It was February 5th, 1980, and thirteen-year-old Tracy Main had stayed home sick from school. Both her parents went off to work as usual. The family lived in a flat in a tower block in the Gorbals, an area of Glasgow, Scotland.
When Tracy’s mother came home from work, she made a horrifying discovery: her daughter was lying dead against the sofa, her pants pulled down to her knees and her chest punctured by seven stab wounds. Despite the removal of her clothing, there was no evidence that the girl had been sexually assaulted, though the killer had clearly placed a hand over the girl’s mouth to keep her from screaming.
Suspicion immediately fell on a neighbor, forty-three-year-old Thomas Docherty, who was mentally challenged and had only moved into the building a few weeks prior. Although Docherty was arrested and taken into custody, because of a technicality—namely, that the arresting officers hadn’t informed Docherty of his right to remain silent—the suspect was found not guilty. Upon his release, he had to be smuggled out of the courthouse due to an angry mob that had gathered around the building.
Whether Docherty was indeed guilty of the murder is still an open question, and the investigation into the slaying of Tracy Main remains open and unresolved.
Crime Immemorial 