It was around five-thirty p.m. on January 24th, 1993, and seven-year-old Stacey Queripel, who lived in Birch Hill, Bracknell, Berkshire, England, told her mother that she wanted to go to bed early. Apparently seeing no reason to refuse, her mother reportedly allowed the child to do so. It would be the last time Stacey was seen alive.
Hours later, a police officer found the seven-year-old’s body in the woods near South Hill Park. At first, investigators believed the girl had simply wandered into the woods and strangled to death after accidentally getting her necklaces tangled in the tree branches.
But an autopsy revealed other injuries on her body more consistent with murder, and the fact that the bottoms of her shoes were clean despite the ground where she was found being very muddy suggested that the child had been killed elsewhere and dumped in the woods.
Stacey’s mother Gilliane was arrested on suspicion of murdering her daughter but was eventually released due to lack of evidence.
In 2018, one of Stacey’s sisters made a plea to the media for the murder to not be forgotten, and though Thames Valley Police admitted they had no plans to reopen the case, confirmed they were still hoping for more information to help them solve the crime.
Crime Immemorial 