Melanie Hall was murdered in 1996, but her killer still has not been caught.
So who was the 25-year-old that Channel 5’s documentary Body in the Bag focuses on? Here’s everything you need to know.
Who was Melanie Hall?
Melanie Hall was an NHS worker and university graduate from Bradford-on-Avon.
Prior to her death, she was employed as a clerical worker at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.
She disappeared on a night out at Cadillacs nightclub in Bath in 1996.
For years, her whereabouts were unknown, but her body was finally found 13 years later by the side of the M25.
What happened to Melanie Hall?
Alarm bells were raised when Melanie failed to show up to her job at the Royal United Hospital on June 11, after going to a nightclub on June 9.
Mum Pat, who worked at the same hospital, had called dad Steve to report that Melanie had failed to show, with Steve then ringing Mel’s sister Dominique.
Dominique said: “From what I remember both Mum and Dad felt from the onset that something terrible had happened.
“It wasn’t a sixth sense, but just the fact that Mel was such a home loving woman without a care in the world.
“I was more hopeful than Mum and Dad in the first few days that she may come home. I hoped she had just got into a bit of trouble and was embarrassed about coming home for a couple of days.
“However, by the end of the first week I thought she would really be missing her home comforts by now, and she was too kind to cause this sort of worry (especially to Mum), if she actually could come home.
“Also, her bank accounts and car hadn’t been touched, so it wasn’t hard to work out something was seriously wrong. And then the dread sets in – and as time goes on you go from hoping she is alive to knowing that the best outcome is probably finding a body.”
After reporting her disappearance, the police and campaign groups launched a huge search.
Thousands of clubbers and taxi drivers were interviewed, while elsewhere, the River Avon was searched several times.
It transpired that someone matching Melanie’s description was seen talking to a man in Cadillacs nightclub, but CCTV cameras failed to capture any footage of this or of Melanie leaving the club.
Despite police efforts, no trace of Melanie was found and she was legally declared dead in 2004.
Has Melanie Hall’s body been found?
13 years after she vanished, Melanie’s remains were found on the edge of the M5 motorway in October 2009.
Melanie’s father Steve said: ”We had a beautiful girl, now we have a bag of bones, and when you try to get your head around that, it is a terrible thing.”
No one has been charged for the murder and police are still looking for Melanie’s killer in 2024.
Several known serial killers were considered as suspects to Melanie’s murder, but the police were unable to establish enough of a link to her case.
