Police dig up graves in 14-year search for young mum
Cold-case breakthrough after photo shown on BGT
DETECTIVES investigating the cold- case murder of a teenager who went missing 14 years ago have begun exhuming graves 200 yards from her home.
Natalie Putt was 17 when she disappeared as she walked to her local shops. She left behind her 11-week-old son Rhys, and had no mobile phone or possessions with her.
Despite a search of land and rivers near the teenager’s home in Dudley, West Midlands, no evidence was found and Natalie had seemingly vanished without a trace.
Now, after her photograph was shown on Britain’s Got Talent on Friday night, police have received new information which has led them to exhume graves at Ruiton cemetery.
Her family, who had been holding out hope she was alive, told of their ‘devastation’ at the news.
Rebecca Coggins and Lowri Putt said in a statement: ‘ To hear of the news and events regarding Natalie’s disappearance is absolutely devastating to all of the family.
‘We are obviously very upset about the developments and as such would ask that our family is left in peace until such time that we hear of definitive news from the police.
‘ In the near 14 years that Natalie has been missing, we have never given up hope of finding her safe and well. Until we know anything to the contrary this remains the case.’
On the night before her disappearance, Natalie had been out with a friend and returned home at 9am. She left a voicemail suggesting she was planning to visit friends in Tamworth, then went to the shops at noon.
Natalie, who would now be 31, featured in appeals on BBC’s Crimewatch which led to reported sightings from Bournemouth to Scotland. These proved inconclusive and police originally said there was no evidence she was murdered or that she planned to kill herself.
On Friday, however, a photograph of Natalie was shown during the Missing People Choir’s performance which reinvigorated the investigation.
West Midlands Police are now treating the case as a murder hunt and believe two people may have further information to help them.
Detective Inspector Ian Iliffe, from the force’s cold-case review team, said: ‘We have received a phone call from a man in a telephone box in the Lake Street area of Gornal [in Dudley] with specific information that has the potential to lead to the person responsible for Natalie’s death. This crucial information could help us solve this mystery and give Natalie’s family the answers they need. I would urge that person to contact us again. ‘We have had no positive sightings of Natalie in all these years. There has never been any financial activity connected to her bank accounts or any access to health services across the country, which points to the fact that she is no longer alive. ‘We also believe that at least two people know what has led us to this site. We would very much like to hear from them.’ Yesterday Mrs Coggins, 40, described Natalie as the ‘missing piece from the family’. ‘I have been pushing for police to continue investigating and find out what’s going on’, she said. ‘It’s been very difficult as you never know what’s around the corner, I have to prepare myself every day that she might be found. ‘We are stuck in limbo because we don’t know what happened that day. We don’t want to grieve because it means we are giving up on the fact that she might be alive – we have to be positive that she is out there.’ Mrs Coggins, of Nottingham, added: ‘Not a day goes by when I do not think and miss her, she was a special girl with her whole life ahead of her.’