The following evening, a jogger alerted police to two mounds of recently disturbed earth he had seen at Warren Hill, just outside Newmarket, which he speculated might have been the burial locations of the two girls. [48] An overnight examination revealed them to be badger setts. [49]

The funeral services for Wells and Chapman were held on consecutive days in September 2002. Both services were held at St Andrew's parish church and officiated by Tim Alban Jones, and the girls are buried in graves near to each other in Soham's Fordham Road Cemetery, following ceremonies attended by only family and close friends. [84] At the request of both families, the media refrained from reporting on either service. [85] [86] Police investigation [ edit ]At 8:00p.m., Nicola Wells entered her daughter's bedroom to invite the girls to say goodbye to her guests, only to discover both children missing. Alarmed, she and her husband, Kevin, searched the house and nearby streets. Minutes after their daughter's 8:30p.m. curfew had expired, Nicola Wells phoned the Chapmans to ask if the girls were there, only to learn Leslie and Sharon Chapman were worried that their youngest daughter had not returned home. [19] Following frantic efforts by the families to locate their daughters, Wells and Chapman were reported missing by their parents at 9:55p.m. [20] Search and discovery [ edit ]

By 20 August, investigators had established sufficient physical evidence from Huntley's home, vehicle and Soham Village College to charge him with two counts of murder. [80] He was charged with these offences while detained for observation at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire, and all preliminary hearings against him were postponed until the conclusion of his mental health assessment. [113] Carr was also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice on this date. [114] [n 11] She was further charged with two counts of assisting an offender on 17 January 2003. [23] On 8 August, [32] CCTV footage of the girls, recorded minutes before their disappearance, was released to the public. This footage depicted them arriving at the local sports centre at 6:28p.m. [33] [n 2] A televised reconstruction of the children's last known movements was broadcast nationally on 10 August, [35] [36] and both sets of parents granted an interview with presenter Colin Baker on ITV's current affairs programme Tonight, which was broadcast on 12 August. [37] Other family members and friends of both girls also appealed via the media for the safe return of the children. [38] These appeals for information on the whereabouts of Wells and Chapman produced over 2,000 phone calls and tips from the public, with all information obtained entered into the investigation's HOLMES 2 database. [39] [n 3] The community held a candlelight vigil on 7 August. [42] Urgently to enquire into child protection procedures in Humberside Police and Cambridgeshire Constabulary in the light of the recent trial and conviction of Ian Huntley for the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, spent about an hour at the scene, arriving in Croydon at about 4pm on Wednesday.In May 2016, Hampton, then 64, admitted murdering Melanie at Bristol Crown Court. He was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 22 years. In a reference to Huntley's claims both girls' deaths had been accidental, Latham stated that "only one person knows what happened" after the friends entered his home. [6] He stressed that the cause of death was murder, adding: "Ten-year-old girls don't just drop dead." [82] In reference to Carr's attempts to pervert the course of justice, Latham stated that "as surely as night follows day" the two had conspired to concoct a false alibi to divert suspicion from Huntley, [82] but warned the jury Carr could only be convicted of assisting an offender if they believed she had known Huntley had murdered the girls, adding that her motive for providing lies to police with reference to the charge of perverting the course of justice was irrelevant. [82]

SPILLING out of the nightclub with the 2am crowds, Melanie Road bid a cheerful farewell to her boyfriend and pals then started walking home. Huntley's precise motivation for voluntarily informing police of his encountering the children outside his home is unknown; it is speculated he chose to do so out of concerns eyewitnesses may have seen him engaging in conversation with the girls outside his home. [51]After being informed of the discovery of the children's bodies and the evidence of Huntley's guilt, including his fingerprints being recovered from the bin in which the children's clothes had been found, Carr burst into tears, shouting: "No! He can't have been! It can't have been! He hasn't done it!" [111] Despite these revelations, Carr initially remained emotionally attached to Huntley and professed her belief in his innocence to both the police and her family. [112] Charges [ edit ] Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, both 12, lured their friend Payton Leutner into the woods and stabbed her 19 times in an attempt to impress the fictional character Slender Man. The orange fibres were from a bright orange azoic-dyed cotton material, predominately used in non-florescent workwear such as boiler suits, aprons and gloves. The final criminal allegation against Huntley prior to the Soham murders dates from July 1999. In this instance, a woman was raped and Huntley–by this stage suspected by police as being a serial sex offender–was interviewed. Huntley supplied a DNA sample to assist in their enquiries, with Carr also providing an alibi to support his claims of innocence. The victim of this assault later said that Huntley had not been the perpetrator of her assault. (This case differs from the others as the victim had not identified or named Huntley as being her assailant.) [176] [n 12]

The murder occurred in the historic city of Bath. Melanie's killer remained at large for more than three decades before finally being arrested Credit: Alamy Killer's 'family life' He was eventually caught after the world’s first mass screening for DNA for which 5,000 men in three villages were asked to volunteer blood or saliva samples. The three girls were all pupils at the same school, Geyser and Weier thought they had come up with the plan for the perfect murder.Warning: Some of these pictures, taken by police, contain blood and may be distressing to some readers. What was the Slender Man stabbing? These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community. Ian Kevin Huntley was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, on 31 January 1974, the first of two sons born to Kevin Huntley and his wife, Lynda ( née Nixon). [158] The Huntley family were working class and at the time of the birth of their first child, lodged with Lynda's parents in Grimsby. Following the birth of their second child, Wayne, in August 1975, the family moved into a rented property in Immingham, where Huntley attended school. [159] The precise events after the girls entered 5 College Close are unknown, but investigators believe to be true sections of Huntley's claims in interviews to the media prior to his arrest, and in his later trial testimony—such as that he had been cleaning his dog at the time the girls passed by his house around 6:30p.m., and that one girl had had a nosebleed. [14] The cause of death of both girls was later ruled to be asphyxiation. [15] [16] Chapman's Nokia 6110 mobile phone was switched off at 6:46p.m. [17] [1] [18] The jury deliberated for four days before reaching their verdicts against both defendants. [151] On 17 December 2003, they returned a majority verdict of guilty on two counts of murder against Huntley. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of imprisonment to be imposed by the Lord Chief Justice at a later date. [16] Huntley's face showed no emotion as the verdict was announced; the mothers of both Wells and Chapman burst into tears. [150] [152]