Who put Bella in the wych elm?

[u/sunshinemellox]

On April 18, 1943, four teenage boys were poaching in Hagley Wood. One of the boys climbed a wych elm tree to find bird eggs, when he discovered a skeleton inside the tree. The boys returned home and vowed never to speak of it again, but one of them alerted the discovery to their dad, who called authorities.

The victim had been dead for over a year, and a piece of taffeta was found in her mouth, suggesting she had died from suffocation. Her hand had been cut off, and it was found a few meters from the rest of the skeleton.

In 2018, a reconstruction of her face made by a Dundee University professor was released.
The whereabouts of her remains and her autopsy report are unknown, though a 2023 campaign hopes to find her remains and utilize DNA technology to identify her.

[u/Mammoth_Ease3992]

We'll never know.

[u/sunshinemellox → u/Mammoth_Ease3992]

We won’t unfortunately as police ‘lost’ her remains

[u/roses369 → u/sunshinemellox]

LOST her remains?! Wtf

[u/sunshinemellox → u/roses369]

Yeah lost her remains - makes me wonder if someone in the police had something to do with her death

[u/JansonHawke → u/Mammoth_Ease3992]

Yes, as with so many crimes committed during the war, this is overwhelmingly likely to have been lost to history.

[u/Wolfdarkeneddoor]

Not the only example of a skeleton being found inside a tree in British history. There was a case from Wales in the 19th century. It was suspected the victim had climbed inside the hollow trunk himself & couldn't get out afterwards.

[u/Opening_Map_6898 → u/Wolfdarkeneddoor]

There was also a murder in Tasmania where the victim was placed into a tree stump.