Caroline Evans (Unsolved Murder)

On a damp autumn evening in 1945, Caroline Evans made her way on foot from her home in Coedpoeth, North Wales to the neighbouring village of Minera.  Since her father died the 38 year old school teacher made the trip every Saturday evening to visit her mother. She always took the same shortcut on a narrow, secluded footpath through Pant Tywyll, or Dark Hollow.  This time Caroline didn’t arrive safely at her destination and early the following morning her battered body was found by a farm worker. Strange reports came in from witnesses and an investigation began which saw Scotland Yard detectives navigating anonymous tips, dramatic confessions and an elusive suspect. 

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British Newspaper Archive
Nottingham Evening Post
08/10/45
Newcastle Evening Chronicle
07/10/45
Liverpool Evening Express
07/10/45
22/10/45
13/12/45
Daily Record
08/10/45
Daily Herald
08/10/45
Liverpool Echo
09/10/45
10/10/45
11/10/45
13/10/45
18/10/45
27/10/45
12/10/45
14/12/45
19/12/45
09/01/46
14/01/46
18/04/46
19/05/50
18/04/51
02/05/51
03/05/51
05/05/51
01/03/52
04/03/52
Daily Mirror
09/10/45
31/10/45
10/12/45
Liverpool Daily Post
10/10/45
15/11/45
17/12/45
Bradford Observer
10/10/45
02/05/51
01/03/52
05/01/55
Rhos Herald
13/10/45
19/01/45
Western Mail
22/10/45
16/11/45
15/01/46
22/04/46
19/04/51
Staffordshire Sentinel
03/03/50
Belfast Newsletter
15/01/46
Sheffield Daily Telegraph
31/03/50
Manchester Evening News
26/05/50
Coventry Evening Telegraph
05/05/51
10/07/54
Reading Standard
14/01/55
Halifax Evening Courier
05/05/51
Sunday Mirror
16/03/52

Websites
http://www.unsolved-murders.co.uk/murder-content.php?key=490&termRef=Caroline%20Evans

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/1945-murder-young-woman-remains-23004940.amp

North Wales Livehttps://www.dailypost.co.uk › newsThe 1945 murder which shocked a community and remains unsolved to ...

True Crime Libraryhttps://www.truecrimelibrary.com › ...Caroline Evans

The Free Libraryhttps://www.thefreelibrary.com › W...WALES: There are older people in the village who'd like this solved.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1258095

Promos 

Transcript

Caroline Evans

William Thomas Davies stood outside his residence at Glasfryn Cottages  enjoying the cold night air as his pet dog sniffed and scurried about the garden. It was 10.10pm on October 6th 1945 and there was a faint mist and drizzle hanging over the small village of Coedpoeth in Denbighshire, North Wales. After ten minutes of standing in the autumn chill, William turned his head as the stillness of the night air was abruptly broken by the sound of a scream. Owls nested in the wooded copse that bordered the village but this did not sound like the screech of an owl, or any other animal for that matter. He was sure it was the scream of a woman in distress. 

It appeared to William that the scream came from close by and he flashed his torch across to the spot where he thought it originated. It was at the bottom of Pant Tywyll, which translates to English as Dark Hollow, a wooded valley that stretched from Coedpoeth towards the neighbouring village of Minera just 1.5km to the west. The place was given that name because of the closeness of the tree foliage and the resulting shade that was found there even in the height of summer.

William moved his torch from side to side but saw nothing and heard no further noise. His dog, however, had immediately bolted in the direction of the scream and quickly disappeared out of sight into the blackness of the treeline. William did not investigate further but waited outside his home for the dog to return. Eventually, some 15 minutes later at 10.35pm, the dog reappeared from the woods and they both went inside the cottage, closing the door for the night. 

Fifty five minutes later, Joseph Roberts left Styrd farm in Coedpoeth to make his way home to New Brighton which was in the village of Minera. He had been visiting the farm to spend time with his girlfriend who was staying there with her sister. He made his way on foot along the narrow path that snakes from Coedpoeth through Pant Tywyll, or Dark Hollow, towards his home. It was an exceptionally dark night and his handheld torch was necessary to navigate the path lest he trip over and turn an ankle. 

As he shone the torch back and forth Joseph was taken aback when the beam illuminated a man kneeling down in the grass about 10 metres from the path. The man had his back turned towards Joseph and he seemed to dive forwards after being caught by the light of the torch. The man did not turn around, so his face could not be seen, and he made no sound. The man had a broad back and seemed to be middle aged. (Some initial reports described the man as fairly young) He was wearing light coloured socks, either white or grey. Joseph was sure that the man was dressed in the uniform of the Royal Air Force (RAF), though he was not wearing a cap. He believed the man had two or possibly three stripes on the sleeve of his jacket. This would denote a corporal or sergeant, though there are many roles and grades within those ranks. Joseph did not see the man’s chest so did not know whether there were wings on the uniform to denote a pilot/bomb aimer or ground crew.

Joseph, feeling a little shaken, shouted to the man that he was “Sorry”. He later told the police that he apologised because he presumed that the man must have been with a woman and he had inadvertently disrupted the couples private time.

The man made no reply and, feeling a little embarrassed, Joseph hurried past and continued on his way home, never having seen the man’s face.

Persons Unknown is a true crime podcast dedicated to unsolved murders and missing persons cases from all over the world.

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Coedpoeth lies 6.5km west of the town of Wrexham in North Wales.  (Wrexham only achieved city status in 2022). In October 1945 the village had a population of 600. At the time, just months after the end of the Second World War, local industries were predominantly based around agriculture and mining. 

38 year old Caroline Evans, was the headteacher of the local infants school in Wern, Coedpoeth. (Infants schools are for children ages 4-7). She lived at 20 Park Road, Coedpoeth with her husband Edward Daniel Evans, who was ten years her senior. He went by his middle name, Daniel, or the shortened version, Dan, and worked as a clerk at a local leather works. The couple had been married for nearly four years and had no children. From records of the later inquest it is clear that Dan used the shortened version of Caroline's name “Carrie” to refer to his wife. In newspaper reports I've read Caroline is always used. For the purpose of this episode I will also use Caroline. 

Before she was married, Caroline had lived with her parents in nearby New Brighton, in the village of Minera. Her father had passed away but her mother, Harriet Williams, remained there and was the licensee of the village pub, City Arms. Since her father had passed away, Caroline visited her mother several times during the week after the school day had finished. She would never stay over on a week night and always returned home to Coedpoeth to sleep. The weekends were different and Caroline would visit her mother on Saturday evening and stay the night there. She liked to arrive after the bar had shut, because as a teacher Caroline didn't think it was appropriate for her to be seen there when alcohol was being served.

Her husband Daniel would never come with her on Saturday evenings and instead would stay at home. On Sunday, Caroline would help her mother out with chores and Daniel would join them at some point during the day. He would then return home for the evening but Caroline would stay over again on Sunday night and walk to Wern school on Monday morning ready for the start of the working week.

The walk from The Evans’s home on Park Road, Coedpoeth to the City Arms in Minera took about ¾ hour if one followed the road. However, there was a significant shortcut through Pant Tywyll, or Dark Hollow. The pathway which started near Park Road first circumvented Coedpoeth cemetery before descending steeply down into the valley. It then gradually rose uphill to meet the City Arms in Minera. Caroline always took the shortcut, no matter what time of year it was. 

Caroline would normally leave anytime between 7.00pm and 10.15pm on Saturday evening. Daniel had only once accompanied his wife on this journey, and then it was only part of the way. This had happened on a night in 1944 when it was particularly foggy and visibility was poor. Daniel had offered to walk with his wife on other occasions but she had always refused, saying she would be fine. 

On Saturday October 6th 1945 Dan came home from work at 2.30pm. Caroline and Dan then spent the afternoon together. After an evening meal the couple listened to the 9pm news on the radio. After the program had finished Dan mentioned to his wife that she was leaving it a bit late to set off to her mothers house. Daniel later said that he asked this question to give her the option of staying the night with him and postponing her trip until the morning. He estimated that this was 9.40pm as he remembered re-setting the clock not long before the conversation.

The lateness of the hour did not deter Caroline and she busied herself getting together the items she would need to take to her mothers’s house. She also washed, did her hair and put on her coat and hat. At 10.00pm Daniel went up to bed, leaving his wife downstairs.

Daniel dozed off to sleep within a few minutes but was awoken shortly afterwards when Caroline shouted to him from the top of the staircase that she was leaving. She asked him “You will come tomorrow Dan?”. He then heard her go down the stairs, though he did not actually hear Caroline leave the house. He later said she would have done this by the back door, which was always kept unlocked. Daniel could not be exact about the time his wife left the house. There was an alarm clock in the bedroom but it was too dark to see the clock face so he didn't even glance over at it. He believed he hadn't been dozing long so estimated the time to be between 10.10-10.15pm.

Caroline set off on the journey with a brown-leather imitation attache case carrying her overnight items and a small torch. It is also believed Caroline took with her an empty enamel milk pot. More about the significance of this item later.

The 38 year old walked down Park Road and within a few minutes found herself on the narrow footpath that wound its way through Pant Tywyll, or Dark Hollow. After about 200m she passed through a narrow stile close to the cemetery and disappeared into the gloom.

Daniel woke up on the following morning, Sunday, 7th October, at 7 o’clock. He remained inside the house until around 9.30-9.45am. At that time he opened his door and stood on the porch, surveying the early morning scene. His neighbour Mrs Beckett Jones was also out in the front of her house looking toward Pant Tywyll. She turned and asked Dan if he had heard that a young girl had been murdered at Pant Twyll. Shocked, he replied that he had not. The neighbour said she thought it was a young girl who was returning from a dance. Hearing this news Daniel was obviously concerned that such a horrendous thing had occurred so close to his home but he did not associate the incident with his wife. He did, however, reply to Mrs Beckett Jones that Caroline had walked that way late on the previous evening. 

A few minutes later, at 9.45am, Mrs Mitchell, the neighbour from the other side, called around to Evan's house. She came to give the couple the newspaper which she was in the habit of doing on a Sunday morning. She too talked to Dan about the murder. She asked him if he had heard who it was? Mrs Mitchell said her son John Richard had seen an ambulance crew removing the body earlier that morning. He described the victim as being a short girl aged around 25. 

At 10.00am there was a sharp knock on the door of 20 Park Road. Daniel answered it to find two police officers from the Denbighshire constabulary standing there. One was Deputy Chief Constable P. Tomkins and the other Inspector J.W Roberts. They asked to come in and told Dan the earth shattering news that his wife, Caroline, had been murdered. 

The body had been discovered early that morning by Maldwyn Jones. He was a young man, possibly a teenager, described in press reports as a coal miner. He also had another job working on nearby New Farm. Jones was tasked with collecting the cows in the morning and bringing them in for milking. That morning he went out early as usual to fetch the herd. On entering the field he noticed some rags near a footpath that ran alongside it. As he drew closer he saw the body of a woman lying on her back in a pile of brambles. He did not recognise the woman and sprinted to the police station for help. The Coedpoeth police station was only 150m away.

Constable Griffith John Griffiths was on duty and arrived at the scene at 6.55am. He did not recognise the victim. Soon Chief constable of the county George T Guest, deputy chief constable P. Tomkins and Inspector J.W Roberts were all on the scene.They were joined by the coroner Maurice W. Evans. They found a body in the supine position, laying on trodden down brambles and some old discarded metal tins. I'm not sure how or by who but shortly after this the body was identified as Caroline Evans.

There were bruises visible on the face which indicated at least two blows had been administered with some force. Her clothes were also disarranged and her underwear had partly been removed. Judging by the amount of woodland debris on the clothing it appeared the body had been dragged a little distance to where it lay. 

A search of the immediate area soon found Caroline’s attache case which had been discarded in some bushes between the body and the footpath. The case had been opened and reshut by someone. as vegetation had got caught in the clasp and some brambles were torn off and found inside. This was taken away for fingerprint analysis. A small torch was also found a short distance away on the woodland path. 

Caroline’s knitted hat with two red feathers was found in a hedge, and a hair curler lay in some nettles close to the body. A report from the Daily Herald on October 8th 1945 also states that a broken bottle was found nearby which may have been discarded by the perpetrator of the attack. 

A bloodstained nettle leaf was found 3.5 metres down the path away from the body. A single blood spot could also be seen on the path itself. The thick undergrowth of the wood was cleared to ground level and the grass in the nearby cemetery was cut short but no additional clues were found.

A post-mortem was carried out by pathologist Dr Antony Michael Thomas at Wrexham emergency hospital on the night of Sunday 7th October, twelve hours after the body had been discovered. The following details were disclosed in the Liverpool Echo on January 14th 1946, following the inquest hearing. Some of the details are disturbing.

Bruises were found on various parts of the body. The muscles of the neck had extreme and severe bruising. The left temporal muscle had several haemorrhages and there was a contusion behind the left ear measuring 5 cm by 2.5 cm. The mouth, nose and both cheeks were covered in blood and there were small bruises inside the lips. 

The hyoid bone had been fractured and there was a bruise 7.5cm by 2.5cm over the thyroid cartilage. Fingernail marks were visible on the neck, six on the right hand side and two on the left. The left side of the scalp and hair were blood stained. Various pieces of wood and debris, such as nettles, dry leaves and grass were found entangled in the hair. 

Cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation. While it was obvious manual strangulation had occurred there was also evidence that the tie that Caroline had been wearing had been pulled tight around the neck causing significant bruising. This had occurred before death. 

It was estimated that Caroline had been dead for ten hours before her body was found. That would put her death at around 9pm. This is at odds with what time her husband, Daniel Evans said his wife left the house. It must be noted that the time of death was an estimation and this is certainly not an exact science in 2023 let alone 1945. It is also worth mentioning here that during the night Caroline was murdered, UK time reverted from British Summer Time back to Greenwich Mean Time. In other words, the clocks went back one hour at midnight. A Daily Mirror article from 1952 suggests that this may have caused confusion over timings during the investigation.

18.51One aspect where this confusion may come to play is the timing of the attack itself.  If the scream heard by Williams Thomas Davies at around 10.20pm was Caroline and the RAF man seen kneeling in Pant Tywyll at around 11.40pm was her killer, then that is a lapse of over an hour. This would indicate a long and extended attack. Not at all impossible but considering the murder happened near the village this would mean the assailant was taking a big risk.

Caroline had also been sexually assaulted. At the time, newspaper reports and even inquest hearings often shied away from talking explicitly about sexual aspects of crimes. A common term to use was that the victim had been outraged. In Caroline’s case it was clear that she had been sexually assaulted, some reports do mention rape. Early newspaper stories suggested the killer was a 19.55 “Sex maniac”. Inspector J.W Roberts of Denbighshire police would later confirm at the inquest hearing that Caroline had been “outraged” after being rendered incapable of resistance. 

The mountain village of Coedpoeth was rocked by the news of Caroline's murder. One local resident quoted in the Daily Herald on October 8th 1945 said all who knew Mrs Evans (Caroline) held her in great affection. They couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt her. She had no known enemies.  

Caroline’s funeral took place on Thursday 11th October 1945. Heartbreakingly this would have been Caroline and husband Daniel’s fourth wedding anniversary. A crowd of 200 mourners gathered outside the City Arms in Minera and Rev R.T Roberts the pastor of Rehoboth Wesleyan Church delivered an address from one of the windows of the pub. 

A procession of 12 cars and a bus then left the pub and travelled 5 km to Rehoboth chapel for a memorial service. The hearse which led the way, was filled with floral tributes. The chapel was rammed, with over 800 people squeezing inside for the occasion. Caroline was a person who was loved and respected by young and old throughout the region.

Caroline was laid to rest at Coedpoeth cemetery, just a stone's throw from where her body had been found days before. The Rhos Herald reported that moving scenes were witnessed at the graveside between Daniel and his mother-in-law, Harriet Williams. Harriet’s grief was overwhelming but she wasted no time in doing everything she could to help catch her daughter's killer. She put up a £50 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible (this is the equivalent of over £2700 today)

In the aftermath of such a brutal murder fear gripped the small community. Rumours began circulating that a stranger had been seen in the neighbourhood. It was even whispered that he had been tracked down and questioned by police in quote “distant places”. Once the sun set women were encouraged to stay inside and only men were seen walking around the streets. Of course the irony is that it would have been much safer if it was the other way around. 

As was customary at the time, Denbighshire police straight away contacted Scotland Yard for assistance. Experienced detectives Chief Inspector Philpott and Sergeant Hislop arrived within 24 hours of the body being found. They set about coordinating efforts to bring the killer or killers to justice.

Notices were broadcast on cinema screens throughout the region asking for help from the public in solving the crime. Police asked people to come forward if they were in Park Road, Manley Road or Assembly Road in Coedpoeth, or if they used the footpath between Coedpoeth and New Brighton, Minera, between 10pm and midnight on Saturday 6th October. They specifically asked a young couple seen near a gate to a field at the bottom of Assembly Road at 10.30pm and a woman who walked down Park Road at about the same time to come forward. These appeals by the police brought forth some potential leads.

At 1.00pm on  Wednesday 10th October a man who did not give his name telephoned the Wrexham police HQ saying he had some information he wanted to share about the murder. He said he had been travelling by car through Coedpoeth on Sunday 7th October and had stopped to give a lift to a hitchhiker. He had driven him to Bradley Road in Wrexham. The caller said he would ring again with more details. The police believed the man was telling the truth and urged him to get back in contact, even if it was by letter. The man never did. 

A week or so after the murder police received information from two women who were travelling on a midnight train from north to south Wales in the early hours of October 7th. The witnesses said a middle aged man with a scar on his face entered their carriage at Wrexham train station. He approached the women and, much to their discomfort, began trying to engage them in conversation. The man had a rough exterior and had been drinking. He mentioned to the women that he had been to a dance earlier that evening. 

The women did their utmost to ignore the man and put him off but he persisted in talking. He enigmatically told them, “You don't know what I've been up to tonight.” The man spoke with a long drawn accent. (It's unclear exactly what the witnesses meant by this). The women feared the man would bother them for their whole journey but to their relief, he left the carriage at Ruabon which is only a couple of stops from Wrexham. 

Joseph Roberts, who I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, only heard about the murder when he was travelling home on the bus the following afternoon. He immediately thought of the RAF serviceman he had seen kneeling near the path in Pant Tywyll. He went straight to the police and was taken to the place the body was found. He estimated that the man he had seen had been kneeling right in front of that same spot.

Over the next month, news that the police were looking for an RAF serviceman gradually began to be revealed in press reports. Although the war had ended, the process of decommissioning took over two years to complete. At the end of the war there were around 5 million UK service personnel. Many were based in the hundreds of service camps dotted all over the country. A questionnaire was distributed to service camps across the area. Particular attention was given to those in the RAF.The Daily Mirror reported on December 10th 1945 that in two weeks time the police hoped to know the whereabouts of every service member in the whole country. It really was a colossal operation. 

Local villages in the region, including the 600 inhabitants of Coedpoeth, were also required to give written responses to the following questions:

• Where were you and other people you live with on the evening of Saturday October 6th? 
• What do you know of any strangers in the area? 
• Did your daughter bring home any boyfriends that night? 
• What can you tell of any service personnel in the area? 

Everyone over the age of 16 was asked to complete these questions and to post them or hand deliver them to the main police station in Wrexham. 

Police were overwhelmed with responses and Chief Inspector Philpott of Scotland Yard had to secure the assistance of five additional local officers to help him go through them all. From early in the morning until late at night sacks full of completed questionnaires arrived at Wrexham Police HQ. Chief Inspector Philpott was determined that each account was vigilantly gone through as he believed one would hold a vital clue.

Initially, robbery was considered as a possible motive for the attack on Caroline. Caroline had cashed her monthly pay cheque at a bank in Wrexham the day before she was killed. It was surmised the pound notes she withdrew were new and in numerical order with regards to their serial numbers. This money was missing and could not be accounted for.

 An RAF man was found with seven or eight brand new notes and was immediately regarded with suspicion. However, this man was cleared as he was able to show he obtained the notes officially. It was also discovered that the notes Caroline had withdrawn and not been new but had already been in circulation. 

The amount missing was believed to amount to £5 10 shillings. Additionally, Caroline's gold watch could not be found. However after a thorough search conducted by Daniel Evans at the home the money and the gold watch were found. This was a blow to the investigative team as they had hoped the money and watch may help identify the killer. 

One item that was never found was Caroline's small leather wallet. It was presumed she had it on her when she left the house as she would sometimes take small amounts of money to give to her mother. It was also believed that Caroline had taken with her a one litre white enamelled milk pot with a black handle. Caroline had brought the pot from her mothers house the day before her murder. It had contained a stew made by Caroline’s mother for the couple’s evening meal. Initially Daniel Evans had not realised Caroline had taken the can with her and it was a month or so later before it was established that the object was missing. Police believed the assailant had taken this with him and most probably disposed of it somewhere during his getaway.

As was normal practice after identification of the deceased, the inquest into Caroline Evan’s death had been adjourned just a couple of days after the murder. It had since been postponed on several occasions in the hope that an arrest would be made following the mass appeals for information and extensive police inquiries. By January 1946, three months after the murder, this had not happened, so the inquest resumed and was concluded. 

The inquest was presided over by the coroner of East Denbighshire Maurice V. Evans and took place with a jury. Chief Constable George T. Guest, Deputy Chief Constable P.Tomkins and Inspector J.W Roberts, all of Denbighshire police, were present and asked questions to the dozen or so witnesses. I believe by this time Chief Inspector Philpott and sergeant Hislop had returned to Scotland Yard.

As I have detailed before on this podcast, in years gone by a coroner's inquest would happen before a criminal trial. They would be held if a death was sudden or was deemed suspicious and would take place in the district where the death occurred. If there were suspects in the case the inquest could require them to give evidence and the jury would decide whether there was sufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution and trial to go ahead. 

Since October 1945, Denbighshire and Scotland Yard police had questioned thousands of people and taken six hundred statements in connection with Caroline's murder. Information had provided some leads but they had amounted to nothing. For example, a serviceman had disappeared from his camp very suddenly over the weekend of the murder. He had left a pair of muddy boots covered with grass at his barracks. This man was eventually traced and police were satisfied with the explanation the man gave concerning the boots and his whereabouts. 

Another serving member of the armed forces heard about the murder and worried that he may have committed the rape and murder of Caroline Evans. He had no memory of the incident but believed he may have experienced a blackout and handed himself into police. After questioning the man, detectives believed he was not involved and he was deemed to be mentally ill. He was given over to the care of a psychiatrist. 

Caroline's husband, Daniel Evans, was scrutinised intensely by the police officers present at the inquest and members of the jury. His story remained consistent and he was adamant that when Caroline had left the house she had been in good spirits. He had not worried about her travelling as she was quite used to the short walk, even at that late hour. He also made the point when asked that he had a good and happy relationship with his wife. No one disputed this fact.

Inspector J.W. Roberts told the coroner and jury that extensive inquiries had been made but they had all proved negative. Despite the assistance given by Scotland Yard, police were no nearer finding the assailant than when the body was first discovered. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder by person or persons unknown. The story did not end there.

A few months later, in April 1946, the Liverpool Echo reported that police were working a new line of inquiry. Chief Inspector Philpott and Detective Sergeant Hislop returned to North Wales from London to interview a man they believed may know something about the Dark Hollow Murder. Altogether eleven people were interviewed by police during this time but the Scotland Yard detectives returned to England's capital without making an arrest. The sheer number of people spoken to suggests the police suspected there was a conspiracy of silence amongst a group of locals who knew exactly who had killed Caroline.

Years passed and the case went cold. 

In June 1950 an 18 year man named John Lionel Raymond Rusdell stood in the dock at  Ruthin Assizes, Wrexham, having just been found guilty of the murder of Dilys Scott. The 30 year old had been shot in her home in Marchwiel near Wrexham in March of that year.

The court had heard damning testimony  from Rusdell’s uncle, Wilfred, 35.32 who had brought up the young man. Wilfred claimed the former soldier was obsessed with crime and would often read aloud to the rest of the family a novel titled “Down Murder Lane”. Rusdell was said to be fascinated by the English serial killer John Haigh, aka the Acid Bath Murderer. Rusdell had on one occasion talked of wanting to commit the perfect crime. Eventually he acted on these murderous fantasies and shot to death Dilys Scott.

After being found guilty the judge asked Rusdell if he had anything to say. He replied that the police might be interested in another murder he had committed. He then said he killed quote “Mrs Evans down Coedpoeth four years ago”. He added that the motive was sex. Rusdell then began to attack people in the courtroom and had to be restrained and removed. 

This was obviously quite a confession.Especially as it would have meant that Rusdell would have only been 13 or 14 when he murdered Caroline. Police did look into Rusdell, not least because of his violent fantasies and the fact that he lived in Queens Park, Wrexham, just 11 km from Coedpoeth. After investigation police discounted Rusdell’s claims and he was disregarded as a suspect.

Rusdell was originally sentenced to death for the murder of Dilys Scott but this was commuted to life in prison as he was found to be criminally insane. He was sent to Broadmoor secure hospital to complete his sentence. Four years later he attempted to escape after playing cello at a dance and smuggling in a homemade knife. On new year’s day 1955, Rusdell was found dead in his room at Broadmoor. The 22 year old had a flair for art and was allowed to keep certain materials in his room. He had ingested an entire tube of enamel paint which contained 5-7 lethal doses of arsenite of copper. His death was marked as suicide.

On April 18th 1951 the chief of Liverpool CID, Superintendent Herbert R Balmer told the Liverpool Echo that he had passed on important information concerning the murder of Caroline Evans to Denbighshire police. This had followed an overheard conversation in a Liverpool boarding house. Liverpool  is an hours drive north of Wrexham.  In response, Scotland Yard reopened the investigation and a circular was sent around every police authority in the country with details of the case.

Chief Inspector Higgins, who was new to the case, travelled to Coedpoeth in early May 1951 with Detective Inspector Hislop (who had been promoted from Detective Sergeant). DI Hislop showed Higgins the spot where Caroline had been found and both detectives then visited Manchester and Rochdale to carry out inquiries there. Manchester is across the border in England and an hour's drive north of Wrexham. Rochdale is about 40 minutes further north. 

On the night of the 4th of May 1951 they spoke for three hours with a possible witness. The man was not arrested.  Higgins and Hislop left the police station in Manchester and returned to Wrexham at 4.00 in the morning. 

The Liverpool Echo reported on May 5th 1951 that the witness had been able to clear up an important point. Having driven well over 1000 km over the course of four days, detectives Higgins and Hislop returned to London empty handed with Caroline’s killer still on the loose.

Almost a year later Higgins and Hislop returned to north Wales and the case was reopened yet again. This time the lead they were following was not related to the lead the detectives had chased down twelve months before. The Liverpool Echo stated on March 1st 1952 that police were no longer interested in the man they had been looking at a year earlier. The new lead came from a letter that was sent by someone who used to live in the Coedpoeth area. The letter suggested a person to investigate, who was connected to one of the hundreds of statements that were taken during the first three months of the investigation. 

Interviews were carried out in 1952 but yet again no arrests followed and the lead soon fizzled out.

I have not come across a named suspect in the investigation but a Sunday Mirror article on March 16th 1952 does broach some theories about Caroline’s murder.

Regarding the mysterious RAF serviceman seen in Pant Tywyll. The question investigators were seeking to answer was why he came to be in Coedpoeth on that night. They didn't believe he had planned to travel there to commit the crime but thought he was there on some other business, most probably social. I’m guessing the serviceman was on leave and not AWOL. I feel he would probably have been traced if this was the case.

On the evening of Saturday 6th October 41.25 there was a dance going on at Drill Hall in Coedpoeth. This was only 180 m from where Caroline's body was found. The dance ended at 11pm. It is known that many service personnel attended the dance. Had Caroline's killer wandered out of the dance early, having had too much to drink and perhaps having been turned down by a young woman? Did he see Caroline walking through Coedpoeth and decide to follow her? In this scenario Caroline would have been attacked at random by a stranger. If this was the case, why not attack Caroline further along the path? It was an added risk to attack her relatively close to the village and to potential witnesses.

Another mooted theory was that the killer was a transient, a person who at the time would have been referred to as a tramp or an outcast. Of course this doesn't account for the RAF uniform. Was Joseph Roberts, who had seen the kneeling man, mistaken about the man's attire?

Constable Griffith John Griffths, the local Coedpoeth police officer who was first at the scene, shared his own thoughts on the case in the aforementioned Sunday Mirror article. He thought it possible that a stranger may have lain in wait on the woodland path in Pant Tywyll for the first lone woman to come that way; but he also offered an alternative theory. He believed the murder was carried out by someone who knew Caroline’s movements and that she had been specifically targeted. The inference was that the killer was a local. If this was the case the perpetrator was able to cover his tracks very quickly and get rid of his muddy boots and bloodied clothing without any suspicion. 

Caroline's mother, Harriet Williams, put forward her own theory. She suggested that Caroline had been killed somewhere else and her body had been carried to the spot where it was found. That night the weather had been misty and it had been drizzling but when Carline was found her shoes and stockings were clean. This seemed to indicate she had not walked down the muddy path at all. 

Quite extraordinarily, the Sunday Mirror even ran a competition to try and solve the case. Armchair sleuths were encouraged to write in with their own theory of what happened. The newspaper would award £10 for the best theory and would give £5 prizes for three runners up.

I'm not sure what response the competition received but Caroline’s murder was never solved. I’ve attempted to find out what happened to Caroline's husband Daniel and mother Harriet but have come up short. Searching ancestry records I found Daniel and Caroline’s marriage registration but I cannot say with certainty when Daniel died or where he was living at the time. It must have been very difficult to remain living in Coedpoeth and I wonder whether he moved away. Harriett was 76 in 1952 and was still running the City Arms. They must both have had suspicions that the killer could have been living among them, or that others in the community knew what had happened but chose to protect the killer and remain silent. 

According to information found at the National Archives the case was worked until 1957. A Liverpool Daily Post article from November 10th 2006 said North Wales police CID officers were meeting that day to discuss reopening Carloine Evans’ case. It was unknown what evidence led to this possibility.  North Wales police never officially commented on the matter and if the murder was reinvestigated no new information was shared with the public. The police  documents on the case were closed for 75 years (dated from 1957) and will not be open until 2033. The unsolved murder of Caroline Evans remains one of Wales's oldest cold cases.