Babes in the Wood murders

"The Babes in the Wood murders" is a name which has been used in the media to refer to several child murder cases in which the bodies of multiple victims were found concealed in woodland. "Babes in the Wood", also known as "Children of the Wood", is a traditional children's tale.

Pine Grove Furnace

* On November 24, 1934, three young girls were found dead, wrapped in a blanket, in the woods of South Mountain between Pine Grove Furnace, Pennsylvania, and Huntsdale, Pennsylvania. The three girls were twelve-year old Norma Sedgwick, and her two half-sisters Cordelia and Dewilla Noakes. The girls were killed by Elmo Noakes (Norma's stepfather and Cordelia and Dewilla's father) and his niece, Winifred Pierce. Noakes later killed Pierce and himself in a murder-suicide. It is believed that Elmo Noakes suffocated his children because he did not want to see them starve. [http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2004/03/10/news/news02.txt]

Stanley Park

* The remains of two unidentified victims (murdered in 1947) were discovered in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Wednesday, January 14, 1953. The investigation was hampered when the medical examiner concluded that the victims were one male and one female. A DNA test conducted in 1998 proved that both victims were male. This case remains unsolved. [http://www.icaremissingpersonscoldcases.yuku.com/topic/910]

Epping Forest

* The bodies of Susan Blatchford (eleven years old), and Gary Hanlon (twelve years old), were discovered in a copse on Lippitts Hill, Epping Forest, south-east England, after they went missing from their homes in Enfield, north London, in March 1970. Thirty years later, Ronald Jebson, already serving a life sentence for the 1974 murder of eight year old Rosemary Papper, confessed to the murders. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/741866.stm]

Wild Park

* The bodies of nine year olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway were found in Wild Park, Moulsecoomb, north of Brighton, England, in 1986. A local roofer, Russell Bishop, was tried for the rape and strangulation of the two girls, but was acquitted. Bishop was convicted in 1990 for the kidnapping and attempted murder of a seven year old girl. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/3111244.stm] The case remains open. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/6036403.stm]

External links

* [http://markgribben.com/?p=248 Babes in the Woods (Epping Forest case)] from The Malefactor's Register.