UK UK - Renee, 36, & Andrew MacRae, 3, Inverness Scotland, 12 Nov 1976 *arrest in 2019, killer died*

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The courts require more than just hearsay or personal opinion to convict someone.

Like most of us I am assuming the man arrested was the one she was involved with and he was always a strong suspect if you read or watch what is available on the case. I have only just caught up with the case a little after watching the Unsolved Series episode on it and had sought of lost track or forgotten they had discovered some remains which must have helped in the investigation and with the arrest.
 
Like most of us I am assuming the man arrested was the one she was involved with and he was always a strong suspect if you read or watch what is available on the case. I have only just caught up with the case a little after watching the Unsolved Series episode on it and had sought of lost track or forgotten they had discovered some remains which must have helped in the investigation and with the arrest.

Do you happen to have a link for the Unsolved Series on this case? I'd like to watch it too.
 
I did have a look for it but at the moment I cannot find a link for it but will post if I find one. Cheers.

Here are some details about the Unsolved show though from Wikipedia. This case was the first episode:

Unsolved (British TV programme) - Wikipedia

Both series of Unsolved generated a huge public response and in some cases, led to a breakthrough. The show was a contributory factor in police deciding to dig up a quarry as part of the investigation into the murder of Renee MacRae and her son Andrew, and while their bodies were never found, Northern Constabulary filed a report to the procurator fiscal naming the person responsible.[1]
 
Like most of us I am assuming the man arrested was the one she was involved with and he was always a strong suspect if you read or watch what is available on the case. I have only just caught up with the case a little after watching the Unsolved Series episode on it and had sought of lost track or forgotten they had discovered some remains which must have helped in the investigation and with the arrest.

It appears I am wrong here and no human remains have been discovered despite the searches. People will need to correct me if I am wrong:

Renee MacRae: Bones found in Leanach Quarry

Disappearance of Renee MacRae - Wikipedia

Man charged with murder of mother and son who disappeared 40 years ago
 
Further in the article: "He has launched a bid to raise £7,700 which he says will help him reveal his findings to the public before he hands over his information to police."

That's rather dodgy, is it not?

And then some ! Rather specific amount too ??
 
Not an update sadly, but I am reading a 1995 book called "The Missing" by Andrew O'Hagan. It starts with his own life then moves on to discuss British missing persons cases like Lee Boxell and then onto Rose and Fred West. Would recommend it.

Anyway, when talking about his childhood in Glasgow in 1968 there is a very short passage on his neighbour William McDowell, whose mistress and son went missing. Of course, it is Renee. I've attached a picture of the passage in the book for anyone interested...
 

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Not an update sadly, but I am reading a 1995 book called "The Missing" by Andrew O'Hagan. It starts with his own life then moves on to discuss British missing persons cases like Lee Boxell and then onto Rose and Fred West. Would recommend it.

Anyway, when talking about his childhood in Glasgow in 1968 there is a very short passage on his neighbour William McDowell, whose mistress and son went missing. Of course, it is Renee. I've attached a picture of the passage in the book for anyone interested...

O'Hagan was born in Glasgow, but raised in Kilwinning in North Ayrshire (a town I know well, as I was born in Irvine, just a mile or so south of Kilwinning, away and Dad's family are from Saltcoats, which is the next coastal town also just a mile north of Kilwinning).

I have not read The Missing, but I would be astonished if he does not mention the famous case of Sandy Davidson from Irvine in 1976, missing and never found. A case which happened a mile or so from where I lived. You cannot be of my and Andrew's age (he born1968/me born 1973) and have grown up in Irvine/N Ayrshire and not have that case imprinted in your mind to this day. It was and is a famous national case.

To the point that a double child murder in Saltcoats (killer caught) in 1976 and a missing young woman in Irvine in 1976 (unsolved and a potential victim of Angus Sinclair) have almost been forgotten. In fact, I knew nothing about the above cases until well into adulthood. I only ever remember people talking about Sandy. My parents don't even remember the double murder and only vaguely remember the missing case (Patricia Black, Oct 1976). And if Sandy and/or Patricia had been murdered, then they'd have been the first murders in Irvine since January 1971. That case being ironically another double murder (domestic, son killed mother/mothers bf) and again, just a mile or so from my home.

Sounds horrible, but I am sure Andrew would also, like myself, tell me you that growing up in those towns and Ayrshire in the mid 70s was a great time and children and people felt completely safe. Lovely towns and people and what seems even now idyllic times. Especially 1976, with its famous heatwave, the sun literally didn't seem to stop shining on us kids in that era.
 
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OK ayrshireman, I absolutely recommend that you in particular try and pick up a copy of The Missing! I bought a used copy online last week for only £1.99. I posted a picture of the little section mentioning Renee, but have just read though a section of about 40 or 50 pages and your post just about sums up everything he mentions - Sandy Davidson's case in detail (Andrew himself was part of the search with just about everyone in town it seems), Tricia Black's disappearance, back to Renee MacRae again, and generally lots of details on the excitement of moving from Glasgow to the "New Town" as they were called. He says he lived in Pennyburn, if that rings a bell? And numerous mentions of the hot summer of 1976 and life as a kid growing up there. Just exactly as you said.

I was born in the early 80s in Glasgow, so it is slightly before my time but I of course know Irvine, and a lot of the atmosphere he describes. He has also covered Bible John in the book so far.

I posted a picture of the snippet about Renee thinking it was a passing mention due to the fact William McDowell lived on his street when he was a young boy, but it has since gone back to discuss more of the general mood when she disappeared. Going from what he recalls, McDowell seems to be the prime suspect from day one. I do hope he is brought to justice even after all this time if he was responsible. It's gone a bit quiet since his arrest last year.

Again though, I really recommend this book, I think you would recognise so much in it.
 
OK ayrshireman, I absolutely recommend that you in particular try and pick up a copy of The Missing! I bought a used copy online last week for only £1.99. I posted a picture of the little section mentioning Renee, but have just read though a section of about 40 or 50 pages and your post just about sums up everything he mentions - Sandy Davidson's case in detail (Andrew himself was part of the search with just about everyone in town it seems), Tricia Black's disappearance, back to Renee MacRae again, and generally lots of details on the excitement of moving from Glasgow to the "New Town" as they were called. He says he lived in Pennyburn, if that rings a bell? And numerous mentions of the hot summer of 1976 and life as a kid growing up there. Just exactly as you said.

I was born in the early 80s in Glasgow, so it is slightly before my time but I of course know Irvine, and a lot of the atmosphere he describes. He has also covered Bible John in the book so far.

I posted a picture of the snippet about Renee thinking it was a passing mention due to the fact William McDowell lived on his street when he was a young boy, but it has since gone back to discuss more of the general mood when she disappeared. Going from what he recalls, McDowell seems to be the prime suspect from day one. I do hope he is brought to justice even after all this time if he was responsible. It's gone a bit quiet since his arrest last year.

Again though, I really recommend this book, I think you would recognise so much in it.

Hi, its a book I keep meaning to buy or at least read from the library.

I doubt a 7/8 year old Andy was actually part of the search for Sandy, but I do know and remember that plenty of local residents helped the police in local searches. The two most discussed ideas were a--falling into a construction site or b--snatched by 'tinkers' (there was a small traveller community at the north end of Irvine for many years, they were investigated and found to have nothing to do with it, Sandy disappeared at the southern end of the town anyway).

His sister under hypnosis remembers a man leading Sandy away to a car, so most likely a child sex offender/killer OR a snatch by a childless couple. A recent claim was made that a disturbed teenage girl was the culprit, but that's based on a claim by one man that he was attacked by a teenage girl around that time, as a small boy. And one he didn't mention for 40 yrs, so imo not credible. There is a persistent claim he fell into construction work at the local school and is buried there, but the school was already built and finished.

Pennyburn, yes I know, its an area of Kilwinning, sitting at the north end of the town heading north to Stevenston and Saltcoats, and its mostly the then brand new and all mod cons housing estate put up by NAC (or IDC as it was then), with some older farms and private houses. My mum and Dad lived there 1969-71. Then moved to Irvine. Where I was born in 73.

The irony is that, even knowing the case from a very early age, and given the other cases I mentioned (which as I said, I didn't know until much later), I never felt anything but free in the 70s/80s, and parents in Irvine were much less paranoid than today. Go out and play all day, come back in the dark, as long as your parents knew where you were. His disappearance was seen by most probably as some sort of tragic accident. I got the impression growing up that most assumed he'd fallen in somewhere and got trapped and buried. Tragic and horrible, but 'well, these things happen' etc.

Its only maybe in the last 20 years that the idea he was taken and possibly raped and murdered by a paedophile killer has started to unsettle people. I guess we will never know. Either he was dead within hours, or there is a man out there 44 years later that thinks he is someone else. And has no idea he is Sandy. And never will.
 
Hi, its a book I keep meaning to buy or at least read from the library.

Its only maybe in the last 20 years that the idea he was taken and possibly raped and murdered by a paedophile killer has started to unsettle people. I guess we will never know. Either he was dead within hours, or there is a man out there 44 years later that thinks he is someone else. And has no idea he is Sandy. And never will.
Yes, I agree, in Sandy's case those are the most likely outcomes. They did search a body of water near the house he was at that day but absolutely no trace after all these years.

Further on in The Missing, on Renee MacRae, he mentions that Renee and William McDowell were having an affair and had worked out a secret code with telephone rings that would allow them to know it was each other calling. McDowell told the police that he received calls with the pattern of the code several times after she disappeared but it doesn't say why he didn't answer the calls or elaborate much more on it.

I did a Newspaper Archive search on Renee MacRae and found an American article rather randomly from the South Mississippi Sun newspaper, dated June 16, 1976, 5 months before she disappeared. It's an article about a search for the Loch Ness Monster in Drumnadrochit, which is in the Inverness area. There is a picture of a woman and boy looking at a stall of Loch Ness Monster toys, captioned "Mrs Renee MacRae and son inspect some of the toy Loch Ness Monsters". Picture is not the clearest but it fits with it almost certainly being Renee and Andrew which is quite poignant considering what happened only a few months later. I have attached a clipping from the article if anyone would like to see it and hopefully should let you zoom in to see it.
 

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This is a 2 page article I found from 25th October 1977 edition of the Aberdeen Evening Express with some pictures and more eye witness accounts of Renee's car on the night she went missing. Interestingly, it says there was a public image of Renee as a jetsetter and part of an exclusive club which police say may have made people less willing to come forward with information. Her friends though say the persona was a press fabrication and she was very down to earth and quiet. Articles attached below....
 

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