True crime anniversaries in February
Each month we are looking back over the crime anniversaries from some of the most significant anniversaries in recent history.
This article closely examines crimes and developments that continue to intrigue us at Crime+Investigation. Let’s explore the criminal history of February.
4th February: The McStay family goes missing (2010)
When the McStay family vanished in February 2010, it started a mystery that wasn’t solved for nearly four years. The discovery of their bodies in shallow graves in the Mojave desert was the grim realisation that a whole family had been killed.
The tragedy unfolded in early February 2010, when Joseph McStay informed his father about an upcoming lunch meeting, and was never seen again. Concern for the whereabouts of the family began to increase after no one had seen nor heard from them since 4th February 2010.
After the bodies of Joseph, his wife Summer, and their two young boys were discovered in November 2013, police arrested one of Joseph’s work colleagues, Charles Merritt. According to authorities, Merritt worked with Joseph in his custom waterfall business and was stealing money from the company. It was also reported that Merritt was going to be 'cut out' of the business. The suspect was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to death, however, he maintains he did not murder the McStay family.
5th February: The Morecambe Bay Cockling Disaster (2004)
On the evening of 5th February 2004, at least 21 Chinese illegal immigrant labourers drowned while picking cockles off the Lancashire coast. David Anthony Eden Sr. and David Anthony Eden Jr. allegedly gave the workers the job and were paying them £5 for 25kg of cockles. The immigrants had been trafficked in containers via the ports in Liverpool. They were hired out through local criminal agents affiliated with the Triads in China.
Emergency services were called by one of the workers who was only able to say ‘sinking water’ before the call ended. The 21 bodies were later found drowned between the cockling area and the shore. The workers had little experience with the nature of the tides and no training in how to pick cockles safely. Both Eden Sr. and Eden Jr. were cleared of helping the workers break immigration law, but gang leader Lin Liang Ren was found guilty of the manslaughter of at least 21 people. Two further workers are believed to have died, but their bodies were never found.
6th February: Pawel Relowicz arrested for the murder of Libby Squire
21-year-old Libby Squire went missing on 31st January 2019 after a night out with friends. Her body was discovered seven weeks later in the River Humber. Libby was last seen on CCTV after midnight on 1st February getting into father-of-two Pawal Relowicz’s car.
No one knows why the university student got into the car, but it is thought that she was disorientated from the night out and was refused entry to a club for being too drunk. Not long after Libby entered the car, she was raped and murdered in a nearby field and her body was found by a fisherman weeks later.
The suspect had a history of anti-social behaviour, mainly ‘peeping tom’ offences. Concerns had been raised after several people witnessed and reported Relowicz’s indecent behaviour before Libby’s murder. It is even reported that he left 'trophies' – such as a pair of knickers on a gate or used condoms - where he had spied on unsuspecting females and couples.
Although he maintained his innocence, police officers uncovered DNA evidence and Relowicz was arrested on 6th February and sentenced to a minimum term of 27 years.
9th February: Ted Bundy’s last murder (1978)
Ted Bundy was one of America’s most notorious serial killers. There’s no doubt about it. Bundy kidnapped and violently murdered innocent women across the country. He was convicted of killing 30 women over a period of five years, however, it’s likely there are more victims.
When it comes to an important month in Ted Bundy’s timeline, February is top of the list. Bundy’s first murder was said to be in February 1974 when he abducted and strangled Lynda Ann Healy from Seattle. While in February 1978, Bundy committed his last murder before being apprehended the same month.
The serial killer murdered and kidnapped his youngest victim Kimberly Leach on 9th February 1978. The 12-year-old student disappeared during the school day and never returned.
9th February: The February 9th Killer (2006-2008)
Dubbed the 'February 9th Killer', Juan Arreola-Murrillo murdered two women on the same day, two years apart. Over a decade ago, Damiana Castillo and Sonia Mejia were killed at their homes in Salt Lake County.
Sonia — who was six months pregnant at the time of her murder — was sexually assaulted and strangled to death by Arreola-Murrillo in 2006. The suspect also stole her car and jewellery which was found four days later in a parking lot.
On 9th February 2008, Damiana Castillo was murdered at her apartment in West Valley City. Her son found her body covered by a pillow the next morning. According to news reports, like Sonia Mejia, Damiana had also been strangled to death. Jewellery and contents of her purse had also been tampered with.
Both suspects lived a mile apart and thanks to DNA from the scene, Juan Arreola-Murrillo was convicted of both murders.
11th February: The murder of Elizabeth McCabe (1980)
The murder of Elizabeth McCabe remains one of Scotland’s most notorious unsolved cases. Elizabeth was just 20-years-old and training to work in a nursery when she disappeared after a night out in Dundee. Her body was found strangled to death in Templeton Woods on 11th February. Elizabeth’s murder came eleven months after another woman was found nearby in the same woods. The police do not link the murders, but that didn’t stop local people from being concerned that there was a serial killer on the loose.
11th February: The tragic killing of Brianna Ghey (2023)
On 11th February 2023, Brianna Ghey was brutally murdered by two teenagers with a thirst for torture and death. Brianna was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife in Linear Park near Warrington. The 16-year-old was lured to the park by a boy and girl of similar age who planned to kill the teen in advance.
Authorities saw several social media exchanges between the two suspects, with some messages being transphobic against Brianna. During the trial, a handwritten 'murder plan' was found in the female killer’s bedroom. It had the date of the murder and the victim’s name: Brianna Ghey.
More than two hours after Brianna met her killers in the park she was stabbed in her neck, back, and head. The two culprits, Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, were convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 22 years.
12th February: The abduction and murder of James Bulger (1993)
The abduction and murder of James Bulger remains one of the most significant and notorious crimes in British history. James was just two-years-old when he went missing from Bootle Strand Shopping Centre in Liverpool. His body was found two days later on nearby railway lines. CCTV showed him being led away by two ten-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables.
The boys were charged with James’ murder and became the youngest convicted murderers in British criminal history. Both murderers have since been released and given new identities, though Venables has been recalled to prison more than once. The case led to much scrutiny and reviews of how the legal system dealt with young offenders.
13th February: Penny Jackson commits the ‘Bubble & Squeak Murder’ (2021)
In the sleepy, seaside village of Berrow, Somerset, Penny Jackson was arrested after stabbing her husband four times and calmly calling the emergency services. The recording of the 999 call and police bodycam footage from the arrest was broadcast around the world. The 66-year-old showed no remorse and appeared thankful that she was going to be charged with murder.
She claimed that she finally snapped after years of violence and controlling behaviour from her husband, David Jackson, the tipping point apparently came as a result of a row over her birthday dinner where she served bubble and squeak. However, Penny was sentenced to life in prison and jailed for a minimum of eighteen years.
14th February: Oscar Pistorius shoots Reeva Steenkamp (2013)
For years, Oscar Pistorius' performances at both the Paralympics and Olympics made him one of the most inspirational athletes in the world. However, that all changed on Valentine’s Day 2013 when he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius claimed he shot the model after mistaking her for an intruder and reacting aggressively due to his vulnerability as a double-amputee. He was eventually sentenced to fifteen years in prison but could be eligible for parole in 2023.
22nd February: The Angel of Death begins her crimes (1991)
Beverley Allitt, a nurse working at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire, was convicted of murdering four children, attempting to murder three more and causing grievous bodily harm to six. Her crimes took place at her workplace over a 59-day period that began on 22nd February 1991.
Several of her victims had been given large doses of insulin, and another had an air bubble injected into their system. In April 1991, the death of baby Becky Phillips saw the hospital realise there was an unusually high number of deaths and cardiac arrests in the children’s ward. The police were brought in, and they soon found Allitt was the only nurse on duty during every attack, and she also had access to all the drugs used. Allitt received thirteen life sentences for her crimes.
24th February: Fred West apprehended (1994)
On 24th February 1994, the police were called to the home of Fred and Rose West to discuss their missing daughter Heather. Within weeks, the police had the grim discovery of Heather's body and several other women’s bodies buried in the grounds of their home. Fred was charged with twelve murders, and his wife Rose with ten. Fred committed suicide while on remand at Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, so he never had to pay for his crimes in prison.
24th February: Maxine Carr given new identity and anonymity (2005)
When people have served their prison sentence, returning to society can be extremely difficult and, for some, impossible. This was deemed to be the case for Maxine Carr, the accomplice of Soham murderer, Ian Huntley. Maxine Carr was Huntley’s girlfriend and also the teaching assistant of the two girls he murdered.
Carr was convicted for perverting the course of justice as she provided Huntley with a false alibi for the night he murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. She was released on probation in 2004, and on 24th February 2005, won an injunction to grant her lifelong anonymity on the grounds of her life always being at risk. Understandably, this upset many people around the country, including the families of Huntley’s victims.
25th February: The murder of Victoria Climbié (2000)
In February 2000, eight-year-old Victoria Climbié died as a result of abuse and torture carried out by her great aunt and her aunt’s partner. Victoria’s case gained particular attention as she had been suffering prolonged abuse for many years and no-one had tried to help despite noticing signs of abuse.
Victoria moved to Britain a couple of years before her death, as her aunt Marie-Therese Kouao told her parents in the Ivory Coast she wanted to foster one of their children and give them a chance at a better life. While there is no known date for when the abuse and torture started, it is believed to have escalated when they moved in with Kouao’s partner, Carl Manning.
Both Manning and Kouao were convicted of Victoria’s murder, officially recorded as freezing to death, although she had 128 separate injuries on her body. The failings by the police, government departments and the NHS were integral to Victoria 'falling through the cracks’. Her death led to the formation of the Every Child Matters Initiative and the Children’s Act 2004.
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