IT’S been 30 years since Lindsay Jo Rimer went to buy cornflakes at her local SPAR store and vanished into thin air.
And three decades later, despite extensive appeals and DNA testing, no one still knows what happened to the much-loved daughter and sister.
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Lindsay pictured 30 years ago before she disappeared Credit: SWNS
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Stolen red Honda Civic found abandoned in Sheffield ten days after Lindsay’s disappearance and may still contain clues Credit: PA
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CCTV captured the teenager in her nearby SPAR before she mysteriously disappeared Credit: brochure
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Three decades later and mystery still surrounds what happened to the teenage girl after she left her local SPAR in Hebden Bridge, West YorkshireCredit: West Yorkshire Police
Hundreds of locals joined Lindsay’s family and the police in a massive search until tragedy struck five months later and Lindsay’s body was found in a Rochdale canal.
Tragically, she was strangled and weighed down by a 20-pound stone.
Lindsay was a typical schoolgirl, a ‘conscientious and happy child’ to those who knew her with a morning round of newspapers and a growing interest in fashion.
Her family fondly knew her as Saffy, a nod to the character from the television comedy Absolutely Fabulolus, because she was so organized and efficient.
She talked about going to university, but at just 13 years old and her whole life ahead of her, those dreams were cut short.
In 1994, Lindsay was living with her parents, Geri and Gordon, two sisters, Kate and Juliet, and brother, Daniel, in the Pennine town of Hebden Bridge in the Calder Valley – more recently known as the backdrop for the BAFTA-winning TV series, Happy Valley.
On November 7, Lindsay, a Year 9 pupil at Calder Local High School, left her Cambridge Street home at around 10pm and met her mother, who was out drinking with a friend, at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge.
Geri asked her daughter if she wanted to stay and have a Coke, but Lindsay said no.
Timeline of events
November 7, 1994 – 10 p.m. Lindsay leaves her home on Cambridge Street in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire.
22.22 – the teenage girl meets her mother at the Trades Club, but does not stay for a soft drink.
Shortly afterwards she was seen on CCTV at the SPAR store in Crown Street buying cornflakes – this is the last time she was seen alive.
November 8 – The police were called when Lindsay didn’t show up for the paper round. A large-scale search is underway by the police, family and members of the local community.
12 April 1995 – Two canal workers find Lindsay’s body in the Rochdale canal.
November 2016 – A 63-year-old man from Bradford was arrested. He was released on police bail.
April 2017 – A 68-year-old man from Bradford was arrested. He was released without charge.
Lindsay was then caught on CCTV 20 minutes later – at 10.22pm – as she bought cornflakes at the SPAR store on Crown Street.
It was the last time she was seen alive.
When Lindsay didn’t show up for the newspaper rounds the next morning, the police were notified.
It was suggested that she might have run away or that there was ‘trouble at home’, but Lindsay’s family knew that was completely out of the ordinary.
A great community quest begins
They told police they always knew where she was and she always came home on time.
Eventually a massive search of the River Calder and Rochdale Canal began – but to no avail.
In a temporary twist of events shortly after she disappeared, a man claimed to have seen Lindsay being pulled into a car and followed the car to a nearby reservoir.
His claim was so detailed that the police arranged for a helicopter and the mountain rescue service to be sent in, but, tragically for Lindsay’s family, the man finally admitted it was a hoax.
He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Five months after her disappearance, on 12 April 1995, Lindsay’s weighted body was found a mile upstream from Hebden Bridge town center in the Rochdale Canal by two canal workers.
how can the perpetrator of such a heinous crime that horrified a nation remain undetected for three decades?
Andy Glover, one of the men who found the body, spoke for the first time during an appeal more than a decade later.
“We thought it was a sheep,” he said.
“While we pulled him towards us, the body rolled in the water. There was no doubt about who it was. We found Lindsay Rimer.
“That stayed with me, always will.”
An autopsy was performed and it was concluded that she had probably been strangled.
The coroner said she died shortly after entering the SPAR shop.
But how can the perpetrator of such a heinous crime that horrified a nation remain undetected for three decades?
Lindsay’s mother, Geri, remained convinced that her daughter’s death was committed by someone from the Hebden Bridge community
Since Lindsay’s body was discovered, multiple lines of inquiry have been launched.
It was reported at the time that Lindsay was a “cautious” person who probably wouldn’t go out with someone she didn’t know.
Detectives reportedly believed Lindsay may have been killed by someone she knew the same night she disappeared.
Inquiries have been launched to find the driver of a red Honda Civic which was stolen from Leeds and spotted around Hebden Bridge when Lindsay went missing.
It was thought the driver had tried to chat with schoolgirls in the town and may have been spotted near SPAR.
But these investigations did not yield any results.
Lindsay’s murder was re-investigated in 1998 by detectives from a number of forces as part of Operation Enigma – a national police inquiry into the murders of 207 women who died between 1986 and 1996 in an attempt to establish a link between the crimes.
I still remember when my mom called me to tell me that my little sister was missing. I immediately felt that something was wrong.
Lindsay’s sister, Kate
However, no connection to Lindsay’s murder has been established.
Lindsay’s mother, Geri, remained convinced that her daughter’s death was committed by someone from the Hebden Bridge community.
She spoke out in 1999, on the fifth anniversary of Lindsay’s disappearance.
“That’s what happened in this community,” she said. “It’s still affecting this community – and I believe someone from this community did this to Lindsay.”
But still, no one was arrested.
As the years turned into decades, police, along with members of Lindsay’s family, again appealed for information about the innocent 13-year-old’s death.
A ‘life sentence’ for Lindsay’s family
In 2015, 20 years after her sister’s body was discovered, Lindsay’s sister, Kate, said her family had been given a ‘life sentence’ while her killer went unpunished.
Kate, who was 20 when Lindsay disappeared, said: “I still remember when my mum called me to say my little sister was missing.
“I immediately felt that something was wrong.
“From the beginning we have been filled with sadness and we cannot stop the sadness and instead we remember her with love until this is over.
“We miss her so much, but every memory of her is tainted – it’s so painful and it bleeds into everything we do.
“It’s about time it ended – it’s a life sentence for this family.”
The following year, in April 2016, hope was reborn for the family when West Yorkshire Police sent DNA evidence to Canada for analysis using the latest scientific techniques.
Lindsay’s younger sister Juliet, who was 17 months old when Lindsay disappeared, also spoke for the first time.
She said: “There will always be a void.
“There’s a part of everyone’s soul missing and I often wonder what our lives would be like if we weren’t a ‘broken’ family – the advice Lindsay would have given me, the fights we might have had, the things we might have shared.
“Getting answers wouldn’t change the pain, but it would help us all get closure.”
No further details of the DNA testing have been revealed, but then a 63-year-old man from Bradford was arrested in November 2016.
Speaking at a press conference after her arrest, Lindsay’s mother, who divorced Lindsay’s father Gordon after their daughter’s death, said: “My little girl deserves justice.
“My little girl does not deserve to be dead.
Arrests were made, but no convictions
“I swore when her body was found that I would not give up until the end. We owe it to Lindsay.
“I miss him every day – all of us.”
The 63-year-old man was released on bail but then, five months later, in April 2017, another man from Bradford, aged 68, was arrested.
But he was also released, without charges.
In 2017, retired Detective Sergeant John Matthews of Cleveland Police said a man he was questioning in connection with the murder of two women in County Durham had links to Hebden Bridge and the Rimer family.
Mr Matthews said the man, who died in 2005, had moved to Hebden Bridge in 1990 and worked at the Trades Club and should have been considered a suspect.
However, West Yorkshire Police said the suspect had been questioned at the time of Lindsay’s disappearance and was under investigation after his death and they were confident he was not someone detectives should be hunting.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “We are encouraging anyone who may have information to come forward as inquiries are ongoing into Lindsay’s murder.”
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Lindsay Jo Rimer, fondly called Saffy by her loved ones. Credit: Reuters
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E-profile of the man issued by the police at the time of Lindsay’s sudden disappearance Credit: PA
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Lindsay’s mum Geri pictured in the canal where her daughter was found with DS Simon Atkinson who was in charge of the case at the time Credit: SWNS: South West News Service
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