Girl In A Freezer, The Murder Of Leanne Tiernan I 2 Minute Murder #5 (Patreon)

This is about the tragic death of 16 year old school girl Leanne Tiernan, who after taking a short cut home while returning from Christmas shopping with a friend, walked into a park and never came out the other side.   Tiernan's disappearance led to West Yorkshire's (England) biggest missing person’s search in the history of their Police force. A more than 2000 house-to-house inquiries were conducted and 800 houses along her probable route were searched, along with 1000 sheds, garages and outbuildings and 150 commercial premises within a half-mile radius ofl the park she went missing in.  DNA samples were taken from 200 men who were known sex offenders or Pedophiles in the area. Over 20 search warrants were executed at various addresses in Leeds.

 The Police Underwater Search unit carried out a search of a three-mile section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal between Spring Garden lock and Bramley Falls, two miles of which was drained to a depth of one metre. The unit also searched thirty-two drain shafts in the area and Yorkshire Water were called in to help locate disused and abandoned drains and wells.  Collections of household waste were halted temporarily to allow police to search all bins in the area for evidence. Police staged a reconstruction of the girls' last movements in the hope of jogging the memory of potential witnesses about Leanne's movements.   Detectives also sent text messages to Tiernan's mobile phone, which was now switched off, but had briefly been activated on 27 November 2000. 

A local businessman offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to her return, and supermarket chain printed her picture and details on milk cartons sold at its stores all over England.   Leanne’s body was discovered on the 20th August 2001 in a wooded area popular with Dog walkers. Discovered by a dog walker, police were shocked that there was almost no decomposition of the body although she had been missing presumed dead for 9 months, wearing all her clothes and even her hair was brushed. A Post mortem examination indicated that Tiernan's body had only been at the location for over a week and before that had been stored in a freezer for the past nine months but also the cells in her body suggested she had been thawed out and then re-frozen multiple times for what investigators believe to be sex due to the extensive vaginal bruising.  DNA samples were taken from 200 people, including family, friends and known sex offenders living in the area. It was good old fashioned police work and Forensic evidence that led police to her killer, John Taylor, who lived only 1,300 yards from Tiernan's home. On 8 July 2002 Taylor pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to her kidnap and murder and received two life sentences, with the trial judge telling him that he should expect to spend the rest of his life in prison. At the end of his trial, the police officers who brought him to justice spoke of their belief that he may have been responsible for other unsolved murders, including the 1992 murder of Yvonne Fitt, a Bradford prostitute and that Taylor is in fact a serial killer.  

 On 3 April 2003, following a police review of unsolved sexual attacks in the area, Taylor pleaded guilty to two separate rapes committed before the schoolgirl's murder and received a further sentence of life imprisonment with a recommended minimum of 30 years.] As a result of the Tiernan murder inquiry police re-opened at least ten further cold case murder investigations.

Classification: Serial killer

Characteristics:  Rape- Necrophile - Mutilation-Murder Number of

victims: 1 confirmed although fresh Police believe 3 to 5.

Date of murders: 1992 to 2000

Status: Alive & Kicking