Parents' anguish after motorway bones identified
The parents of a graduate whose remains were found by a motorway in Britain more than a decade after she vanished today spoke of their “untold anguish”.
Bones belonging to 25-year-old Melanie Hall, whose disappearance was one of the most high profile cases of the 1990s, were found in a bag by a workman clearing vegetation on the M5 slip road at junction 14, north of Bristol, on Monday.
The hospital worker was last seen in Cadillacs nightclub, in Walcot Street, Bath on June 9, 1996.
Steve Hall, 65, an ex-chairman of Bath City from Bradford-on-Avon, said his “vibrant” daughter was now a “bag of bones”.
Mr Hall spoke of his “untold anguish” and said: “We desperately need to know what happened to Melanie.”
Mr Hall said the killer was probably watching and urged the public to help.
His wife Pat said: “I feel very angry her body has been dumped on the road like a sack of garbage.”
Police confirmed her remains were found in black binliners.
The bag included a significant number of bones, including a skull and pelvis, while other bones were found partially buried nearby.
The psychology graduate had been on a night out with friends and her boyfriend of three weeks, Dr Philip Karlbaum, who left the club “upset” after seeing her dancing with another man.
Miss Hall, who worked as a clerical officer in the orthopaedic department at Bath’s Royal United Hospital where she met Dr Karlbaum, was last seen sitting on a stool near the dancefloor shortly after 1am.
Thousands of nightclubbers and taxi drivers were interviewed in an investigation involving 60 officers and several searches of the River Avon, but no trace of Miss Hall was found.
Detective Superintendent Mike Courtiour, who is leading the investigation for Avon and Somerset Police, said it was his intention to “identify and bring to justice the person responsible”.
He said: “We are continuing to carry out extremely detailed examinations of her remains.
“We believe her body had been at the site for a significant amount of time.”
Chief Superintendent Gary Davies, second in command of the inquiry, said the search for Miss Hall’s killer “will never end”.
He said the discovery was “extremely sad”, adding: “It extinguishes any glimmer, however small, of hope that Melanie might be found alive but hopefully provides some comfort...
“Our sincere condolences go out to Mrs Hall but our commitment to finding Melanie’s killer is absolute.
“The investigation has always continued and we hope this will provide a breakthrough.”
Mr Courtiour said a post-mortem examination was carried out yesterday and she was identified through dental records.
“We believe that her body has been at the site for a very considerable time in significant undergrowth... I can say that this is a murder investigation.
“Finding her body offers us a new and crucial opportunity to appeal to anybody with information to come forward.”
In 2003 police arrested two men in connection with her disappearance but they were released without charge after police searched buildings and a field near Bath.
