Fourteen year old Elsie Frost was murdered on October 9th, 1965. Almost fifty one years later, on September 27th,2016, police announced that they had made an arrest.
Elsie’s brother and sister had contacted the BBC in 2014 asking them to help them to have the unsolved case re-opened. BBC journalist and broadcaster Jon Manel took up the cause.
The West Yorkshire Police re-opened the case and assigned fourteen officers to investigate the fifty year old murder. They had over 100 leads with which to work.
It seemed like an impossible task. After fifty years the police had very little to go on, but they were hopeful that the publicity surrounding the new investigation would bring people forward. (You can read more about the case in the related links at the bottom of this page).
As yet, we do not know how the police tracked down the man they arrested in September 2016. They have not released his name but we know that he was arrested in Berkshire and was being held and questioned by the Thames Valley Police.
Jon Manel believes that the man is 78 years old, which means that he would have been in his late twenties at the time of Elsie’s murder. Manel also believes that the man’s name is Peter Pickering.
Elsie’s siblings have lived with the loss of their sister for over fifty years. Now at last, they might know why. Colin Frost, Elsie’s brother, is quoted as saying that he and his sister are ‘cautiously pleased’ about the arrest and he praised the West Yorkshire Police for their work.
Why was Elsie Frost murdered?
Maybe we will soon know. The main reason that this murder remained unsolved was because there was simply no motive. She had not been robbed and there was no suggestion of sexual abuse. One of the most plausible theories is that she stumbled upon a homosexual liaison and, because homosexuality was illegal in the UK at the time, she was murdered to ensure her silence.
We will soon find out if that was really the case.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
