Soham case expert joins bid to solve 1979 killing

A behavioural expert has been called out of retirement to help solve the murder of an 18-year-old woman 25 years ago.

Carol Lannen was last seen on 20 March 1979 getting into a red car in Dundee. Her naked body was found the following day in Templeton Woods on the outskirts of the city. Police believe her murder is linked to that of a trainee nurse, 20-year-old Elizabeth McCabe, 11 months later. She was also found naked in Templeton Woods. Both women had been strangled.

Officers from Tayside Police have called in Chuck Burton, a former detective who specialises in investigating the murders of young people and children. For 26 years Mr Burton was a member of the serious crimes team in Derbyshire, building up a detailed expertise on the profile of offenders involved in such cases. Now retired, he has assisted forces across the country with inquiries including the Sarah Payne murder in Sussex in 2000 and the deaths last year of the Soham girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.

Tayside Police now believe Ms Lannen's killer had a link with the Aberdeenshire area. Eleven days after the teenage mother disappeared her handbag was found on the banks of the river Don at Kintore. Four days earlier it had been spotted by fishermen a couple of miles upstream from Kemnay. Mr Burton said: "The choice to throw the bag in the water is the offender's alone as he has an established relationship with the location which could be through work, leisure or criminality."