Child murderer link to mummified girl mystery
Bid for answers on Donna, 18, after 27 years
Body was found 3yrs after Donna vanished POLICE are re-examining the mystery death of a teenager whose mummified body was found dumped 27 years ago.
A former detective fears Donna Healey, 18, may have been a victim of twisted child killer John Taylor.
The 62-year-old is serving life for the 2000 murder of Leanne Tiernan, 16, plus a series of sex attacks.
The fiend kept Leanne’s body in his kitchen freezer in Leeds for nine months before dumping it when the freezer broke down.
Officers are now reviewing Donna’s death along with those of Lindsay Rimer, 13, Yvonne Fitt, 33, and Deborah Wood, 20.
And retired detective Chris Clark thinks they should focus on
Taylor and add Ann Ballantyne, 20, found in an Edinburgh canal in 1987, to their list.
He said: “How many men in West Yorkshire were murdering victims and putting them in cold storage?
“It’s a bit like Peter Sutcliffe going round women with a hammer.”
The women’s families are also urging police to probe the potential leads, saying they are desperate for their heartbreak to end.
Detectives contacted Donna’s mother last week and told her about the new investigation.
The 72-year-old from Bradford, who did not want to be named, said: “Somebody out there must know something, I hope we get some answers this time. I don’t want to die not knowing what happened to her.”
Donna’s parents reported her Taylor is serving life bashing missing in March 1988 and her body was found in the grounds of a nursing home that was being renovated in Chapel Allerton, Leeds, in January 1991. But it was not identified until 2004, following advances in DNA technology.
Tests showed the body had been stored in an airtight container, just like Leanne’s, leaving it partially preserved in a “mummified” state.
Police said they believe whoever moved the body may have been forced to act by a change in personal circumstances and had a link to the area. Taylor lived five miles away.
Detective Superintendent Jim Griffiths of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team said:“We are carrying out a new review into her death.
“This review is in its infancy and is looking at a number of potential lines of enquiry.”
Asked about Taylor, police said: “We would not name any individual who was or was not part of these initial enquiries but I would again urge anyone with information to come forward.”
West Yorkshire Police carried out probes on Donna’s death in 2003 and 2013 but it has remained “unexplained”.
But Mr Clark, now an author, said: “You’d have to live on another planet to say Donna wasn’t murdered.
“It’s indicative of John Taylor, the remains were stored and then dumped. There have not been any other serial offenders who have operated in his manner in that area.”
Detective Superintendent Griffiths added: “We owe it to Donna to find out what happened to her.”