The Crimes

On 12 September 1993, teenager Elisa Claps went missing from her home town of Potenza, Italy. She had reluctantly agreed to go on a date that day with Restivo, because she felt sorry for the bespectacled, strange young man. They arranged to meet at the church in the centre of the city. It was the last time Elisa was seen alive.On 12 November 2002, Heather Barnett was brutally murdered and mutilated in her own home. Her body was discovered by her 11-year-old daughter Caitlin and 14-year-old son Terry when they returned home from school. Bizarrely the killer had cut Heather’s hair and placed it in her hand. In her other hand, police found hair belonging to another woman.This brutal and disturbing murder was one of the worst crimes ever witnessed in the small Dorset town of Bournemouth and police were under considerable pressure to solve the case. There were no witnesses, no motive and minimal forensic evidence. Against this police were convinced that the killer was sophisticated; planned in his approach. All hallmarks that this was not his first crime. It would take a huge police effort to catch this clever and dangerous criminal.