Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, and this week on Pushing Up Lilies, I take you deeper into the chilling reality behind the Wests' seemingly ordinary home at 25 Cromwell Street. We are shifting the focus from the killers to those who truly matter - the victims. I’ll share the heartbreaking stories of the young women and girls who fell into the hands of Fred and Rose West, many of whom were never reported missing and whose lives were brutally erased. It’s a sobering reminder of how easily these lives were overlooked and how desperately their voices needed to be heard. Join me as we honor the victims, uncover their stories, and try to make sense of how such evil remained hidden for so long. * Listener discretion is advised.
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00:06
Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. I'm your host, Julie Mattson. Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine tingling, unusual and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
00:24
Do I have some stories for you? Are you ready? Hey, Julie, again. Looking forward to another great week. We had some rainstorms the last couple of days, which was amazing, so relaxing. I actually got to work from home yesterday.
00:44
It was Memorial Day. That's an advantage that we have at our office. We don't have a morgue in our office, and we don't have pathologists. We don't actually do our competencies at our office. Because we don't need the staff there, we get to work from home on holidays and so it's really nice.
01:03
Day shift gets to work from home as well. So, we basically just get calls from dispatch to our phones, our work phones, and then it doesn't matter where we are. So, we don't have to be at the office. It's a nice luxury that we get every once in a while.
01:20
You know, it happens when a lot of you know you choose a job that doesn't ever close. And I knew that when I got into nursing. I knew, especially when I was a new nurse, that I was going to end up working.
01:32
Number one, night shift, which I hated the thought of, but I made it through. Number two, working holidays and weekends. It's just something that you can't get away from when you're considered essential personnel.
01:47
I think I've told y'all the story of when I was working in Houston for Harris County when Hurricane Ike hit. We actually spent the night at the morgue, and we just boarded up the windows and and stayed up there because we knew we were going to be needed.
02:05
We knew that there could be some things happened that required us to get to work, and we could not put ourselves in a situation where we couldn't get to the office and so we just stayed there. But there, we had a morgue, and we had all the things and so there had to be investigators there all the time because bodies were dropped off and bodies were picked up and that means a much busier office than where I work now.
02:32
But when you're considered essential, you don't get a day off. And so hats off to all of you out there who work in those positions, EMS, fire department, dispatchers, police officers, nurses. You don't really get to rest on a holiday.
02:50
I mean, it is nice to be home, but you're still kind of on edge because you know that your phone could ring at any time. And it's just how it goes. I mean, when you pick a career field, but you know what?
03:04
It's rewarding, and I've just found over the years that people, whose kids are older or who don't have kids, they seem to always step up pretty well and work holidays. I know that when I worked in the emergency room, there were a lot of people who didn't have family or maybe didn't celebrate Christmas, and so those people would actually volunteer to work the holidays so those of us with young kids could be home and celebrate with our kids.
03:34
That was always really nice. I liked working with those co-workers who didn't mind stepping up. My kids were younger when I worked in the emergency room, but there were a lot of Christmases that I spent working, and again, that's something I knew was a possibility when I decided to be a nurse.
03:53
Hats off to everyone who had to work holidays. We had kind of a devastating event happened here yesterday when a kayaker was struck on Lake Grapevine by a jet ski. It did kill the kayaker. She was only 18, and the girl on the jet ski actually fled the scene, and so I found out about it even though I was at work as she was in another county, but even though I was at work, I found out about it on Facebook,
04:27
and many times that's how I find out about stuff, and I'm sure all y'all are the same. I don't know what we did before Facebook. We were completely in the dark. We knew nothing, but there was kind of a manhunt.
04:39
Everyone in the area was trying to find out who the girl was that fled the scene. Some people videoed her at the scene before she left. I think they figured out who she was, but I couldn't tell on Facebook this morning whether or not she'd actually been taken into custody.
04:57
Makes it worse. when you flee like that, but nonetheless, maybe an accident, but she was possibly driving reckless. And to leave like that is definitely the wrong thing to do. And I just feel for both of these families because it's so devastating.
05:13
You know, I got you thinking when we were talking about this story about Fred and Rosemary West and all their murder victims last week, I have never been to a funeral that was a result of a homicide.
05:25
And we had a homicide here recently and a friend of mine had gone to the funeral and I was like, what was that like? Because it seems to me like it would just be, I mean, yeah, somber, every funeral is somber, but just different because it's so traumatizing.
05:40
I mean, it's traumatizing for friends and family when, especially when it's a young person, it's completely unexpected like that. When someone's murdered or stabbed or shot or like killed in a drunk driving accident, it just, it makes it so much more traumatizing friends and family.
05:59
I mean I get hospice reports every day of people on hospice and those deaths are mourned but they're kind of expected you know a lot of times they're elderly and they've been sick for a long time and it's almost a relief for the family when they pass, because they know they're not suffering or struggling anymore. But homicide is just so sudden and so unexpected and can cause PTSD for family members and friends that are left behind. I mean you can only imagine, I wouldn't even want to feel that, but I mean it happens every day and there are people struggling to deal with that. So, just another reminder I guess to just be kind to everybody because you never know what they've been through or what they're going through. And yeah it's tough, but let's talk about Fred and Rosemary again I just wanted to kind of talk a little about their victims. You know they raped, tortured, murdered an unknown number of people when police were eventually led to their house of horror at 25 Cromwell. They discovered the bodies of nine girls and three other bodies were later found in other places, so we know of 12. I want to talk a little bit about who those 12 confirmed victims were, and just a little bit of background that I could find on them. And this is in the order of their disappearance; Anne McFall was an 18 year old nanny to Fred West's children from his first marriage she was born in Scotland and she is believed to be Fred's first victim. She was nanny to Fred West children from his first marriage to Catherine Costello And apparently,
08:00
she flirted restlessly with him. And that's his story. That's completely his story. Ms. McFall, who was believed to be naive, lived with Fred in his caravan, becoming his lover during one of his periods when his wife was away.
08:17
He was also the father of her child, and she was pregnant when she disappeared in May of 1967. Her remains and those of their unborn baby were found in a field in Kempley, near Fred's Home Village in Hertfordshire.
08:36
This was like his first victim. But in a sense, these were two victims. I don't know how far along she was. I couldn't find anything that said how far along she was. But technically, this was two victims.
08:52
And it was his own child. Also that he killed and of course, we know because this isn't the only child that he killed That he didn't care and if you'll watch the new Netflix series You'll see how nonchalant and uncaring he is when he talks about those that he killed Now a second victim was Catherine Reena Costello and this was his first wife.
09:17
She was married to Fred and was the mother to one of his children now. She was born in Scotland She and West married at Ledbury in 1962. And at the time she was pregnant with another man's child, and that was Charmaine. She gave birth to Charmaine in 1963. Now Catherine was understood to have a strong personality, so it was said that she was more than a match for Fred. And the couple went on to have another child Anne-Marie a year later described as a tough and manipulative woman.
10:00
She left West in 1969 amid reports of violence and sexual abuse, and friends and family completely lost contact with her in 1971. So, one reason that she left Fred in 1969 was because he was having an affair with 15 year old Rosemary Letts who as we all know later married him. Catherine Costello was only 26 when her remains were found at a field in Kempley, close to where and McFall was buried. Fred reportedly strangled her and then buried her remains there. So, again Fred and Rosemary West, who he met when she was only 15, and Married three years later, were jointly charged with the murder of the next 10 victims. Charmaine, again was Catherine's child, that she was pregnant with when she married Fred.
11:07
She was born in 1963, and Charmaine was just eight when she disappeared in 1971. It's understood that she hated Rosemary West with a passion, and she was rebellious and that's how kids get. I mean if they're unhappy and they don't like you they're not going to behave although I as a child would have been scared to misbehave especially if I knew that somebody was abusive but when Fred was away in prison for the theft of car tires Rosemary murdered Charmaine.
11:45
When Fred was released and found out about the murder he buried her body beneath the kitchen window at the couple's home in Midland Road. Rose hid her body in a coal cellar, and then when Fred was released, he dismembered her and buried her in the garden.
12:05
Her body had been severed at the hips, and she was missing both kneecaps, fingers, wrist bones, toes, and ankle bones. I mean, that sounds horrifying. Can you imagine? So, Rose murdered her, hid her body, and then when Fred got out of prison, he just chopped her up and hid her.
12:28
I mean, nobody in their right mind does that. Absolutely crazy. Lynda Gough was the next victim, and Linda went missing in 1973. She attended the local primary school and then enrolled in a private school in Midland Road.
12:46
She later worked as a seamstress and became friendly with lodgers at the West Home at 25 Cromwell Street. And it is believed that when people came to stay with the Wests, that she had sex with some of them.
13:02
She is also thought of as being naive. She was 19 when she vanished in April of 1973, and then at that time her parents reported her missing. Now her remains were found in a former car inspection pit in a garage that had been converted into a bathroom at 25 Cromwell Street.
13:25
That's hard for me to imagine. Okay, car inspection pit in a garage that was converted into a bathroom. Sounds weird, but anyway, it was a hiding place, and that's where she was found. Carole Ann Cooper was the next victim.
13:39
She was known as Caz. That was her nickname. She was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, and later lived in Worcester. And at the time of her disappearance, in November of 1973, she was staying at the Pine Children's Home.
13:56
and she had been given permission to spend the weekend with her grandmother and then disappeared after she boarded a bus back to the children's home following a night out on November 10th. They were unable to track her down after extensive inquiries were made by West Mercia officers.
14:18
Couldn't find her. Her body was found buried in the cellar at 25 Cromwell Straits and detectives’ kind of concluded that the West most likely picked her up while she was hitchhiking to try to get back to the children's home.
14:35
Super sad that this couple took advantage of all these people and murdered them. Lucy Partington was the next victim, and Lucy was born in St. Albans and moved to Bishop's Cleves soon after. She was known to be clever and much liked
14:54
and she went to Exeter University and on November 20, 1973, she returned home for Christmas. She was 21 years old at the time, and she disappeared two days later after leaving a friend's house. They believed that the West picked her up while she was waiting for a bus to get home.
15:15
Her mother reported her missing to the police, which sparked a massive search, as you can imagine. I can't imagine if my child was missing. Her case was often seen as the one that attracted the most anger.
15:29
Her remains were found beneath the floor of the cellar at 25 Cromwell Street. In January of 74, Fred admitted himself into the hospital with a laceration to his right hand and it did require stitches, but it also led to speculation that she may have been killed by him the day before and that that's the reason that he had injuries.
15:55
It is believed that she had been kept alive and tortured. Her remains were found in March of that year and there was also a knife found near her remains that was used to dismember many of the victims.
16:11
72 of her bones were missing. So that sounds horrifying and I think we talked about this last week, but a lot of people will call the medical examiner's office when their loved one dies and one of the questions is did they suffer and many times we know they did and I think the family knows that their family member suffered given the circumstances of the death.
16:37
I mean if it's a natural death or they're on hospice you know they're kept on medications to keep them comfortable so that they don't suffer, but in a case like this it would be hard to tell the family no, she didn't suffer and that's a question that I'm asked all the time and don't mean to like lie about it, but I think they probably know the truth, but it just, it makes it so much more horrifying to say,
17:03
you know, yeah, she suffered and bled out for two days. I mean, no one wants to hear that, and they may think they want to, and we don't know for sure, so it's always easier for us to just say, I don't believe so, you know, I mean, we weren't there, we don't know, but in this case, it is believed that Lucy was kept alive and tortured.
17:27
That's, I'm sure, super difficult for the family in the event of a homicide. I mean, you think when someone's shot in the head, you know, then it's just, it's over, and they're not suffering, but in cases like this, you just, you know they did, and it's terrible.
17:41
Therese Siegenthaler is the next victim, and she was born in Switzerland. They believe that she came to England in the early 1970s. She was 21, she was a student at London College. She'd left school at the age of 16, and she continued her education with studying for a diploma in secretarial studies.
18:05
On the weekend, she worked in a ballet shoe shop. She was petite and blonde, with kind of mousy hair is how she was described. She disappeared on Easter in 1974 while hitchhiking to Ireland to visit a friend who was a priest.
18:23
And then obviously she never reached her destination. It's thought that she was very used to hitchhiking, and she had boasted to friends that she could look after herself. She apparently thought she knew what she was doing.
18:40
An investigation was carried out by the Metropolitan Police spanning a number of years, but there was no success in finding her. Her remains were some of those that were found under the floor of the cellar at 25 Cromwell Street.
18:56
Shirley Hubbard was the youngest of the victims. She was only 15, and she was found at the same location. She's described as pretty spirited and vulnerable. She was born in Birmingham and was given the name Shirley Lloyd, but she was also known as Shirley Owen.
19:18
Her parents separated when she was two, and she was taken into care at that time. In 1972, she decided she wanted to be called Shirley Hubbard, but her name, I don't know why, but her name was never officially changed.
19:33
She attended Droitwich High School, and at the time of her disappearance, she was working in Worcester. On November 14th of 1974, she left work and disappeared while traveling home. She was reported missing to the police, but there was no trouble.
19:53
trace of her found. Her remains were eventually found under the floor of the cellar on Cromwell Street. Fred said that he trussed her up and attempted to hang her upside down in the cellar ceiling. Forty of her bones were missing when her remains were found. Forty!
20:12
Shirley had become decapitated, and her legs were buried separate from the rest of her body. Her skull was encased in a mask, this sounds so weird to me, made from brown tape from below her chin to her eye level.
20:32
And then protruding from the front of the mask, this is hard to picture, I tried to picture it in my head, protruding from the front of the mask was a narrow plastic tube near her nostrils. So, the tube on the other side of the tape went into her nostril about three inches, so pretty far up in there.
20:49
Police believe that the mask and tape showed that she'd actually been kept alive and breathing throughout her rape, torture, and murder. So he actually put this tape mask over her face, kind of where she couldn't breathe, but then put the straw way up in her nose, I mean three inches, so she could still breathe through her nose with the tape covering her face as she was tortured.
21:14
Horrifying. And she was only 15, y'all. I mean that just sounds, I mean as a parent to know that your child went through that. Juanita Mott vanished the day before a friend's wedding in 1975. She was born in 57.
21:30
She left home in 72 to take up a number of short-term jobs in the city. She was known as being rebellious, difficult, and strong-willed, but she was very attractive and also outgoing. In April of 75 when she was 18, she traveled to Gloucester and vanished again the day before a friend's wedding.
21:52
Her disappearance was not reported to the police, though her family did contact the missing person’s bureau and the media, but her remains were of those also found in the cellar at 25 Cromwell Street.
22:10
Shirley Anne Robinson became Fred's lover and was actually carrying his child when she was murdered, so he killed two of his own unborn children. She lived in Germany in the West Midlands. She lodged with Fred and Rosemary, so she stayed in their home for a short time and became Fred West's lover.
22:31
She saw herself as Rose's replacement. It is believed that Rose told Fred that Shirley had to go. She was outward looking and rather worldly, and again she was about eight months pregnant when she was last seen in May of 1978 with Fred's child.
22:51
and her body and her unborn child were found buried in the garden at the West's home. Alison Chambers was the next victim. She disappeared shortly before her 17th birthday. She was known as Al or Alie, and she was born in West Germany.
23:12
At the age of 16 she was rather rebellious, and she went to live in a children's home. She was known to be a frequent visitor to Fred and Rosemary's home. She worked for a firm of solicitors under a youth training scheme and friends said that she kind of was an attention getter.
23:32
She always wanted attention. She again disappeared in 79 shortly before her 17th birthday. Her disappearance was reported to the missing person’s bureau and initially to the police she was thought to be a runaway.
23:46
Her remains were also found. in the garden. Heather West was actually the first child of Fred and Rosemary, born on October 17th of 1970, and her murder demonstrated the depths of evil. She was 16 when she was murdered in 1987.
24:10
She was the first victim whose body was found, and it is believed that she was the last victim of Fred and Rosemary's killing spree. She lived with her family in Midland Road until they moved to Cromwell Street in 1972.
24:27
She was thought to be rebellious, difficult, and refused to collaborate with her father's plans. She didn't want any part of what was going on. I'm sure she knew she was 16. She knew everything going on.
24:42
She and her sister would try to protect each other from their father. I mean, it was believed that maybe she had threatened to go to the police about him. That's probably one reason that he killed her because he felt like he was going to get caught because she was going to tell.
24:57
Her parents never reported her disappearance, even though they told people that they had. I mean, I don't know. This family was just weird, and I feel like if their child went missing, and I don't know, I would have been at the police department.
25:13
But in reality, they knew they murdered her, and she was also buried under the garden patio. Anyway, I wanted to, like I said, discover a little bit about their victims. We didn't go into it a whole lot during the first recording.
25:28
Most of them, I believe, were strangled. I think it's just like such a sad story. And I mean, I'm just, I don't know. I don't trust anybody anymore, y'all. Like if some weird stuff goes on with your neighbor, like maybe look into it.
25:49
I don't know. don't trust people. We see so many bad things. I mean, we see good things too. Don't get me wrong. I mean, I'm not like a negative person, but I do see a lot of things and so it makes me just not trust people.
26:05
Anyway, I'm not paranoid though. That's where I'm not paranoid. I have sold several of my cereal boxes and I'm so excited y'all. Don't forget there's only going to be 30 of this very first issue and so I would really love for you to be one of the 30 that receives one of these boxes.
26:26
There's a limited number left, and they have the best stuff in them y'all so I'm super super excited. The cost is $69 plus shipping and if you live locally, you can actually pick it up at my med spa or I don't mind bringing it to you if you're not that far away.
26:43
Don't forget to go online. I've got a lot of requests for people who want interviews. The website pushing up lilies calm you can actually request to be interviewed, and we can do that be a stream yard You can do it from your home, or you can do it in person.
26:58
I don't mind doing that either. We can do either one Super exciting thing is coming up when pushing up lilies has our first annual murder mystery dinner at Prairie House restaurant in Crossroads, Texas on October 11th, and so right before Halloween, but not so close to Halloween that it interferes with people's Parties and events that they have to go to with their children. So, I tried to kind of make it as close to Halloween as I could without being a disruptor, but that's going to be super exciting as well.
27:31
I hope that y'all have a great week. I think it's supposed to be rainy here in Texas So hopefully you stay safe, wherever you are, and I look forward to talking to you next week. Bye y'all Thank you so much for joining me today on pushing up lilies If you like this podcast and would like to share with others, please do me a quick favor and leave a review on Apple podcast, this helps to make the podcast more visible to the public. Thanks again for spending your time with me and be sure to visit me at pushing up lilies.com for merchandise and past episodes.