Thirty-two-year-old Josephine Mary Budworth, who usually went by her middle name, lived with her husband Terry and their six children in a house on Hindley Walk in Speke, Liverpool, England. She was also twenty weeks pregnant with another child.
In the early morning hours of April 22nd, 1985, Terry was out, and the rest of the family had gone to bed. One of the children, eleven-year-old Lee, later stated that he was awakened by the sound of his mother screaming, “I’m scared,” and then realized that the house was filling with smoke.
His own repeated shouts of “Fire!” awakened three of his siblings: seven-year-old Tracey, four-year-old Dean, and two-year-old Craig. These four children were able to climb through a bedroom window onto a ledge and were subsequently rescued by firefighters who had been called in a panic when Terry arrived home and saw his house ablaze.
Tragically, Mary and the two other children—four-year-old twins Mark and Leslie—perished in the fire. It was later determined that the children had died of smoke inhalation, but upon further investigation, authorities discovered that Mary had been strangled.
An extensive murder inquiry ensued, and police collected dozens of witness statements to try to determine who would have strangled Mary Budworth and then set her house on fire to cover up the crime. Unfortunately, no suspects were ever identified, and as of September of 2024, the triple murder remains unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 