Shelley Morgan was an American living in Bristol with her son and daughter and married to a Welshman. At the time of her disappearance the husband was in Wales making repairs to a holiday home they owned and Shelley, 34 years old was a full time mum and a talented and upcoming artist who had recently gained some commission work for her paintings of views in and around Bristol.
It was the morning of June 11th when she packed a bag with a camera and sketchbook and dropped the children at the school bus nearby their home at Dunkerry Road Windmill Hill. From here she took a bus to the bus station in central Bristol and was seen checking timetables. Her destination was the Clifton Suspension Bridge to photograph and sketch the famous landmark for a piece she was working on. According to a BBC TV Crimewatch reconstruction she collected a registered letter from her husband containing money from a Bedminster post office on the way.
Shelley was a striking figure with long blonde hair, glasses and colourful clothing. Someone had thought they saw her get of the bus at the entrance to Ashton Court estate near the Suspension Bridge and talk to a driver of a blue transit van parked behind the bus, but from here there are no further sightings.
Shelley was missing for 7 months before being found by school children in here in Long Lane, Backwell nr Bristol. She had been stabbed 17 times in the back.
It is a very secluded and lonely place that ends in a dead end.
With few clues we can only guess at what happened that day. Theorists point to the killer possibly being Christopher Halliwell a Swindon taxi driver who had knowledge of such secluded areas. My feeling is that Shelley got off the bus at Blackmoors Road and then was confused about where she should go for the best view of the bridge. She asks a man in a taxi or van the best way to get there and he suggests that he knows somewhere where there are excellent views and offers to show her. She would have been more likely to trust a taxi driver.
He drives through wooded areas away from the direction of Bristol with Shelley getting more and more concerned and asking where he was taking her. He reassures her that they are almost there but suddenly brings the car to a halt and produces a knife demanding she get out and walk deeper into the woods. Her bag containing her camera, sketch book and letter from her husband were never found so she may have left them in the vehicle. Did he burn them or discard them somewhere?
He marches her through trees and demands she take off her clothes. While she is wearing just her tights and shoes he sexually assaults her and she makes a run for it. She may have lost her glasses at this point and cannot see where she is going but in blind panic screams for help. The killer catches up with her and murders her with the knife. Covering her body with foliage her turns his vehicle round at the entrance to the field shown in the picture and leaves the scene.
We can only hope one day someone confesses to this horrible crime for the sake of Shelley's poor children who had to suffer loosing their loving mum.
