How hope is not lost over unsolved murder of Sarah Bowdler
A retired schoolteacher, charity worker and member of her local church, pensioner Sarah Bowdler was loved and respected.
So it sent shockwaves through her neighbourhood when she was found to have been the victim of a brutal murder.
Mrs Bowdler's killing left detectives baffled and, despite an extensive investigation where detectives spent thousands of hours pouring over evidence, the case was never solved.
Nearly 30 years on it remains one of the Black Country's most infamous unsolved murders.
And what made this one stand out was the victim and the brutal nature of her killing.
Why was Sarah killed?
The first thought that came to many people's minds in the area was: why would anybody want to hurt Sarah?
The 68-year-old widow was found strangled and gagged at her home on Somers Road, in the Pleck area of Walsall, in September 1991.
It was described as a "brutal and frenzied attack" and the pensioner, someone who had worked so hard throughout her life, continued to put up a fight until the end.
What struck detectives as even more strange is that the murder was apparently motiveless.
A burglary gone wrong was initially explored but there was no sign of sexual assault or a break-in.
In fact, it is believed Mrs Bowdler may have let her killer in, and even have had a cup of coffee with her killer.
Did this mean she knew her killer - or was this part of her fabric as a kind and trusting person knowing she was in danger but hoping to convince her attacker to change his ways in her final moments?
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Beneath the surface, was this warm and loving pensioner, a recruiting poster pin-up girl during the Second World War and a voluntary worker at a charity shop on Wednesbury High Street, hiding the fact she was in some sort of trouble?
Officers interviewed more than 100 people and took 350 statements.
One of them was from a 59-year-old Walsall man who was arrested and questioned three times about the killing.
But he was released without charge.
Detectives worked on the theory that Mrs Bowdler may have known her killer and had been the victim of her trusting nature.
Speaking four years after the killing in 1995, Detective Superintendent John Plimmer said he was sure police would one day crack the case.
'Painful memories'
The investigation was given fresh impetus that year when police revealed they had received fresh information relating to the killing as more officers were brought in to re-examine the case.
Her daughter Valerie Hyland said in 1995: "The painful memories never go away, but it would be nice to finally have the case resolved and justice be done."
But it proved to be a false dawn and despite exhaustive efforts the murder of Sarah Bowdler remains a cold case.
Examining the case for the Express & Star, expert criminologist Elizabeth Yardley, from Birmingham City University, believes it likely Mrs Bowdler knew her killer.
She said: "Women are very rarely killed by strangers. There is the suggestion that Sarah had a cup of coffee with her killer therefore this suggests that this person may have been someone significant enough to spend time in her home.
"When Sarah was found, she had been gagged by her killer – therefore her killer wanted to silence her physically. They wanted to prevent her from being heard. This act in itself is interesting because it suggests that the killer spent some time with Sarah before killing her."
Mike Layton, a retired Chief Superintendent with West Midlands Police, says the apparent lack of motive made cracking the case difficult for investigators.
He said: "The absence of being able to focus on one sector of criminality, i.e. active burglars operating in the area or sex offenders for example would have meant casting a much wider net.
"In this case there were no apparent witnesses to the crime and no discernible motive making it much harder to narrow down potential suspects and if the offender had no previous convictions or had not previously come to the notice of police this would also make it harder for the police to profile suspects."
Hope is not lost
Even though three decades have almost passed since Mrs Bowdler's death, Ms Yardley does not believe all hope of finding her killer is lost.
She said: "One thing I find encouraging and hopeful about this case is that there has been the suggestion that forensic evidence exists that may one day prove vital in cracking the case. A detective was cited in an article in 2010 as saying "technology is advancing all the time and the case will continue to be reviewed on an ongoing basis”."
She added: "Someone who is capable of this degree of harm has undoubtedly harmed others since killing Sarah. They may not have killed again but this is someone who is not afraid to use violence as a means of feeling in control. This type of behaviour does not come out of the blue, you do not go from being a normal, psychologically healthy individual one day to murdering an elderly women the next."
However, with the time that has now passed it is equally possible the killer has died and taken the secrets of what happened and why to the grave.
Mr Layton said: "The offender could of course have passed away at this time. That said my personal view is that for most people the burden of carrying a secret so profound as committing a murder weighs so heavily that they normally do tell someone else, and more likely someone close in some way to them.
"On that basis the media play a huge role in reigniting the memory of such cases with appeals for information even after years have elapsed. Remorse is not a quality that I have seen routinely over the years but sometimes people do decide that its time to do the right thing."
