Twenty-year-old Elaine Wakefield worked at a gas station in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, England, and lived with her new boyfriend, a married police officer named Kenneth Sweet, at a flat in Buxton. She was a CB enthusiast, and was well-known by locals and motorists due to her job.
On February 25th, 1982, Elaine left her flat, and at around five-forty-five p.m., she was spotted by witnesses walking alone toward the High Edge Raceway at Axe Edge, which was about six miles from her home. The day was very cold, foggy, and rainy. Elaine was never seen alive after that time.
Two days later, on February 27th, her mostly nude body was discovered outside the raceway, clad only in a bra. The rest of her clothing was scattered about two hundred yards from the remains. Elaine had been killed by excessive compression to her neck.
Though authorities conducted a thorough investigation, no arrests were ever made. Her boyfriend was soon cleared of suspicion; he quit the police force and moved back in with his wife and child in another city soon afterward.
It wasn’t clear whether Elaine had gone to meet someone at the raceway, perhaps someone she had contacted via CB radio, and this person had killed her, either deliberately or accidentally in the course of erotic asphyxiation. Because of this ambiguity, an inquest recorded an open verdict.
The case was reopened in 2003, but no new leads emerged, and while the investigation was not closed, it remains inactive pending new information.
Crime Immemorial 