Murdertown - Season 1, Episode 05: Pontypridd

All murders are tragic events which leave a trail of destruction in their wake. But there are some, for which the details are so unexpected, that they shock and dumfound even the police officers who are asked to investigate. In Pontypridd, a town once dubbed the murder capital of Wales, there have been two such cases in recent years. This episode tells the horrific story of Tracey Woodford, a woman who disappeared and sparked a massive police hunt. Police tracked her down using CCTV, and found that she’d last been seen in pubs in the town centre. But from there the trail went cold. We explore how police secured a breakthrough that led to a killer who lived within the same community, and had committed the most ghastly of crimes. We also explore one of the most bizarre murder investigations in Welsh policing history, a murder that for several days, the police had no clue as to who the victim might be. Leaving no stone unturned, police follow every lead until they reach the most unlikely, and puzzling conclusions; a killer that nobody ever suspected, and a crime hidden for more than 20 years. With contributions from the lead police investigator, friends and colleagues of the killers, this is an episode that proves the old adage that truth is always much stranger than fiction.