Killing of Lindsay Rimer

Lindsay Jo Rimer (born 17 February 1981) was a 13-year-old girl from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, who lived with her parents and siblings on Cambridge Street. She was a pupil at Calder High School and was described as a popular student.

On the evening of 7 November 1994, Rimer left home at about 10:00 p.m. to buy cornflakes from a local SPAR supermarket. She briefly visited the Trades Club pub, where her mother was socialising, but declined an invitation to stay and continued to the shop. CCTV footage showed her paying for the cornflakes at 10:22 p.m., and she was last seen at 10:40 p.m. near the Memorial Garden on Crown Street. She did not return home that night. Because her mother was out and her father was on the phone during the relevant period, her absence was not noticed until the following morning, when she failed to appear for her paper round.

Police initially considered the possibility that Rimer had run away, though her family denied any problems at home. Extensive searches involving hundreds of local residents, as well as police searches of homes across the town and sections of the Rochdale Canal and River Calder, failed to locate her.

On 12 April 1995, Rimer's body was discovered by two canal workers in the Rochdale Canal at Rawden Mill Lock, about one mile from Hebden Bridge's center. The body had been weighted down with a concrete boulder and was found fully dressed, with the exact change from her cornflakes purchase still in her pocket. A post-mortem conducted by Home Office pathologist Mike Green concluded she had most likely been strangled; there were no signs of sexual assault.

Investigators believed Rimer was killed on the night of her disappearance by someone she knew, given her cautious nature around strangers. An offender profile suggested the killer was likely someone who could drive, aged 17 to their early 20s. Lead investigator Tony Whittle speculated the killing may have been unintentional, resulting from a struggle after an unwanted advance. Police also investigated a red Honda Civic and its driver seen near the scene, but the driver was cleared via alibi.

In the late 1990s, the case was reviewed under Operation Enigma, a national effort examining unsolved murders of women across Britain, but no links to other cases were established. In 2016, West Yorkshire Police announced they had isolated a DNA profile for further development. Arrests were made in November 2016 and April 2017, with suspects later released on bail. In October 2025, a man already serving a sentence for other offenses was arrested on suspicion of Rimer's murder.

Various theories over the years have linked the case to convicted criminals John Taylor and John Oswin, though no evidence tied either to the murder. Other unproven theories have connected the case to Tony King, Francisco Arce Montes, and a man discussed by a retired Cleveland Police detective in relation to separate unsolved murders. West Yorkshire Police stated that such claims were speculative. As of the most recent reporting, the case remains unsolved.