On the evening of April 30th, 2012, ninety-two-year-old Emma Winnell was put to bed by her home-care nurse. Emma was in her own house, located in the suburb of Moseley, in Birmingham, England. The nurse left shortly after her duties had been accomplished, locking the front door behind her as she always did.
But when the nurse returned the following morning at around eight-thirty a.m., she found Emma screaming in her bed, and completely covered in blood. Emergency responders found that the elderly woman had a fractured skull, a broken arm, and a partially severed finger. She was taken to the hospital immediately, where she lingered in agony for nearly a month before succumbing to her injuries.
Before she died, she told police that she had been screaming for help for quite a long time before the nurse arrived and found her, but it doesn’t appear that Emma was able to remember much about the attack itself, or who had perpetrated it.
Because there was absolutely no sign of forced entry, investigators theorized that whoever had killed the woman perhaps had a key to her home, or knew someone who did. To this end, law enforcement looked into the home-care nurse, Emma’s friends and relatives, and a few neighbors, but no leads emerged. A fifty-six-year-old woman and a twenty-eight-year-old man were arrested shortly after the incident, but were later released without charge due to insufficient evidence connecting them to the assault.
Strangely, robbery didn’t appear to be the motive for the brutal crime, as there was nothing stolen, and no evidence that anyone had even bothered to look through the rest of the residence. It remains possible, however, that the crime was intended to be a robbery, but that the intruder perhaps panicked and beat Emma when he realized she was in the house, or when she began making noise. Additionally, the attacker may have feared that Emma would recognize him, suggesting that it may have been someone she knew.
Police were unable to determine the weapon used in the attack; the fact that Emma’s finger was nearly severed suggested a defensive wound from a bladed weapon, but her other injuries were more consistent with a heavy, blunt object. It’s also unclear whether the perpetrator realized that Emma was still alive when he fled the home.
Unfortunately, no witnesses were present to identify the killer, and forensic evidence has so far produced no solutions to the savage crime. The case remains open.
Crime Immemorial 