True Detective December 2011

Description

For teenager Scarlett Keeling, life had never been so exciting. Instead of enduring the British winter and attending her school in Bideford, Devon, she was having fun at the Indian Ocean beach resort of Anjuna in Goa – until that awful morning in February 2008 when her nearly nude body was found at the water’s edge. The official verdict was that Scarlett had drowned in shallow water after drinking too much alcohol. But was this just a cop-out? Were the Goan authorities simply “trying to cover-up” the whole ugly episode to protect the booming tourist trade? Almost four years later, this ongoing case is seemingly no nearer reaching a satisfactory conclusion, although the story of Scarlett’s tragic holiday has already been turned into a Bollywood movie.

Being a former copper made Alexander Mathieson naturally suspicious. Even after retiring he continued to question or check anything that caught his eye. Like the scrap of paper he picked up on his rounds as a water bailiff. Most of us would have dismissed it as litter, but Mathieson didn’t. He examined it and found that it was part of a road map. It also appeared to be bloodstained. What he didn’t know at the time was that he was holding the first piece of evidence in a loosely linked chain of 10 murders that were to span the next 19 years.

What do the Pope, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Jimmy Carter and the daughter of Martin Luther King have in common? They were all protesters at the execution in Georgia in September 2011 of Troy Davis. Such was the worldwide condemnation that the execution practices of many US states are right back in the spotlight.

* TD’s Crime Photos/ Prize Competition
* The Scarlett Keeling Mystery
* Your Letters
* Under The Spotlight: Death In The Denver Skies
* Questions & Answers: Scotland’s Incredible A9 Murder Case
* Crime Observer
* You’re Never Too Old To Murder
* Classic Irish Murder Cases: Galway’s History-Making Murder Trial
* A Hanging At Dorchester
* Execution USA
* A Baby Back From The Dead?
* Grisly Tales Of The Guillotine Part 3: The Demon In The Forest
* America’s Most Evil: Murders That Put Judy In The Electric Chair Sam Roen
* Take A Break: Crossword
* Murder At The Pub Part 11: Strange Death Of The Happy Barmaid
* Readers’ Jury