Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast
Speaker 1: dedicated to missing people, unreserved cases, and UK true crime.
Speaker 1: Today we're going to be covering the missing person case
Speaker 1: of Zoe Simpson in nineteen ninety six. Her disappearance has
Speaker 1: remained a mystery since it occurred, and while police have
Speaker 1: stated that this is now a murder case, there are
Speaker 1: many unanswered questions. This episode contains descriptions that some listeners
Speaker 1: may find distressing, so listener discretion is advised. Longside is
Speaker 1: an inner city area of Manchester, around three miles south
Speaker 1: of the city center. It's long been known as a
Speaker 1: very diverse area. However, it has been played for many
Speaker 1: years with crime and violence. This is due to the
Speaker 1: fact that the area of Moss's Side is located close by,
Speaker 1: and for many years in the nineteen nineties, gang violence
Speaker 1: was prevalent, with many shootings taking place. Today it is
Speaker 1: less known for violence. However, when Zoe Simpson and her
Speaker 1: boyfriend Carl moved Alongside in nineteen ninety three, they would
Speaker 1: have been well aware of the situation unfolding in nearby
Speaker 1: Moss Side. Zoe was originally from Macclesfield, a market town
Speaker 1: in Cheshire around sixteen miles south of the city center
Speaker 1: of Manchester. She had grown up in a middle class
Speaker 1: home with her mum, Carol and her dad Ian. Those
Speaker 1: that knew Zoe when she was growing up said that
Speaker 1: she was a happy and bubbly person who got on
Speaker 1: well with others. Her mum, Carol later said that as
Speaker 1: she was growing up, she had aspirations to go into
Speaker 1: the child care career and after finishing her gcsees this
Speaker 1: is what she was aiming to do. Her mum explained
Speaker 1: that when Zoe turned sixteen, she met her boyfriend Karl,
Speaker 1: and around a year later she discovered she was pregnant
Speaker 1: with her daughter. Shortly after giving birth to her daughter,
Speaker 1: Zoe and car were evicted from where they were living
Speaker 1: and moved into a caravan, which was located in a
Speaker 1: lay by. Carol explained her father and I were opposed
Speaker 1: to the relationship, and the longer it went on, the
Speaker 1: less Zoe came to see us. About a year later,
Speaker 1: she gave birth to a daughter and moved with her
Speaker 1: boyfriend to a house in Longsite, bought with money inherited
Speaker 1: from her father's will after he died in nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1: This was how Zoe moved to Newbank Road in Longside
Speaker 1: in that year, and the family lived there together. Neighbors
Speaker 1: would later say that they were a quiet family who
Speaker 1: they didn't hear much from, and it seemed that they
Speaker 1: were just living their lives and getting on with it.
Speaker 1: In early nine nineteen ninety six, Zoe gave birth to
Speaker 1: her son, and it was at this point that those
Speaker 1: that knew Zoe felt like something had changed. Her mum
Speaker 1: stated Zoe had a baby's son in March nineteen ninety six,
Speaker 1: but by then she had broken off contact with me.
Speaker 1: Those that knew her explain that after the birth of
Speaker 1: her son, Zoe began struggling with postnatal depression and was
Speaker 1: put on medication for this. As a result, it would
Speaker 1: seem that Zoe was struggling. However, she loved her children
Speaker 1: very much and was known to dote on them. At
Speaker 1: the end of October nineteen ninety six, Zoe was living
Speaker 1: with Karl and her two children in Longsight. However, it
Speaker 1: was that month that something very unusual happened. Karl rang
Speaker 1: up Greater Manchester Police and told them that Zoe had
Speaker 1: not returned home and that she was missing. This was
Speaker 1: alarming given that Zoe had left behind her six year
Speaker 1: old daughter an eight month old son. When police gained
Speaker 1: more information about her disappearance, they found that Zoe had
Speaker 1: last been seen on October the twenty sixth, and that
Speaker 1: she had not contacted anyone or been seen since. They
Speaker 1: also learned some other information about Zoe that she was
Speaker 1: currently on medication for post natal depression that she had
Speaker 1: been suffering from since her son's birth, and this detail
Speaker 1: by itself made her a honorable missing person. They also
Speaker 1: learned that Zoe had gone missing a month earlier, in
Speaker 1: September nineteen ninety six, but that she had returned around
Speaker 1: twenty four hours after she disappeared. This was crucial information
Speaker 1: and provided police with important background. It did not help
Speaker 1: the investigators, though, find out where Zoe might have gone
Speaker 1: after leaving her home or what had motivated her to leave.
Speaker 1: This was evidently a missing person case, as there was
Speaker 1: no evidence that she had come to harm. However, there
Speaker 1: were some clues that perhaps Zoe had not intended to
Speaker 1: leave for long. On the day that she disappeared, she
Speaker 1: had not taken any of her clothes, and she didn't
Speaker 1: have any money. If she had left of her own accord,
Speaker 1: how did she intend on living? This seemed strange to
Speaker 1: those that knew Zoe, and there was also the fact
Speaker 1: that she had left behind her two children with no
Speaker 1: clue as to her whereabouts, and she had not contacted
Speaker 1: them in the time that elapsed between her disappearance and
Speaker 1: the police becoming involved. Her family did not believe she
Speaker 1: would have abandoned her children, and it was difficult to
Speaker 1: comprehend that she just vanished into thin air. Her description
Speaker 1: was issued to the public in the hope that someone
Speaker 1: had seen her and could provide the police with information.
Speaker 1: She was reported as being five feet six inches tall,
Speaker 1: immediately and build, with black shoulder length hair and brown eyes.
Speaker 1: She was last seen wearing red jeans, a black coat,
Speaker 1: and black ankle boots. In the months following her disappearance,
Speaker 1: police continued to collate information from the public and investigate
Speaker 1: different possibilities. There was little evidence to go on in
Speaker 1: the case, However, the longer that Zoe remained missing, the
Speaker 1: less hope that her family and the police had that
Speaker 1: she was alive. Checks at local hospitals turned up no
Speaker 1: evidence of Zoe, and it appeared that she hadn't accessed
Speaker 1: any of her accounts or made any transactions at the bank.
Speaker 1: This raised many red flags for the police and indicated
Speaker 1: that she had just vanished without a trace. The other
Speaker 1: thing that seemed unusual about the disappearance was that Zoe
Speaker 1: was due to inherit around sixty five thousand pounds from
Speaker 1: her dad's will that had been in trust for her.
Speaker 1: She was due to receive that on her twenty fifth birthday,
Speaker 1: not long after she disappeared, and it seemed odd that
Speaker 1: if she wanted to leave her life behind, that she
Speaker 1: was leave before receiving this money. Due to her disappearance,
Speaker 1: the money remained in trust and had not been paid out.
Speaker 1: In March nineteen ninety seven, it was reported that a
Speaker 1: search was underway at the house in New Bank Street
Speaker 1: where Zoe and Carl lived. This was reported as a
Speaker 1: routine search, but it was a thorough one, with floorboards
Speaker 1: ripped up and the garden excavated for evidence. Kyle's mother,
Speaker 1: who was helping to look after the couple's children, told
Speaker 1: the newspaper the police search is just a routine thing.
Speaker 1: The police asked Carl if it would be all right
Speaker 1: to do another search of the house, and he said
Speaker 1: go ahead. Karl is not being questioned by the police.
Speaker 1: He's staying with the friend for a few days. He's
Speaker 1: very upset. They had been together for ten ten years
Speaker 1: and this is really stressful for him. The search was conducted, however,
Speaker 1: it didn't appear that anything evidential was discovered at the home.
Speaker 1: They also conducted searches in Macclesfield at places that Zoe
Speaker 1: had been known to frequent, including a boggy area of
Speaker 1: land between the Moss Council estate and the tip This
Speaker 1: they said was being conducted as a routine search and
Speaker 1: that police were not working on a specific tip off.
Speaker 1: Police seemed to be trying to follow up with as
Speaker 1: many leads as they could, and it was clear that
Speaker 1: they did not have a huge amount of evidence as
Speaker 1: to where she may be. During this time, Zoe's mother,
Speaker 1: Carol continued to struggle with the idea that her daughter
Speaker 1: was missing without a trace, and she became more and
Speaker 1: more convinced, like the police, that Zoe had come to harm.
Speaker 1: She said, I first feared the worst later that year,
Speaker 1: when Zoe's twenty fifth birthday came and went with no
Speaker 1: word from her. She made a big thing of birthdays
Speaker 1: and always sent me a card on mine or at Christmas,
Speaker 1: but nothing has been sent since she disappeared. All I
Speaker 1: can ask now is that whoever knows what happened to Zoe,
Speaker 1: would they please have a heart and tell the police.
Speaker 1: I just want to lay my daughter to rest with dignity.
Speaker 1: Until Zoe has been found. I cling to the faint
Speaker 1: hope that she is alive, but deep down I know
Speaker 1: she's been the victim of a horrible crime. There was
Speaker 1: a development in the case when police made an arrest.
Speaker 1: They had arrested Carl for the murder of Zoe. It
Speaker 1: was reported that when he was arrested, he became agitated
Speaker 1: and a police surgeon had to be called to assess
Speaker 1: his state. He was then sectioned under the Mental Health
Speaker 1: Act and placed in a hospital. His mother, Jennifer, told
Speaker 1: me the press that Karl had been pursued by the police,
Speaker 1: saying they have followed him, took his house to bits,
Speaker 1: and exerted psychological pressure. She also said that they had
Speaker 1: accused her of being obstructive in the investigation. However, she
Speaker 1: believed that she'd only tried to help the officers. It
Speaker 1: was confirmed that Karl had been arrested for the murder. However,
Speaker 1: following his stint in the hospital, who was also confirmed
Speaker 1: that charges against him had been dropped, presumably due to
Speaker 1: lack of evidence. This must have been alarming for all
Speaker 1: involved and did beg the question what exactly did they
Speaker 1: think had happened to Zoe. In subsequent appeals, it was
Speaker 1: clear that police were now treating Zoe's disappearance as a
Speaker 1: murder investigation without a body. This seemed to be all
Speaker 1: the more heightened as years began to pass without Zoe
Speaker 1: contacting anyone in her family, including her children. This was
Speaker 1: not like her, an incredibly out of character. In two thousand,
Speaker 1: Detective Superintendent Andy Tatasall of Greater Manchester Police announced that
Speaker 1: they had some corroborated information that led them to a
Speaker 1: scrapyard in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire. This scrapyard had a
Speaker 1: Lindermann shredder which was used to recycle cars, and there
Speaker 1: were only four of these shredders across the country. This
Speaker 1: shredder separated metal car parts from non metallic parts and
Speaker 1: shredded whole cars. The non metallic elements were then kept
Speaker 1: in a slurry tank. Detective Superintendent Andy Tatasall said, we
Speaker 1: strongly believed Zoe's body was disposed of at this scrapyard.
Speaker 1: We believe there may be minute fragments and remains of
Speaker 1: bone and teeth in particular. This was a shocking piece
Speaker 1: of information. However, it appeared that police were treated this
Speaker 1: as a serious and credible lead. Andy Tatasaul added, something
Speaker 1: in the boot of a vehicle could quite easily go undetected,
Speaker 1: and there's still a chance that we might find a
Speaker 1: minute piece of Zoe. The police enlisted archaeological experts from
Speaker 1: Manchester University to help them sive the pieces from the
Speaker 1: slurry tank in the hope that they would find some
Speaker 1: bone fragments among the pieces. It took them two days
Speaker 1: to sieve through all the debris from the machine, which
Speaker 1: had not been used for the previous two years. Andy
Speaker 1: Tatasaul said, we believe the killer was helped in the
Speaker 1: removal of Zoe's body. They know that, and we will
Speaker 1: be speaking to them in the future. They will have
Speaker 1: thought that they've got away with it, but with new
Speaker 1: forensic tests and the help of the university, we may
Speaker 1: find traces of Zoe's body. He also added that developments
Speaker 1: in DNA technology may help to narrowed information from the
Speaker 1: bone fragments. This was the way in which the case
Speaker 1: stayed until a new article emerged in twenty thirteen. It
Speaker 1: would seem that thirteen years later, the theory on the
Speaker 1: case had not changed, with Andy Tattersall continuing to believe
Speaker 1: that the fragments of what looked to be tooth and
Speaker 1: bone that they found in two thousand could be a
Speaker 1: clue as to what happened to Zoe. In this article,
Speaker 1: police stated that they believed Zoe had been killed in
Speaker 1: Manchester and her body was taken sixty miles away down
Speaker 1: the M six to the scrap yard, where Zoe's body
Speaker 1: and the car were put through the shredder. He confirmed
Speaker 1: that the fragments were compared to Zoe's DNA to see
Speaker 1: if there was a match. There has been no information
Speaker 1: since about this DNA testing. He said in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 1: We are now convinced that Zoe has been killed and
Speaker 1: that her body was disposed. Strongly that we're closing in
Speaker 1: on those responsible and bearing that in mind, I would
Speaker 1: urge anyone who has information to come forward now and
Speaker 1: tell us what they know. It would be in their
Speaker 1: best interests. This is where the case now remains and
Speaker 1: seems to have stayed for the past twelve years, with
Speaker 1: little information being published about Zoe's case. It's clear that
Speaker 1: police believes that she was murdered in nineteen ninety six. However,
Speaker 1: who did this and exactly how it was done is unclear.
Speaker 1: Police clearly believe that they're working incredible information about the
Speaker 1: scrapyard and the shredder. However, if this is true, then
Speaker 1: this is an awful, brutal, and devastating crime. Who would
Speaker 1: have committed such a terrible crime and why Zoe her
Speaker 1: family have had to live with not knowing what happened
Speaker 1: to her for all these years, including her two children
Speaker 1: who she left behind. The not knowing must be horrendous
Speaker 1: for everyone involved in this case. Police believes that someone
Speaker 1: close to Zoe are from the area, must know what
Speaker 1: happened to her, and they have hoped for all these
Speaker 1: years that this person will come forward. Chief Inspector Jeff
Speaker 1: Arnold said it best at the time of the original investigation,
Speaker 1: we have not had so much of a hint of
Speaker 1: a sighting of Zoe. She has vanished without trace. But
Speaker 1: we believe that people always holding crucial information about what
Speaker 1: happened I urge them to search their consciences and end
Speaker 1: Zoe's family's pain once and for all. Can anyone imagine
Speaker 1: that agony her mother is endured and is still enduring.
Speaker 1: If you know anything about the disappearance or murder of
Speaker 1: Zoe Simpson in nineteen ninety six in Longsight, then please
Speaker 1: contact the police on one oh one or crime stoppers
Speaker 1: are eight hundred five five five one one. One could
Speaker 1: really help her family to finally find out what happened
Speaker 1: to her. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If
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Speaker 1: share the episodes. As always, I'm Caprice and this has
Speaker 1: been unseen s