Karen Price was just 15 years old when she disappeared in 1981 – and if it hadn’t been for the chance discovery of two builders, her body might never have been found. Because no one was looking for her.
Eight years later she was nicknamed ‘Little Miss Nobody’ after her disappearance her remains, wrapped in a carpet, were accidentally found by two builders in Cardiff city centre on December 7, 1989.
Her body, which was found in a shallow grave near a basement house on Fitzhemont Quay, had decomposed to such an extent that it was impossible to establish a cause of death.
Now, more than 40 years later – and following the release of her killer – a new documentary explores how police put the puzzle together to solve the murder of the “unknown” girl, and how the investigation was a breakthrough in the use of cutting-edge techniques that brought two men to justice.
“It’s incredible to think that a girl at that age of 15 could have disappeared and nobody would have noticed, nobody would have cared,” said Tom Bedford, a crime reporter who worked during the investigation.
“I told you a lot of things. below.
Author photo, Getty Images
In the winter of 1989, construction workers who were carrying out renovation work near the site where Principality Stadium would later be built came across a rolled-up carpet about a metre deep.
In an interview after the discovery, one of the builders, Paul Bodenham, recalled that they initially joked, “Oh, maybe there’s a body in there.” But when they saw what was inside, they immediately called the police.
Karen’s body was bound by her wrists with electrical wire, and she still had a plastic bag over her head.
Since little was known about her whereabouts before her death, and there was no surveillance at the time, the investigation relied on forensic evidence.
The best evidence of when Karen died and how long her body had been lying there was the maggots found in the carpet.
Flies do not lay eggs on buried remains, so the maggot activity confirmed that the murder took place between July 1981 and March 1982, before the body was buried in a shallow grave.
This allowed detectives to compile a list of individuals who lived in this basement during this period.
Based on dental analysis, forensic dentist Professor David Whitaker determined the sex and age of the body. A pinkish tinge in the capillaries of the teeth confirmed police suspicions: Karen’s death was caused by violence.
Getty Images photo
A breakthrough in forensic science
Her murder was considered “unusual” for Cardiff at the time, noted and social workers from Pontypridd, a town 16km from Cardiff, recognised Karen and reported her name.
Subsequently, another pioneering technology – extracting DNA from human bones – confirmed a match between Karen and her parents, finally establishing her identity for the first time.
Author photo, Getty Images
Crimewatch has not only helped to name the unknown victim, it has also prompted a man to confess his involvement in her death.
Idris Ali, who oversaw the release, came forward to police and said he had been pimping underage girls who had run away from children’s homes with a man called Alan Charlton, originally from Somerset.
Charlton lived in the basement of No. 29 Fitzheimon Quay from June 1981 to February 1982, and according to court records, Karen’s body was found “just a few feet from his door.”
Claimed ripe to lay eggs.
Ali said Charlton ordered him to come to the flat to help bury the body in an improvised grave in the garden outside the kitchen window.
That was the last time anyone saw Karen Price for the next eight years.
In 1991 Charlton and Ali were sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years, but in 1994 Ali’s murder conviction was overturned after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Ali claimed he only took the deal to get out of prison. Charlton, who has always denied guilt, was given a conditional release in 2017 after 26 years behind bars.
Author photo, South Wales Police
After the conviction, Karen’s father, Leonard Michael Price, told the BBC in a documentary that he thought Karen had married and had a family of her own and no longer cared for her she finally rested in peace and those who did it got what they deserved,” he said.
According to” South Wales Echo “, the last time he saw his daughter was in February 1981 at her custody hearing.
Karen’s mother, Anita Edward, said in her only interview that she tried to stop her daughter getting on the bus after an argument over a stolen tape recorder. She “tried to hold her down” but couldn’t, and never saw her again.
Edward wrote to Social Services in 1984 asking about Karen but received no reply. She died at the age of 54 on 26 December 1992 from acute alcohol intoxication after fainting on Christmas Day.
However, questions still remain as to why no one has looked for the young girl who disappeared into state care.
Although the murder of Karen, who had little to go on in September this year, and still has” thanks to the contribution the case has made to the development of forensic science.”
“I’ve reviewed thousands of stories, but this is one of the saddest of my career,” said Tom Bedford. “When a young girl’s life is cut short at the age of 15, it’s too sad to put into words.”