Forty-three-year-old Denise Motley ran an antique store with her husband Stuart in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England. The couple had a ten-year-old daughter named Rebekah and lived in Luton, Bedfordshire.
On November 9th, 1998, Denise and Stuart were at the store when an unknown individual beat Denise to death with a parking post on the stairs leading down to the shop’s basement.
Stuart described the assailant as a white man in his early thirties, wearing a black padded jacket with a vinyl hood.
The neighborhood the store was situated in had been plagued recently by burglaries and raids by drug addicts looking for cash and valuables.
Despite this, police suspected Stuart may have killed his wife, especially after they found out that he was seeing a twenty-nine-year-old Thai prostitute named Supaporn Matscheroth on the side. He had in fact made plans to see Supaporn on the night Denise was killed and had made it clear to his wife that he was leaving her.
Stuart was charged and placed on trial for the murder, but ultimately acquitted. Years later, though, in 2004, he received a twelve-year sentence after authorities found him in possession of eight kilos of heroin. His murder accusation was not mentioned at his later drug trial.
As of this writing in August of 2024, the slaying of Denise Motley is still unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 