Seventy-eight-year-old Ron Cousins had been a medic in World War II and had worked as a milkman after returning home to England. He lived in the same house in Chelmsford, Essex his entire life, and in 1994, was living there alone following the death of his mother.
Ron had been a devout Christian since his youth, and was a beloved figure in the neighborhood, often taking in homeless individuals for a time to give them a meal and a roof over their head. Friends and acquaintances admired his generosity but feared this habit might get him into trouble one day. Sadly, they were probably right.
In mid-April of 1994, Ron’s neighbors, Paul and Phyllis Nestor, noticed the overflow pipe at the back of Ron’s house had water pouring out of it, and all the curtains were still drawn across the windows, which was very unusual. Concerned, the couple decided to check on the old man, finding his back door unlocked.
Inside, they discovered a bizarre scene. The house had clearly been ransacked, and the water emitting from the pipe outside was coming from an overflowing sink tap.
In the living room, Ron Cousins was dead, a nasty red ligature mark around his neck a clue as to the cause of death. His chest, back, and neck were also riddled with stab wounds, and though a kitchen knife lay on his chest, this was found not to be the murder weapon.
In a disturbing and almost ritualistic touch, the killer had coated Ron’s body with white paint, and had stuffed several Bible pages into his mouth.
It appeared that the murder had been a robbery gone wrong, despite the fact that £700 in cash was discovered in the house. Apparently, the killer had failed to find it, as it was hidden in the oven.
The paint on Ron’s body had likely come from the victim’s own house rather than being brought by the killer. The Bible pages evidently held some significance as well, but police never divulged to the media what particular pages they were or what the possible message may have been.
The day after Ron was found dead, authorities made two arrests: a thirty-two-year-old man and a sixteen-year-old boy. The former was eventually released, but the teenager was later convicted of robbing Ron six weeks before the murder.
By the time a year had passed, the case had gone fallow, and it remained cold for the ensuing decade. Three further arrests were made in 2005, but none of the suspects was charged.
One individual named Brian Cutts, an inmate at Chelmsford Prison, allegedly confessed to the crime, but he subsequently died. He is still considered a suspect.
Investigators are hopeful that DNA extracted from the Bible pages found in Ron’s mouth may yet yield a new lead, but so far this avenue has not borne fruit. They are also still seeking a scruffy-looking man with longer hair and a cream-colored bomber jacket who was seen by a passerby near Ron’s house at the time of the murder.
The case still receives periodic reviews, but as of August 2024, the strange and tragic murder of Ron Cousins remains unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 