Taking A Look At Tiernan's Murder Investigation

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Sunday, November 26, 2000 was the last time Leanne Tiernan was seen alive. Tiernan, a young 16 year old schoolgirl, went missing about a mile from her home in Bramley, Leeds, UK. After a day of Christmas shopping with her friend Sarah Whitehouse, Tiernan took a shortcut home alone and walked through a desolate and dark path locally known as Houghley Gill. Leanne reportedly had disappeared around 5pm.
A search quickly ensued, involving the searching of over 1000 properties and the draining of a 3-mile long canal, using K-9 units, air support, and even underwater searches. The search would prove to be the largest West Yorkshire had ever seen. Tiernan’s missing person investigation was headed by Detective Superintendent Chris Gregg of the West …show more content…

Police officially identified the body as Tiernan’s from her fingerprints 2 days later, and Gregg declared the case a murder investigation. Her body had been found wrapped in plastic bags and then covered with a floral patterned quilt, buried not too far under the ground. Detective Gregg said her hands had been tied with plastic cables, which were also used to strangle her. Police also found a scarf around her neck. “When Leanne's body was found we discovered a number of bindings on her body. Her hands had been bound,” Gregg said. A black bag covered her head, secured in place by a leather dog collar. Her hair was still in the same ponytail she had it in on the day she disappeared, with the same hairbands and clips attached. The only items missing were her jacket and her boots. Forensic scientists were believed Tiernan’s body had been frozen after her death up until a few weeks of her body’s discovery, based on the state of decomposition of her body . Her body was then examined by a cryobiology expert, who looked at the microstructure of Tiernan's cardiac tissue and determined her body was frozen for a …show more content…

But given just the information and clues from the findings of her body, they had reached another stump in the case. From her body alone, they were unable to determine who the abductor and killer was. Detective Gregg and the police had to try a different tactic: “piecing together a jigsaw of evidence obtained through tenacious policing that made sure no stone was left unturned”. The police used forensic science to assist with the investigation; without the help and services of the Forensic Science Service, it is very unlikely that police would have found Tiernan’s

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