The Soham Murders- Part 2

In August of 2002, two 10 year olds, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, went to a nearby store for some candy after a family barbecue. Later that day, Holly’s parent’s discovered that they were missing, and they called the police. Days and days of searching, lead to the grisly discovery of two burnt remains, identified as the young girls. Who did this, and where are they now???

For part one, click here!

The Investigation Continues

25-year-old Maxine Carr quickly changed her tune about the alibi she provided for Huntley. She admitted she lied and that, in fact, she was in Grimsby that day. Ian Huntley was charged with murder and abduction. Maxine Carr was charged murder initially. But as we know, a murder conviction without a body is near impossible to prove. Fortunately, later that same day, burnt human remains were found in a ditch in the woods near Lakenheath Airbase about 40 miles from where they disappeared. Experts came out to inspect the scene and determined that the remains did belong to 2 young girls.

While they were looking for more clues at the scene, they found items that confirmed that these bodies belonged to Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. They found a pocket from the tracksuit pants as well as a piece of the logo from the shirts they had worn and a piece of jewelry. The police said that the remains were badly damaged and because of this, they called in a botanical ecologist named Professor Patricia Wiltshire. She was there to help them determine where along the path the murderer had entered the ditch. This was how they were going to narrow down their search area among this huge plot of land.

Professor Wiltshire explained that Lakenheath Airbase is near Breckland Sound so the ground can get very, very wet. In order to combat this, farmers will use shells they dump on the ground to firm it up. At a certain point near the sound, the shells stop. Holly and Jessica’s bodies were found just beyond where the shells stopped.

Professor Wiltshire also explained that the “nettles” had been damaged in this one area and were growing in an attempt to correct the breakage. In this area, they found Jessica’s hair on twigs. Finally she was able to determine that the burnt clothing they found in the trash actually had the same vegetation clinging to it proving that the girls had been dressed when they had been put in the ditch, and then their clothes were removed. Adding to this, Ian Huntley’s home had been extensively cleaned. So much so that when Huntley had been interviewed earlier, people had smelled a strong smell of cleaning product.

The forensic team got the vacuum from the house that contained the fibers from the girls’ shirts. They were able to find fibers from the girls’ clothing all over the Huntley/Carr house. Huntley had even gone so far as to change his tires on his car after he detailed the car. But, in comes Professor Wiltshire again! She pointed out that Huntley forgot about the fact that the chassis of the car picked up the soil as well. Despite all of this, there was no DNA that put Holly and Jessica in the house. Their clothes, yes, but not their actual person.

The Trial

The prosecution moved forward with the trial and on April 16th, 2003, Ian Huntley pleaded not guilty and a trial was set for November 3rd. Maxine Carr was eventually charged with “perverting the course of justice” and “assisting an offender.” About a month before his trial was to start, Huntley decided to admit that, yes the girls had been in his house. He said that they did die while they were in his house, and he took them to the ditch. He didn’t admit to how and why they had been murdered.

On November 25th, Ian Huntley decided to tell his story about what happened…

Huntley said that Holly got a nosebleed and in his attempt to help her, he accidentally knocked her into the bathtub. He said that she died, but not because he did anything. Then the 2nd girl was screaming, so Huntley covered her mouth with his hand so people wouldn’t hear. Her death was an accident from him covering her mouth. He later changed this story as well saying that Jessica began screaming, “You pushed her. You pushed her.” He realized that he couldn’t leave her alive.

The prosecution proposed that Huntley and Carr had had a very heated argument on the phone and then Huntley saw the girls. They asked about Ms. Carr while he was out washing his car and he invited them in, telling them Maxine was inside. Once inside, Huntley killed Holly and then killed Jessica before she could make a call to her mom on her cellphone. Jessica’s phone had been switched off at 6:46pm so detectives surmised that the girls were dead before this time. Carr disposed of the phone in a supermarket trashcan right after the police came by when they were going door to door right after the girls disappeared.

Huntley also stated that he called Maine Carr after he killed the girls and told her what happened. He claimed that he told her he was going to confess, but that she was afraid she would lose her job and told him not to. However, it’s unknown whether this was the truth or some other creation of Huntley’s crazy brain.

On December 3rd, 2003, Maxine Carr testified against Huntley. She testified that she had lied about the alibi she provided, and said she would never have lied if she had known what he had really done. Forensics presented evidence of fibers and hairs that have been transferred all over the home. They stated that there were 154 transfers of one way and 2 ways.

The jury deliberated for all of 18 hours and on December 17th, 2003, Ian Huntley was found guilty of murder and given 2 life sentences. However, there was one juror who believed he was innocent, but majority rules so guilty won. In September of 2005, it was recommended that he serve a minimum of 40 years before being considered for parole.

After The Trial

Ian Huntley is currently being held in HMP Frankland in Durham. He’s got neighbors such as the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliff to keep him company.

Maxine Carr was found guilty of assisting an offender and in May of 2004 she was sentenced to 3-and-a-half years, but only served part of that. When Maxine was released from prison, she was given a new identity. Carr also won an injunction in 2005 that will keep her identity anonymous forever. However, In 2011, The Sun reported that she had given birth to a baby boy. Fortunately, her injunction applies to his identity as well and he’ll never be named or know anything about Maxine Carr before she was “Mommy.”

Ian Huntley was said to be very secretive and that to this day he hasn’t said why he killed Holly and Jessica. Morisa Gibb said she doesn’t think he ever will.

In February of 2018, some recordings were released where Huntley is recorded saying, “What I will say is that I am so terribly, terribly sorry for what I have done… I am sorry for what I have done, sorry for the pain I have caused to the families and friends of Holly and Jessica, for the pain I have caused my family and friends, and for the pain I have caused the community of Soham. I can’t change anything. I cannot remove that day from history, what I have done. I know those girls would be 26 this year with families of their own, jobs and lives. I thought about them when they were turning 21 and when they were turning 18. I accepted a long time ago my life was in jail… I will never ever apply to leave prison. Never ever apply for parole. I will die in prison. I accept that. I don’t believe I should be free. Not because I believe I am a danger, but because two young girls are dead and I do not deserve to be released.”

Jessica’s parents, Sharon and Les Chapman have kept a low profile, but they did speak out about the Police National Database that is a program that attempts to keep all police forces in one big loop to keep information available. They state that they hope this program will help keep other families from going through what they have had to because Ian Huntley’s prior offenses didn’t carry over when he left Grimsby.

Holly’s parents, Kevin and Nicola Wells have kind of beat the odds and stayed together through this. Situations like this can often become a source of such friction that a couple can’t make their relationship work anymore.

In the Cosmo Article, Kevin Wells was quoted saying:

“Losing Holly was excruciating, but I have yet to see anything to persuade me that the mother’s loss, Nicola’s, is not the greater. They say 95 percent of the parents of murdered children split up. We were determined to be among the five per cent who survive but for a year, perhaps 18 months, I couldn’t reach my wife. Eventually, hard work and routine turned us around. Nicola found her joie de vivre and the woman I fell in love with returned to me. Slowly but surely we came back together as a couple, thank goodness. Time doesn’t heal, someone got that wrong. It anesthetizes. Grief does not diminish, but you can manage the intensity and learn to live with it. Murder has the capacity to destroy more lives than the one taken. I recognized that from the start, so I tried to take control, to make plans and to exert positive thought.”