The girl who went to buy cereal and never came home: Lindsay Rimer was 13 when she went missing, months later, her body was found – 30 years on, her killer is still unknown

On the evening of November 7, 1994, Lindsay Rimer went for a short walk from her home in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, to the local shop to buy cereal but never returned home.

Five months later, workers discovered her body in the nearby Rochdale Canal before a post-mortem examination revealed that she was strangled. Police never found her murderer.

Lindsay was last seen in the West Yorkshire town’s Memorial Gardens at around 10.45 pm after she visited the Trades Club to see her mother Geri and to a local Spar shop to buy cereal.

That evening, Lindsay’s parents assumed their daughter had gone to bed in her attic room, but the next morning, the newsagent called them up, informing them that Lindsay hadn’t turned up to work.

Shortly after, senior detective Tony Whittle, who was then a detective superintendent in Bradford’s murder squad, received a call explaining Lindsay’s case after she failed to turn up for her paper round.

At the time, it wasn’t unusual for teens to go missing throughout the night and reappear later the next day.

However, the location of Lindsay’s disappearance, Hebden Bridge, a town in the countryside eight miles outside of Halifax, West Yorkshire, with a tight-knit community, encouraged Whittle to act immediately on Lindsay’s case, the BBC reported.

Lindsay’s sister Kate Rimer, who was 20 when Lindsay went missing, recalled her family’s frantic reaction to her sister’s disappearance and said her parents intuitively knew something sinister had taken place.

After further investigation, police secured CCTV footage that showed Lindsay leaving the shop just before half past ten at night.

Shortly after, two bus passengers spotted the teenager near the town’s Memorial Garden, marking the last confirmed sighting of the teenager.

In the immediate aftermath of Lindsay’s disappearance, the police and community grouped together to search for the missing teenager.

Her case gained national interest, and people started false rumours around the UK claiming to have seen the teen.

Tony told the BBC, ‘All we had was this CCTV picture of her in her big baggy jumper and jeans and that was it.’

‘There were people around at the time and had she been dragged into a vehicle kicking and screaming, someone would have seen or heard.’

Desperate for answers, the police searched residents’ homes in the area with the hopes of finding a lead, Kate recalled.

At one point, the police believed that Lindsay may have got into a car with someone she knew in the lead-up to her disappearance.

Several weeks into the enquiry, officers tracked down a red Honda Civic, which was stolen and seen at the time of Lindsay’s disappearance.

But after further investigation, police discovered that the man driving the car had an alibi.

Then, in April 1995, the Yorkshire schoolgirl’s body was found weighed down at the bottom of the Rochdale Canal five months after she disappeared.

The horrifying discovery was made by two workmen about a mile upstream of the town centre as they worked in the water in April 1995.

Police couldn’t gain any further forensic evidence of Lindsay because she was underwater for so long.

Last year, which marked 30 years after she disappeared, Lindsay’s sisters revealed how the family’s grief and heartache continues long after her body was found just a mile from their home.

Juliet, who was just 18 months old when Lindsay went missing, said, ‘We want someone to come forward with information, because you never know that tiny piece of information might be the missing piece in the puzzle and might just fit everything together and put this to rest.’

Kate added, ‘If you know something about my sister’s murder and the person who killed her, you have a moral obligation to come forward because this needs to end for our family, and it needs to end for Lindsay as well.’

Last year, Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle said, ‘Lindsay Rimer was a 13-year-old child who lived here in Hebden Bridge with her mum, her dad, her brothers, and sisters.

‘She was a bright, inquisitive, independent girl and on November 7 1994, she did what any 13-year-old girl should be allowed to do.

‘She went to the shop. She called via the Trades Club to see her mum, she called into the shop.

‘And then someone brutally murdered her and left her body in the canal, hoping that no one in the family would ever know what had happened. It’s 30 years to the day that this happened.

‘There has been an immense police inquiry around it and we’re still no closer to the truth about what happened. And so my appeal today is threefold.

‘Firstly, do you have suspicions about someone? Were you maybe a prison officer, a probation officer, a teacher who’s always ‘wondered what about that person?’ Now’s the time. 30 years later, now’s the time.

‘Secondly, were you in Hebden Bridge at the time? Have you always wondered about coming forward? Loyalties change over 30 years. Now’s the time to talk to us.

‘And thirdly, were you involved? Do you have this on your conscience? Maybe you weren’t responsible for the murder, but you know exactly what happened. 30 years later, now’s the time to talk to us.

‘You can ring us. You can go online and make a report, anonymously or otherwise.

‘Tonight is 30 years since November 7, 1994 and my team and I are here in Hebden Bridge. We’ll be here all night. Come and talk to us because now is the time.’