Melanie Hall's disappearance and murder has remained one of the UK's biggest unsolved crimes that now spans nearly 30 years.
On 8th June 1996, England was buzzing as the start of the Euro 1996 tournament opened with England playing Switzerland at Wembley. Despite the anti-climatic game ending in 1-1 draw, in Bath, Somerset 25 year old Melanie had planned a night out with her boyfriend and some friends. They had ventured to Cadillac's Nightclub to let their hair down and enjoy the evening.
When her boyfriend came out of the toilet and saw Melanie dancing with another man, he left feeling hurt but knew Melanie was with friends. At 1:10am on the 9th June, the two friends Melanie was with also left, not knowing that this would mean leaving Melanie alone as they assumed her boyfriend was still there.
More assumptions happened over the weekend, her boyfriend assumed Melanie had gone back to her home she shared with her parents, her parents thought she was still with her boyfriend and so when she failed to turn up for work on Monday morning - alarm bells started to ring.
Avon and Somerset Police were on high alert from the first report, and as time went on with no word from Melanie, they knew they were dealing with more than just a missing persons case.
on 5th October 2009, 13 years after Melanie disappeared, human remains were found at the side of the M5 motorway - these remains, belonging to Melanie and so the murder investigation could be launched. Despite items being found by Melanie's body leaving evidence, no DNA was able to be determined.
Police looked in to multiple known serial killers who may have links, but these ended up being ruled out.
After 30 long years, Melanie's family are now desperate for answers - why was she murdered, and by who?
","author_name":"Kerry Jensen"}