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New search launched for body of woman kidnapped, killed 54 years ago after being mistaken for Rupert Murdoch’s wife
U.K. police on Monday launched a fresh search for the body of a woman kidnapped and murdered over 50 years ago after being mistaken for the wife of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.
A police team including forensic archaeologists will scour a farm north of London for the third time after one of the men convicted of the kidnapping reportedly revealed the location of victim Muriel McKay’s body.
Officers searched Stocking Farm in Stocking Pelham at the time of the murder and again in 2022, with the help of ground-penetrating radar and specialist forensic archaeologists, BBC News reported. Nothing new was found.
London’s Metropolitan Police said a no-fly zone would be in place over Stocking farm near the town of Bishop’s Stortford to “protect the integrity of the search and dignity for the deceased should remains be found.”
Brothers Nizamodeen and Arthur Hosein kidnapped McKay, then 55, in 1969 for a £1 million ransom — the equivalent now to $18 million — thinking that she was Murdoch’s second wife Anna.
The brothers had followed Murdoch’s Rolls-Royce unaware he had lent it to his deputy Alick McKay, Muriel’s husband.
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They were convicted of murder and kidnap after a 1970 trial, but denied killing the newspaper executive’s wife and refused to reveal where she was buried.
Nizamodeen served 20 years in prison and was then deported to Trinidad, while his brother Arthur died in prison in the U.K. in 2009.
Nizamodeen Hosein, however, last December gave McKay’s family a sworn statement confirming the location of the body, telling them he wanted his “conscience to be clear,” the Murdoch-owned Times newspaper reported.
He has previously claimed McKay collapsed and died while watching a television news report about her kidnapping.
McKay’s grandson, Mark Dryer, told BBC News the focus of the latest search would be an area behind a barn that has not been dug before.
“If we don’t find her it will be a disappointment, but it won’t be unexpected. But without searching for something you’re never going to find it,” he said.
“We haven’t dug behind the barn, no one’s ever dug behind the barn,” he added.
The search is expected to take around five days but could be extended.
Speaking to Jane MacSorley and Simon Farquhar for BBC Radio 4’s new podcast “Intrigue: Worse Than Murder,” Muriel’s son Ian McKay said after his mother was abducted, the family received countless calls from people including strangers and crank callers.
“We were absolutely dying a thousand deaths every day because we were hanging on every telephone call,” Ian McKay said. “This was the most incredible and torturous experience you can imagine – this just didn’t happen over a few days. This went on for weeks.”
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.