December 23, 1993. Consett, England. 25-year old delivery driver Paul Logan brings a food order from a Chinese takeaway restaurant to a remote farm, but when he arrives, the property’s owners inform him that they never placed the order. When Paul attempts to leave, he is ambushed at the farm’s gate and bludgeoned to death with a blunt instrument. It becomes apparent that the takeaway order was a set-up to lure Paul to his death and that multiple people were involved. But even though rumours circulate that Paul was murdered by someone with a personal grudge against him, no one is ever charged with the crime.

December 23, 1994. Eaton, England. 31-year old Tracey Mertens is discovered on the steps of a local church with burns on 95 % of her body, so she is rushed to the hospital and passes away twelve hours later. Before her death, Tracey tells police that she was abducted from her former residence in Birmingham by two black men, who drove her to Eaton and set her on fire after pouring a can of petrol over her body. Suspicion mounts that Tracey was targeted because her spouse owed a drug debt to some dangerous people, but he denies any knowledge of what happened and Tracey’s killers are never identified.

On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we travel to the United Kingdom to cover a pair of unsolved murders which took place right before Christmas one year apart from each other.

Additional Reading:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-46658799

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/paul-logan-murder-twists-turns-22193511

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/paul-logan-murder-gossip-rumours-22195055

https://www.newspapers.com/image/802956098/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/906459675/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/804904234/

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/tracey-mertens-unsolved-christmas-murder-22500104

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/tracey-mertens-murder-anniversary-rochdale-17448505

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50890878

https://www.newspapers.com/image/857381180/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/916300456/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/918042546/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/848432231/

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The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.