Colette Aram

Colette Aram (3 February 1967 – 30 October 1983) was a 16-year-old British trainee hairdresser who was abducted, raped and strangled as she walked from her home to her boyfriend's house in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, on 30 October 1983. The murder was the first case to be featured on the BBC television series Crimewatch when it began in June 1984.

The Case
Details: Just after 8pm on October 30, 1983 sixteen-year-old Colette Aram left her parents' home on Normanton Lane in Keyworth to visit her boyfriend who lived a mile and a half away. At approximately 8:10pm, she was seen turning into Nicker Hill where she stopped to chat with some friends. A witness nearby recalled hearing a woman scream and a car speeding off shortly thereafter. Colette never arrived at her boyfriend's house and the police were called at 10:30pm. The next morning, her nude body was found dumped in a field a mile and a half away from Nicker Hill. She had been raped and strangled.


 * Suspects: At approximately 9pm on the night of the murder in the nearby village of Costock, a man entered a pub and ordered a drink. Although the barmaid didn't recognize him as a local, he appeared familiar with the area. She noticed blood on the man's hand and when he caught her looking at it, he became nervous and asked to use the toilet before leaving.
 * Extra Notes: This case was aired on June 7, 1984. Colette's murder was the first to be reconstructed on the show's premiere episode.
 * Results: Solved. In 2009, DNA technology not available in 1983 led to the arrest of Paul Hutchinson for the murder of Colette Aram. On January 25, 2010, Hutchinson was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in Nottingham Prison. On October 11 of that same year, he was found unconscious in his cell and died in the ambulance en route to hospital. Despite inconclusive postmortem results, it is believed he committed suicide by overdosing on medications.