Caroline Osborne

Caroline Osborne
Real Name: Caroline Osborne

Nicknames: None Location: Aylestone Meadows, Leicester, England

Date: July 30, 1983

Bio
Occupation: Dog groomer

Date of Birth: approx. 1950

Height: Unrevealed

Weight: Unrevealed

Marital Status: Single

Characteristics: White female. Brown hair, slender build.

Case
Details: Thirty-three-year-old Caroline Osborne loved animals and ran a dog grooming shop out of her home in Leicester. All who knew her said she was quiet and reserved and loved discussing dogs. In November 1982, she traveled with a friend on a safari in Kenya. She became so enamored with the country that she decided to move there. Shortly after returning to England, she advertised her home and business for sale and began taking flying lessons at a local aero club.

At about 6pm on Friday, July 29, 1983, Caroline returned home as usual after work. A neighbor saw her approximately a half hour later leaving the back of her shop to exercise two dogs. Another witness saw her shortly afterward heading toward Aylestone Meadows, her usual spot for walking dogs. Police were left to specualte as to what happened next. They believed that she went over the Freeman's Meadow Towpath Footbridge as she always did which would have taken her past St. Mary's Mills Loch. From there, it was thought that she took a path toward Aylestone Meadows' gasholder. At about this point, a witness saw a woman who may have been Caroline being chased by a man. If it was in fact her, then this would be the last time anyone saw her alive. At approximately 7:10pm, Caroline's black labrador was seen heading for home. Neighbors noticed the dog lying fatigued outside the shop unattended and became concerned. One of them went searching for Caroline, but finally called the police at about 10:30 that night after he failed to find her. The next day, an officer found her body on a waste ground in Aylestone Meadows. She had been stabbed to death. The neighbor's dog Jenny whom Caroline had been walking the day before had guarded the corpse all night.

There were multiple aspects of Caroline's life in the months prior to her murder that the authorities couldn't make sense of. She owned a white Ford Escort van, but at least 80 people recall seeing her driving a dark blue van to pick up and drop off dogs at her clients' homes. The van clearly wasn't hers and the exact make and model, as well as the identity of its true owner, could not be determined. And because Caroline was so private, there were men in her life that even her closest friends never knew about. In March 1983, one of her clients came into her shop to collect her dog noticed a man there with Caroline who seemed perfectly at home. He had dark hair and a mustache and his T-shirt, tracksuit bottoms, and sneakers were all dark blue. The client remembered him because she commented that all three of them were wearing the same color. Another man was seen by neighbors coming out of the back of her shop and helping her with the dogs. Caroline clearly knew him. Neither one of these men have ever been traced.

Suspects: Possibly the two unknown men seen in and around Caroline's shop, as well as the man seen chasing the woman thought to be her.

Extra Notes: This case originally aired on July 12, 1984, the show's second episode.

Results: Solved. In June 1986, Paul Kenneth Bostock was convicted of Caroline Osborne's murder, as well that of Amanda Weedon in 1985. He was jailed for life.

Links: Paul Bostock's conviction.