TL;DR: My father in law (FIL) passed away recently. I visited him a few days before he died and he confessed to knowing where some bodies are buried and wanted me to help make it right.
Going back to the beginning: It was the mid 1970s and he was a young man struggling with work. He’d just trained as a digger/excavator operator and was trying to break into the construction industry but in the part of the country he lived in, it was more about who you knew rather than what you knew.
He’d applied to several different building firms for work but was getting nowhere, until one day, he received a phone call telling him to come to a construction site of a housing estate that was being built by a large British housing construction company. Relieved, he arrived early and was a very dedicated employee. For the next few months, he was praised and treated better than he’d ever been treated either at work or at home. The boss took him under his wing, taught him a lot about the trade and they developed a friendship.
One Saturday afternoon, his boss calls him. He tells him that he’s needed on site later that night and there were to be no questions asked. His boss also told him that after that night, he would invest in him and buy him a (used) digger so he could start his own company and rent himself and his digger to different building sites. This meant he could start his business, which is still ruining today and is now run by my brother-in-law.
He turned up to the site and was told to dig a trench of a specific size. When he had dug the trench, he waited for a short amount of time until people living on the completed part of the estate came out of a house across the road from this plot carrying black bags with something heavy in them. They were put in the trench and he was instructed to cover it back up again, which he did. FIL swears that they were dead bodies. Several of them.
When he tried to talk to his boss (who was also there), the boss reminded him of the no-questions and told him he would be getting his digger in a matter of days. He told him to never discuss this again and made some veiled threats. Within a short time he had his digger and built up his business over the years. He noted that that part of the housing estate was not being built on, but had tarmac laid on it. Eventually he moved to a different part of the country where there was more work, met my mother-in-law and moved on with his life and business.
He told me that the events of that night always played on his mind and was always at the back of his mind. He knew that he’d taken the digger as a hush payment and was afraid of his old boss.
Years later, shortly after I had married my wife, I showed him a new website: Google Street View. He was amazed by it. He told me that after I had left that day, he looked up that street on Google street view. The estate he had worked on was still standing. The plot he had dug a trench into had been left empty and still had tarmac laid on it. It wasn’t a park or a green-space, just a plot of tarmac. He told me the address and I was able to find it on Street View and the empty plot of tarmac is still there.
When I left, my mother-in-law (MIL) was at home, visiting my wife. She gave me a ring binder that FIL had kept. It was full of information about that estate, with land registry records, newspaper stories, housing sale information. There were also some missing persons stories from around the country from the same time, which were mainly kids. What was interesting were the numerous print-outs from local newspapers and from the planning department regarding that patch of land. The construction company that built that estate no longer existed and that plot of land had been purchased by a private developer. The developer had tried for years to build a house on that plot of land (as it was now a costly housing estate in a popular town). The developer had been stopped by the efforts of the people who lived directly opposite. I saw on the land registry that the house had stayed with the same owners since the mid 1970s and, as shown in local newspaper website printouts, they had called upon MPs, the planning department and even my FIL’s old boss (who became a local councillor). The last time there was an attempt to build on that land was 6 years ago. They had got it rejected on the grounds that it would destroy green-space, which was odd, because there was no green-space to be destroyed. It was just a patch of tarmac, now with some shoddy looking benches on it (to make it look more like a park, I suppose).
My FIL was convinced that they murdered several people, got away with it, and are still guarding the site where the bodies are buried. He tried to contact the police one one occasion, shortly after he was acquainted with street view. He left his phone number only to be called back by a councillor, who happened to be his old boss. This terrified my FIL. He believed his old boss was involved with organised crime and said that was part of the reason he moved to a different part of the country.
He asked me to help make it right. I’ve already tried calling the local police and was told in no uncertain terms to ‘fuck off’ and ‘stop wasting police time’. I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want to endanger myself and my family but I want to help FIL with his last wish. He was absolutely convinced that there were bodies buried there and the evidence in the amount of effort gone into protecting that plot of land seems to suggest he might be on to something.
Any ideas?
Make the coordinates public and let curiosity run its course.
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Way too late to be worrying about that now. You’ve already posted it, and nothing you can do at this point would noticeably mitigate those types of risks.
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Not in this chain, but it can likely be determined from your comment history by anyone who cares enough to put effort into it. A quick, less than a minute scan through that was enough to figure out that you live in the UK, and that you lived in Edinburgh during the first decade of this century.
We don’t know you, how much could we actually give up?
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I mean everyone involved is probably dead by now.
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Especially the people in the black bags
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Not sure what country you’re in, but at least in the US there is some precedent for a dying declaration being used to secure a warrant for search.
Considering how long ago this was and the fact that there is zero actual evidence I think you face a pretty extreme uphill battle in anything being done about this. It also sounds like, given your story, local authorities could be in on it. Makes it even harder.
Without directly pursuing this yourself using your own resources, potentially legally grey area tactics, and likely endangering yourself I have a hard time believing much can or will be done about this. But it’s definitely a compelling story and I agree with the other poster that publicizing it may be your best bet.
💀
There is now!!
Just post all this and the coordinates anonymously to some True Crime forums and let the obsessed people hound it.
Calling the local PD was a laughably bad idea. But unfortunately that train has sailed.
You are going to have to decide how much risk to yourself and your family you are willing to accept. If you really want to do this then stop contacting the local authorities and go up the chain. In the United States I’d walk into an FBI office with a full copy, not the originals, of your files along with a typed up description of every detail including what happened when your FiL and yourself tried calling it in to the local authorities.
In the UK it would seem to be the National Crime Agency as they are the ones that handle Organized Crime however they say that they don’t take reports from members of the Public. They want people like you to give your information to https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-anonymously and then let it percolate through the system.
If you don’t want to do that or nothing happens when you do then I’d suggest going to a Solictor and discussing the matter with them.
Edit: It’s very strange that the UK’s national law enforcement doesn’t have an official Government engagement point with the public. In the US you can directly contact nearly all of the Federal Law Enforcement agencies including the FBI, Secret Service, US Marshalls, DEA, BATFE, ICE and many more. Hell even the CIA will take phone calls from the regular public!
I’ve already tried calling the local police and was told in no uncertain terms to ‘fuck off’ and ‘stop wasting police time’
This doesn’t sound right. Maybe there’s a way to raise this with higher level of the police system? It’s also possible that the police is having an investigation already.
But if there is an investigation ongoing don’t they have to say so? I mean I know they shouldn’t disclose contents of it, but I suppose that’s something I’d assume to hear then.
“stop wasting police” sounds remarkable recognisent of some different police corruption stories.
I do think the only way you can be sure this is made right is to publish and let ppl dig into it. First metaphorically and then literally as well of course.
Whether true or not, I enjoyed reading the story, so, thanks for posting
Assuming this is real, avoid the local pd. Contact your country’s version of the FBI. Tell them you fear for your family’s safety, there have been threats, and that organized crime might be involved. They can use ground penetrating radar to see if there’s potentially any bodies under there before they even dig.
You can try telling the CIA and/or Interpol. Locally, you can try the National Crime Agency, Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command, and Scotland Yard’s Specialist Crime Directorate.
https://www.cia.gov/report-information/
https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/contact-us
You can also try reporting to CrimeStoppers:
I strongly encourage you to use as many anonymizing methods as possible if you truly believe your safety to be in jeopardy should you be discovered.
**Edit since you probably need witness protection now:
Try asking the NCA about becoming a Protected Person if you contact them. https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/how-we-work/providing-specialist-capabilities-for-law-enforcement/protected-persons
Anonymous methods aren’t safe anymore. OP father already revealed to the old boss that he tried to contact police. If anything happens now, it all points to them. They need witness protection program if they want to be safe
This all sounds a little farfetched, but if this isn’t all hot air then it sounds like Mr. Mafia has the local PD in his pockets somehow. If you want the site investigated then you’re either going to have to contact a higher power or the local news station.
Idk how it works where you are, but here 3+ bodies makes it a serial killer which means that the feds can get involved, but you pretty much just hand it off and hope for the best.
If you want to pursue it more personally, then get in touch with a local news station or an investigative journalist. If it’s a slow news day they may take the time to look into it, but they may ask you for an interview which could open you and your family up to retaliation.
If your FIL had written and signed a confession you may have more to work with because as it stands you have to hope that a valuable plot of land going unexploited is curious enough to warrant a second look. You should also be aware that if Mr. Mafia knows that it could become an issue, he may just move the bodies and then you really are just wasting everyone’s time.
Perhaps an anonymous tip saying there’s approx 1 tonne of cocaine buried under the patch which is routinely removed and replaced.
Send to local papers too.
Anything to get someone out there with a shovel.
You mentioned the missing persons reports being mainly children… maybe you’d get more traction from Operation Hydrant, which took over the Yewtree investigations.
Or maybe cook up a story about some old king being buried there.
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According to your tale, this old boss has some serious connections if inquiries 50 years later are still being directed to him and he called your dad back instead of a law enforcement official that should have been the one returning the call. 50 years later, they can still squash any attempts to turn up the soil.
I know what I’d do, anonymously send a package to the law enforcement agency and then nothing more. There’s absolutely no way I’d risk the safety of my family for a man that knew he was burying bodies and took compensation for it. It was his burden to make it right and it’s another indecent thing he’s doing to place this burden on you for what I am guessing he thinks is for the benefit of his mortal soul. He apparently doesn’t want to risk his son’s life with this task so he’s reaching out to you, someone that’s a bit more disposable.
You didn’t kill anyone and you didn’t help hide the bodies. Don’t be the single person in this whole fucked up thing to get punished for it.
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Bring in an independent contractor w/ ground penetrating radar to corroborate the story. They can see thru asphalt and tell if the ground has been disturbed deep. Also look to see if their is an area of subsidence in the asphalt. Another sign of digging deep and not repacking proper and something decomposing and leaving a void…
Also the people that want to develop the land might want in as they are paying taxes on a useless plot. Also local media, true crime bloggers/youtubers, etc. The more light you shine the less likely they can go after you.
This is incredibly descriptive for a story told to you as a deathbed confession.
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one Saturday afternoon….
relieved, he arrived early and was a very dedicated employee
This kind of writing is how people write fiction. Next time, try to loosen it up a bit. People don’t tell stories that happened to them like this
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Honestly, unless there is some actual newspaper proof or news story I assume all stories like this are just that. Fan fiction stories.
Good read though, I’d have read the whole thing.
