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The 16-year-old English schoolgirl went missing after going Christmas shopping
A teenage girl was abducted and found brutally murdered in Leeds, England, in 2000. With no fingerprints or other biological evidence to assist detectives, the search for the girls’ killer seemed hopeless at first.
But thankfully, the killer left behind a treasure trove of other forensic evidence that led detectives to a cold, calculated serial sexual predator.
Background
On November 26, 2000, Leanne Tiernan went Christmas shopping with a girlfriend, Sarah Whitehouse, in Leeds, West Yorkshire. They parted ways when the girls were done shopping, and Leanne decided to take a shortcut home through an unlit path.
When Sarah arrived home, she called Leanne’s house and was shocked to learn that her friend hadn’t yet arrived. When Leanne’s mother couldn’t reach her daughter on her mobile phone, she promptly called the police and reported her daughter missing.
Thankfully, the police immediately treated Leanne’s disappearance as suspicious, rather than dismissing her case as a runaway or teenage prank as so often happens.
