Who was Carol Lannen and what happened to her?
CAROL Lannen's untimely death sparked a huge manhunt in Scotland in 1979.
Despite finding evidence, police could not determine what happened and who killed her. So what do we know about Carol Lannen?
Who was Carol Lannen?
Carol Lannen was just 18 when she was murdered in 1979.
She worked as a part-time sex worker at the time of her disappearance and lived in Dundee.
Her brother Mick was looking after her three-month-old son Derek on the night of her murder.
What happened to Carol Lannen?
Carol was last seen alive getting into a red car on Exchange street, considered the city's red light district.
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Her body was found in Templeton Woods, Dundee, on March 21, 1979.
The discovery of her body came just 11 months before the death of Elizabeth McCabe, whose body was found just 150 yards away from the scene.
The murder of McCabe less than a year later in almost the same area led people to believe that there was a serial killer on the loose, such was the similarities of the deaths.
However, despite similarities between the two cases, detectives believe the murders are not linked.
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On April 1, 1979, a black handbag and clothing were found that had been washed up on the bank of the River Don in Aberdeenshire.
That was only about 12 miles from the lay-by at Westhill.
Inside the bag was a purse containing money and an allowance book for a child.
The bag belonged to Lannen, and the book was presumably for her young son.
The investigation into the murders of Lannen and McCabe was reopened in 2004.
Her father, Norman, only found out that she had died when police called at his home in Bradford, Yorkshire, in 2005, in a hunt for new information.
Mr Lannen split from his family several years before the murder, and was shocked to hear about her demise.
The ex-builder told the Daily Record: "When they told me Carol was dead, I presumed it had just happened.
"Can you imagine what it's like to find out that your child has been dead for almost 26 years and no one had ever bothered to tell you?
"I'm not a great father but I did have a right to know."
Who has been charged with Carol Lannen's murder?
Police launched a massive manhunt after the death of Carol.
Officers interviewed all men with red cars who had been in the area where she was last seen.
They also issued a photofit of a man with a moustache.
But sadly the killer was never found.
In 2020, a senior investigator on the case told STV news that the murder could still be solved, although there were no plans to reopen the case.
The killer could even still be alive to this day.
Carol's son Derek, now 45, has prayed that the killer would be caught.
He told the : “We’ve had our hopes raised so many times that the police would get a result.
“With the advances in DNA and forensics we thought there would be a result, but it wasn’t to be."
Derek feels that his mother has “somehow been reduced to just a name in a newspaper as a murder victim and a prostitute” due to being a part-time sex worker.
But he added: “She was a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend with a personality and a life, and it was taken away from her in the most violent of circumstances.
“We’ve all suffered in our own ways with her death. The person who killed her destroyed her family too.
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“I just hope someone comes forward and gives the police something they can work with now.
“It’s time to let Carol and my mum rest in peace. They both deserve that.”