The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
No new probe launched as 40-year mark looms
Notorious Templeton Woods murder case remains unsolved four decades on
Police will not shine fresh light on one of Dundee’s most notorious unsolved murders to mark 40 years since the killing.
Elizabeth McCabe’s partially clothed body was found in undergrowth in Templeton Woods on February 26 1980 but there is no plan to reinvestigate the case or ask the public for information that could lead police to those responsible.
The original investigation in 1980 was undermined by a litany of blunders by investigating officers, from mishandling of crucial evidence to alleged witness intimidation.
As they became increasingly desperate to catch the killer, officers even turned to the spirit world for guidance, where a medium provided information at a seance.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “We understand that losing a loved one in any circumstances, particularly where a crime has taken place, is extremely distressing and we can provide reassurance that any new information which is received will be investigated thoroughly.
“All cold cases are regularly reviewed, in conjunction with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.”
The oldest of Jim and Ann McCabe’s four children, Miss McCabe found a new passion for socialising when she started going to college.
The trainee nursery nurse left the city’s Lyndhurst Avenue for a night out with friend Sandra Niven in Dundee.
The pair visited several city centre bars before heading to Teazer’s nightclub on Union Street.
She left the club at 12.30am, apparently alone, but never arrived at home.
Fifteen days later, on the day before she would have celebrated her 21st birthday, her partially-clothed body was found in Templeton Woods.
The spot where Miss McCabe lay was only 150 yards from where the naked body of another young Dundee girl had been found 11 months earlier.
Like Miss McCabe, Carol Lannen, who had also been last seen in the centre of the city, had been strangled.
The similarities between the cases were not lost on uneasy residents who began to fear the “disco killer” would strike again.
Many girls avoided city nightspots. More than 7,000 people were interviewed and police visited every hotel, bed and breakfast and boarding house in the city.
Feelings were running so high in the city a “bounty fund” started by a local councillor soon swelled to £5,000 but it failed to produce a significant lead and the money was eventually repaid.
Despite the biggest investigation ever mounted by local police, no one was ever arrested for either of the Dundee murders.
The man who led the investigation said there were so many similarities that they had to consider the possibility there was a serial killer on the loose.
“I have an open mind about who killed Carol and Elizabeth,” said the retired Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Cameron.
“We interviewed thousands of people and could have interviewed the killer.
“I don’t honestly know, he simply slipped the net.”
Former Angus taxi driver Vincent Simpson was cleared of the murder of Miss McCabe at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2007 after a jury returned a not guilty verdict.
Jurors during the seven-week trial were told of a litany of missing evidence, including samples taken from the deceased, her tights and her underwear.