Eventually, the cold case team planned to swab 500 possible suspects with a link to the case. Each owner was visited, asked for a statement, and their alibi verified. The police were subsequently able to pinpoint Joseph Kappen as the killer, when they tested his son, a known thief called Paul Kappen. Less than a year after the murders, the police trail had gone cold. News The killings took place in the Port Talbot area of Wales in 1973. Joseph even had a light-toned Morris 1100 and resembled the description of the person they were looking for, although he was questioned at the time and he'd had an alibi. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The four-part drama and accompanying documentary starts on Monday on BBC One and will be available as a box set on BBC iPlayer. Later on a new inquiry found that DNA from the same unknown male was found on Sandra Newtons underwear, conclusively linking her murder to the other teenagers. Book Lists The three girls were raped and killed by Joseph Kappen in nearby woodlands. 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Anymore podcast lists coming anytime soon?? Kappen is also suspected of committing a fourth murder in February 1976. Steeltown Murders is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer. Kappen was known to pursue local teenage girls during the marriage and used his job as a bouncer to do so. Familial DNA searching involves the use of DNA profiles of relatives, often from DNA databases or samples volunteered by individuals, to create new investigative leads to aid in the identification of the offender. Its also understood that around 150 police officers interviewed around 35,000 people who in any way resembled the description of the man that Geraldine and Pauline were last seen with. All three were driven to rural locations where they were subsequently raped, then killed bystrangulation. Rees had to check her claim against the local death register and reallocate Kappen to the dead pool - nominals who awaited final elimination by crosschecking with. View our online Press Pack. But despite the biggest murder hunt the country had seen, the killer remained at large for years. Kappen was one of them. Kappen had died of lung cancer 11 years earlier in 1990, aged 48. Visit our corporate site. Over a period of time in 1973 three women had gone missing after leaving nightclubs in small towns in South Wales. They came up with a shortlist of 500 men where they then looked for the previous description, if they owned that particular car model, and previous convictions of sexual assault. At least that's what Netflix's sanguine documentary would have you believe, Give up on the bizarre docs, Ross Kemp. By that time, Joseph was dead. Steeltown Murders: How Saturday Night Strangler was caught Thanks for this. BA1 1UA. After the findings, Kappens former wife Christine Powell, who had previously insisted that Kappen was innocent said they were all deeply shocked by the revelations. Determined to prove once and for all whether Joseph Kappen was definitely the "Saturday Night Strangler", police faced a serious obstacle in their investigation in 2001. Did a killer evade justice due to withheld evidence? | Science | The In 1973, Joseph Kappen killed three young women in Port Talbot, South Wales, but it wasn't until 2001 that detectives were able to catch the killer. They reportedly requested samples from Kappens former wife and daughter and although these helped build up part of his profile, they had to be 100% sure. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. How was the Steeltown Murders culprit caught? The incredible - MSN Please refresh the page and try again. Police named Joseph Kappen the Saturday Night Strangler as he only seemed to kill on Saturday nights. She was always full of fun.". It was not just closure for Geraldine and Pauline's loved ones, but for Sandra's family and close friends too. It emerged that the girls had hitched a ride with someone they didn't know, prompting police to put up posters dissuading people from doing so to try and prevent more murders. 6 Welsh Cold Cases From the 1970s and 1980s. A new four-part BBC drama tells the story of how serial killer Joseph Kappen got away with the chilling murders of three teenage girls in Port Talbot for almost three decades. Gone are the days of being painfully awake on a long-haul flight By Madeline Merinuk The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. They were all exact half matches to the offender's profile. Joseph Kappen was born on month day 1919, at birth place, to Jacob Kappen and Elisabeth Kappen (born Krautmacher). Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Set in Port Talbot, South Wales, the story charts the devastating impact of three unsolved murders on a close-knit community over a 30-year period. The police then collected swabs from Kappen's wife and daughter Deborah to build a more robust picture, bringing the probability of him being the perpetrator to 75 per cent. In Steeltown Murders, the series introduces other victims of Joseph Kappen who went unnoticed due to a lack of evidence.While Phil's long-standing friend, Jane, who was sexually assaulted, and Susan Ferry, another victim, are probably fictional representations in the series, the pattern of abduction and the facial descriptions provided by the victims suggest . After that initial broadcast, all four episodes were made available on BBC iPlayer for those wishing to watch ahead. The detectives also used another new technique psychological profiling. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. How did police discover Joseph Kappen was the killer? Required fields are marked *, 13 Facts You Need to Know About Levi Bellfield: The Bus Stop Stalker, Trio Convicted of June 2022 Westminster Murder of Adnan Saleh, Shawn Grate: The Ohio House of Horrors Killer, Profile and Facts, Man Murdered in Front of His Young Daughter by a Group Who Used GPS Tracking Devices to Find Him. Who is murderer Joseph Kappen and where is he now? | The Sun Police are preparing to exhume the body because Kappen is a prime suspect in the investigation into the murders of three teenage girls nearly 30 years' ago. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. A few years later, while walking their dog, Joseph kicked the pet then strangled it to death in front of his son. The next murders happened two months later, on another Saturday night in nearby Swansea. Sarah Jessica Parker makes a case for denim capri pants? Working without computers, police faced an impossible task as they sifted through a huge pool of possible suspects from a mountain of paperwork. Is Steeltown Murders a true story? How serial killer Joseph Kappen was Aneurin Barnard plays Joseph Kappen in Steeltown Murders BBC/Severn Screen/Tom Jackson Unfortunately, the DNA found on all three of the girls' clothes was not logged on the national database,. One key witness managed to remember the model of car the teenagers got into as they left Swansea - a Morris 1100. Extraordinarily, the Home Secretary then gave the green light to exhume his body in 2002. Joseph Kappen raped and murdered three teenage girls - Sandra Newton on 14 July, and Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd just over two months later on 16 September. You will receive a verification email shortly. It took two DNA-firsts to find the man who had struck fear into south Wales. He killed all three victims by strangling them. He spent years in and out of prison, and worked as a lorry driver, bus driver, and bouncer. Christine gave birth to a daughter and then to a son, Paul, after she was raped by Kappen after his release from prison. The DNA profile of car thief Paul Kappen was found, sharing 50% of the murderers DNA. "We started to think was it possible that we could use the idea that crime can run in families," said Dr Dark, whose team was continually checking the sample with new profiles on the ever-growing DNA database. Firstly, semen stains on Geraldine and Pauline's clothing were isolated to show they matched that of the same man - but the person was not on the recently opened DNA database. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. In 2000, Dr Jonathan Whitaker, a forensic scientist working with the Forensic Science Service, analysed the 28-year-old crime scene samples using the new Low Copy Number DNA technique, but no matches were found in the National DNA Database (NDNAD). So history was made in May 2002, when exhumation of the three-person grave began on the stroke of midnight. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Tragically, his car was actually logged by police as being on the road in the days after the murder of Hughes and Floyd, but technology at the time meant that without a computerised system for cross-referencing this went unnoticed by detectives. The grave of Joseph Kappen at Goytre Cemetery near Port Talbot, South Wales. Just two months later, friends Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd, both aged 16, were also found dead after hitchhiking home from a party in Swansea. "This was a ground breaking technique, the first time it's ever been done in the UK and possibly the world - and from there, the new investigative tool now known as familial DNA was developed," Dr Dark, whose team worked through the DNA database, told the BBC. In the Summer of 2002, after matching partial DNA to Josephs extended family, they exhumed his body. He grew up in the industrial town Port Talbot which was dominated by the large steelworks. So what happened to the dad-of-three? Joseph Kappen's name crops up in the second episode of BBC drama Steeltown Murders, which recounts how pioneering DNA technology was used to expose him as the man responsible for the rape and murders of Sandra Newton and best friends Pauline Floyd and Geraldine Hughes. Witnesses saw the girls getting into a Morris 1100 that was being driven by a man who was described to be between 30 to 35-years-old, with a moustache and bushy hair. Who was Joseph Kappen in Steeltown Murders? | Radio Times He fatally strangled the family dog in front of his son. "This was a ground breaking technique, the first time it's ever been done in the UK and possibly the world - and from there, the new investigative tool now known as familial DNA was developed.". "I thought it was natural for men to hit women," she said. A breakthrough in DNA fingerprinting helped detectives finally find the killer. It emerged that the girls had hitched a ride with someone they didn't know, prompting police to put up posters dissuading people from doing so to try and prevent more murders. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. The Life Summary of Joseph William. As the drama unfolds, viewers will follow two vividly different timelines 1973 when the murders occurred and 2002 when DNA yielded the tantalising possibility the killer might finally be brought to justice. Confrontation, celebration and confetti: Photos of the week, Oscar-winning Banshees pub opens for real, Gods, goatskins and drums: Morocco's mystical musicians, Armageddon: The 3,000-year-old city behind the biblical story. "This was an absolute bombshell because this meant there was a serial killer operating in south Wales in 1973 killing young girls.". The car thief turned out to be Kappen's son, Paul. Steeltown Murders is a four-part factual drama television miniseries written by Ed Whitmore and directed by Marc Evans.It was produced for the BBC by Severn Screen based in Wales and aired on BBC One.It stars Philip Glenister and Steffan Rhodri as detectives investigating the real-life murders committed by Joseph Kappen in Port Talbot in South Wales.It premiered on 15 May 2023 on BBC One, with . Her clothing was heavily bloodstained, and she had been battered about the head. "It was a horrible night and just as we got to Kappen's coffin, there was a clap of thunder," recalled Dr Dark. Grapevine However when detectives visited the ex-wife of Kappen, they were unfortunately informed that he had passed away ten years previously due to lung cancer. Joseph Kappen married Christine Powell, 17, in February 1964. Yomi Adegoke's The List asks if our loved ones were cancelled, could we defend them? Theft On Saturday 14th July 1973, 16-year-old Sandra Newton was separated from her friends after leaving a nightclub. He would also seek out "boys and girls to commit crimes on his behalf", according to Wheadon. Two of the victims were 16, one was only 15. "I still think about her now. Ed Warren (Kappen had died in 1990 from lung cancer). Local car thief Paul Kappen's DNA was on the database after committing offences in and around the Port Talbot area, but he was only seven at the time of the murders. She had been hit over the head and strangled with her own skirt. Utah. Joseph was already on the prowl and picked up the unsuspecting girls. The only problem was that this man wasnt on the DNA database. As a BBC reporter, I helped to cover these killings back in 1973. Led by DCI Paul Bethell, the team went to unprecedented lengths and used ground-breaking techniques to finally crack the case. The girls were killed on two separate nights, but they had all hitched a ride from Kappen on their way home. Sandra's body was found two days later in a culvert. Like Geraldine and Pauline, Sandra had been raped and choked to death with the hem of her own skirt. Cold Case Whitaker is one of the world's most highly respected DNA profilers and has helped to convict a string of. Bizarre True Crime Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd were 16 years old and Sandra Newton was 15. The Intricacies and Unsolved Mysteries Explained, How Has Pathology Evolved Over Time? Ronald DeFeo "I recognised straight away from a particular feature of the DNA - this was the Llandarcy killer," said forensic scientist Dr Colin Dark. His dad, however, had been questioned back in 1973 because he fitted the description of the wanted man - and drove a light-coloured Morris 1100. However, due to the limitations of resources at that time, Kappen went undetected for 30 years. In 1964 Kappen attempted to force himself on a 15-year-old schoolgirl in his Sandfields housing estate, but she escaped. To this day he remains a suspect in other unsolved murders. She said: Our first thoughts are with the families of the victims. The detectives also used another new technique - psychological profiling. To get home to the neighbouring villages of Llandarcy and Skewen seven miles away they did what everyone did in those days They hitchhiked.
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