express 
06/06/02
13/06/02
Henley Advertiser
14/06/02
Derby Daily Telegraph
20/06/02
Halesworth Times and East Suffolk advertiser
01/07/02
Western Evening Herald 
03/04/02
Gloucestershire Echo
03/09/02
13/08/04
Eastern Daily Press 
30/10/02
Pall mall Gazette 
06/11/02
Evening Star
07/11/0
Sheffield Daily Telegraph 
24/01/03
Northampton Mercury 
23/01/03
St James gazette 
30/1/03.
Norwich Mercury 
17/08/04
North Devon gazette 
27/01/03
The observer and West Sussex Recorder 
28/01/03
Yorkshire evening post 
22/01/03
Norfolk News
15/11/02
31/01/03
4/04/03
Manchester Evening News
13/08/4
Derby Daily Telegraph
15/08/04

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A move from London to the South Coast seemed like the perfect opportunity for a fresh start for Billie-Jo. The 9 year old had not had the easiest start to life and found herself placed into foster care with Lois and Sion Jenkins and their four daughters in London. Coincidentally  Billie -Jo shared her foster family's last name. The family relocated to Hastings for Sion's new job as a deputy head teacher and Billie-Jo was happy go with them and leave the capital behind. The seaside  town was in many ways an idyllic place to live but over the next five years life for Billie Jo and the Jenkins family was increasingly overshadowed by darker happenings. Billie-Jo complained that someone was following her, and the whole family were increasingly spooked by the presence of a prowler on their property. On 15th February 1997, when Billie-Jo was just 13 years old, a seemingly innocuous afternoon spent doing chores for pocket money ended in tragedy. So began one of the most infamous murder investigations of the last 25 years.

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Sources

For a full list of sources please see Persons Unknown Facebook page

• https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/article/the-murder-of-billie-jo-jenkins
• www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/sion-jenkins-saw-who-killed-2155743.ampamp.theguardian.com/uk/2010/aug/19/sion-jenkins-billiejo-murder-acquitted-compensation
• www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/billie-jo-in-an-extraordinary-attack-on-her-ex-husband-lois-jenkins-says-he-was-violent-and-a-liar-466364.html%3famp
• www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/billie-jo-jenkins-mum-calls-9819018.amp
• http://www.unsolved-murders.co.uk/murder-content.php?key=17&termRef=Billie-Jo%20Jenkins
• www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133107/amp/Was-Billie-Jo-Jenkins-murdered-M25-rapist-Family-demand-police-investigation.html
• www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-43340239.amp
• amp.theguardian.com/uk/2005/apr/21/ukcrime1
• www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/dramatic-evidence-in-billiejo-appeal-6962426.html%3famp
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4559077.stm
• https://asliceoftruecrime.wordpress.com/billie-jo-jenkins-murder/
• www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/inmate-admitted-billie-jo-murder-1622809.amp

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In the mid 1980’s the bodies of numerous murdered women and girls were found alongside  Interstates across the Bible Belt. Many of the victims remained Jane Does for decades, and even today some are unidentified. Most were vulnerable individuals, hitchhiking far from home. The most striking commonality was that they all had red hair. There has been much debate over whether this may be coincidence or if it is the work of an unknown serial killer. Thirty years later, answers are finally beginning to be uncovered , in no small part thanks to the work of a high school sociology class.

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The full list of sources for this episode is too numerous to add here. Please go to the Facebook page for more details.

Sources 

• www.wbir.com/amp/article/news/investigations/appalachian-unsolved/appalachian-unsolved-the-trucker-intrigued-by-serial-killers/51-624ef38c-0372-42a4-8bee-25b2b1647c95
• www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/shadow-boxing/201805/redheads-and-serial-killers%3famp
• https://medium.com/the-true-crime-edition/the-forgotten-redhead-murders-a3bbb39691bd
• www.upi.com/amp/Top_News/US/2018/10/09/Police-hunt-for-possible-serial-killer-in-1980s-redhead-murders/1571539111438/
• www.insidehook.com/article/crime/cold-case-redhead-murders/amp
• peoplepill.com/amp/people/redhead-murders
• https://grimhappenings.com/the-redhead-murders
• metro.co.uk/2018/04/30/serial-killer-feared-to-be-decapitating-ginger-women-after-two-heads-found-7510839/amp/
• www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1985-04-21-0290210184-story,amp.html
• https://theghostinmymachine.com/2018/08/27/unresolved-redhead-murders-bible-belt-strangler-inexact-art-identifying-serial-murder/
• fox17.com/amp/news/ferrier-files/ferrier-files-high-school-class-identifies-tennessee-serial-killers
• amp.knoxnews.com/amp/2697031001
• www.oxygen.com/blogs/is-death-row-inmate-glen-rogers-the-real-killer-in-the-oj-simpson-murder-case%3famp

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March 26th 1991 witnessed the first local elections in South Korea for three decades. The country was a hive of activity and five school friends, all boys aged between 9 and 13, decided to take advantage of the day off from school and go on an adventure together. U Cheol Won, Jo Ho-Yeon, Kim Yeong-Gyu, Park Chan-In, and  Kim Jong-Sik set off at 9am and headed towards the wooded slopes of Mount Waryong, which lay just a couple of kilometres from their homes on the western outskirts of Daegu. They never returned home, and so began the mystery of the Frog Boys. 

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Sources 

• https://www.criminallyintrigued.com/blog/2019/1/6/the-curious-case-of-the-frog-boys
• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/cnainsider/intrigue-scandal-heartbreak-case-south-korea-missing-frog-boys-774406
• www.mamamia.com.au/frog-boys/amp/
• https://defrostingcoldcases.com/remembering-the-frog-boys/
• aminoapps.com/c/conspiracytheory/amp/blog/the-frog-boys/z64d_J7BIxuNDxox5rgGxgWLNPKMo7an74
• https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=1909554
• https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2003/01/06/socialAffairs/Bodies-of-5-frog-boys-missing-since-1991-found-on-mountain/1909041.html
• elwood5566.net/2011/05/16/five-boys-meet-death-where-the-dragon-dwells/amp/
• https://medium.com/the-crime-scene/the-lost-kids-who-never-came-back-home-the-frog-boys-mystery-53f08e91eabe
• silentthrill.wordpress.com/2018/12/27/the-frog-boys/amp/
• https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/korean-frog-boys.1254315/
• https://apnews.com/article/0a1d42a98008fac400dccabbf502e991
• https://mydramalist.com/31991-come-back-frog-boys
•  “In search of the Frog Boys” two part documentary: Watch it here https://www.channelnewsasia.com/watch/search-frog-boys/without-trace-1490911

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Just a few weeks after the outbreak of the Second World War, 4 year old Joyce Cox was found murdered near a disused railway station in Cardiff, South Wales. Joyce had disappeared on her usual lunch time walk home from school on the 28th September 1939. Her body was found the following day. For decades the case has been shrouded in mystery, and there has been talk of a cover up, but in 2017 the police finally broke their silence on the case. 

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Sources

British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)

Western Mail

29/09/1939

30/09/1939

04/10/1939

05/10/1939

11/10/1939

31/10/1939

Gloucester Citizen 

02/10/1939

Lincolnshire Echo

02/10/1939

Belfast News Letter

03/10/1939

Dundee Courier 

02/10/1939

Weekly Dispatch (London)

01/10/1939

Sunday Mirror 

01/10/1939

Sunday Post 

01/10/1939

Derby Daily Telegraph 

30/09/1939

Shields Daily News

30/09/1939

Hull Daily News 

30/09/1939

http://www.unsolved-murders.co.uk/murder-content.php?key=1108&termRef=Joyce%20Cox

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/prime-suspect-1939-murder-joyce-13673649.amp

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/584233/Police-involvement-investigation-murder-four-year-old/a

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3057124/amp/Family-girl-4-murdered-1939-accuse-Met-Police-cover-force-refuses-release-files-investigation-2040-unfair-mystery-suspect.html

https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/what-is-shock-definition-causes-symptoms-different-types.html

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The school bus dropped Muriel Drinkwater at her usual stop, leaving her to walk the last part of her journey home to the family farm in Penllergaer,  West Wales. The 12 year old loved to sing and there was a skip in her step as she started on the winding path through the forest. Just before she entered the woods she looked up to see the farm in the distance. Her mother was in the kitchen and they exchanged a wave before Muriel disappeared from view. Muriel never made it home and her body was found the next day in the undergrowth. She had been assaulted and shot twice in the chest.  No arrests were ever made but evidence unearthed in 2020 has produced the name of a new prime suspect.

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Promo by: Watching Netflix Without You

Sources 

• www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/unsolved-murder-12-year-old-19232081.amp
• www.mamamia.com.au/muriel-drinkwater-murder/amp/
• www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08wg6fq
• www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-47961404.amp
• http://www.unsolved-murders.co.uk/murder-content.php?key=193&termRef=Muriel%20Joan%20Drinkwater
• www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/author-names-new-killer-drinkwater-2220319.amp
• www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/amp/i-know-who-killed-girl-158735/
• www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sheila-martin-murder-eleven-year-old-sheila-martin-found-murdered-83441942.html
• www.unsolved-murders.co.uk/murder-content.php?key=1219&termRef=Sheila%20Martin
• www.unsolvedcasebook.com/tag/sheila-martin/
• www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-odeon-cinema-murder-remains-5175163.amp
• www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/unsolved-murder-12-year-old-15290561
• http://www.unsolved-murders.co.uk/murder-content.php?key=1680&termRef=Norma%20Mary%20Dale
• https://www.unsolvedcasebook.com/muriel-drinkwater-the-little-red-riding-hood-murder/
• https://www.theministryofhistory.co.uk/short-histories-blog/hammersmith-jack-the-stripper-murders

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Three siblings: Michael, 29, Norah, 27, and Ellen, 18, set off for a Boxing Day dance at the small Queensland town of Gatton. The year was 1898 and their mode of transport was a sulky, a small horse-drawn carriage. They arrived at the hall to find the dance cancelled and, feeling disappointed, began to make their way back to the family farm. The following morning, when they failed to return, their brother-in-law was sent to search for them. He found the three siblings in a small wooded paddock a little way from the road, witnessing a scene like none other throughout the history of Australian crime.

For list of sources please see the Persons Unknown Podcast Facebook page
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Website with Transcripts:
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April chatted with some friends as she fussed over Judy the Donkey in a field in the hamlet of Metton, Norfolk. It was a couple of days after Easter 1969 and the 13 year old had stopped at “Donkey Field” on her way to her eldest sister’s house in the neighbouring village of Roughton.  After a short time April was back on her bicycle and on her way. April never made it to her sister’s house and she has not been seen or heard from since that day. 

Sources 

• British newspaper archive (subscription required)

Coventry Evening Telegraph 10/04/69
Sunday Mirror 13/04/69 
Newcastle Journal 16/04/69
Daily Mirror 10/06/69
Birmingham Post -5/01/79
Daily Mirror 02/04/80
Sandwell Evening Mail 20/05/94
Newcastle Journal 20/05/94
Newcastle Journal 11/06/94
Newcastle Journal 17/06/94
Dundee Courier 16/04/97
Aberdeen press and Journal 20/05/94

• https://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/news/photograph-could-be-key-to-solving-case-of-missing-april-1620788
• https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/new-calls-after-april-fabb-s-50th-anniversary-appeal-1383474
• https://www.truecrimelibrary.com/crimearticle/april-fabb/
• https://www.norfolk.police.uk/news/cold-cases/april-fabb
• http://davidhardy.bravesites.com/aprilfabb
• https://www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/last-chance-to-find-boy-who-disappeared-40-years-ago-276596
• https://www.norfolk.police.uk/news/cold-cases/steven-newing
• https://www.norfolk.police.uk/news/cold-cases/susan-long
• https://genettetate.devonlive.co.uk
• www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/robert-black-child-killer-whose-19820140.amp
• www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15464440.amp
• www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/serial-killer-peter-tobin-brags-23611118.amp
• https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/peter-tobin
• www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-news/6894267/peter-tobin-serial-killer-confession-another-victim/amp/
• www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/who-peter-tobin-murder-remembering-12308912.

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Two brothers  travelled  to the Clocaenog forest in North Wales in 2015 to watch  a stage of the Wales rally GB event. Although it was well into November they decided to brave the wintry Welsh weather and wild camp in the forest rather than stay in a hotel or hostel. On their first night, whilst searching for firewood amongst the trees, they stumbled upon some bones that  were very obviously human remains. So began the mystery of the Clocaenog  Forest Man.

Sources

• https://locate.international/unidentified-bodies/clocaenog-forest-man/
• www.herald.wales/crime/clocaenog-forest-man-did-you-know-him/amp/
• www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46243092.amp
• www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/killer-peter-moore-claims-know-12697411.amp
• www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/twisted-crimes-north-wales-serial-15076351.amp
• www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/peter-moore-serial-killer-book-18950063.am
• www.herald.wales/crime/clocaenog-forest-man-did-you-know-him/amp/
•  https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/f6snei/clocaenog_forest_man/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=comments_view_all
•  https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/uk-cerrigydrudion-wales-male-skeletal-54-in-
• woods-head-trauma-nov15.296179/
• www.herald.wales/crime/clocaenog-forest-man-did-you-know-him/amp/ 
•  https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/227839.pdf
  
  

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On Halloween 1966, Joseph Bates awoke early in the morning to find that his 18 year old  daughter, Cheri Jo, had not slept in her bed the previous night.  Cheri had been studying in the River City College library and it was completely out of character for her to stay out all night, so Joseph contacted the police.  A short time later Cheri’s body was found face-down in an alleyway on the college campus. There was evidence of a struggle and Cheri had been stabbed multiple times. The local police had no unsolved murders on their books and expected to solve this terrible crime quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, the case proved far from straightforward. 

Sources

• www.pe.com/2013/11/30/riverside-co-ed8217s-1966-slaying-still-a-mystery/amp/
• www.al.com/news/2020/10/did-the-zodiac-killer-murder-an-alabama-couple-in-1964.html%3foutputType=amp
• https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-cheri-jo-bates-autopsy-findings-part-three
• www.pe.com/2013/11/30/riverside-co-ed8217s-1966-slaying-still-a-mystery/amp/
• https://viewpointsonline.org/2013/11/05/its-time-to-remember-cheri-jo/?amp=1
• https://zodiacrevisited.com/cheri-jo-bates-evidence-analysis/
• www.sfweekly.com/news/yesterdays-crimes-news/yesterdays-crimes-dna-profiles-and-the-murderers-who-might-be-zodiac/amp/
• https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/cheri-jo-bates-the-timeline
• https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/cheri-jo-bates-the-complete-eyewitness-timeline
• https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/The_Zodiac_Killer#cite_note-2
• https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/a-betrayal-of-trust
• http://www.zodiologists.com/riverside_desktop_poem_introduction.html
• https://zodiackillerfacts.com/uncategorized/cheri-jo-bates-a-zodiac-crime-or-just-an-inspiration/
• https://zodiackiller.forumotion.com/t595-new-article-on-the-bates-murder
• https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-killer-site-forum---hot-topics/ross-sullivan
• https://www.bustle.com/p/who-is-ross-sullivan-the-hunt-for-the-zodiac-killer-explores-a-popular-theory-5465516
• https://riversideca.gov/rpd/about-contact/operations/investigations-division/cold-case-unit?fbclid=IwAR3Wt0URSR77sMZHvWyifloo3dGcYqdbzLhyzZPXTsMY0bscrE0QBswzplo#spotLightCase
• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/reward-offered-for-information-on-55-year-old-riverside-murder-linked-to-zodiac-killer/ar-AAMZsAO

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