In August 2024, Jo Smith, an officer with the Avon and Somerset police, received a life-changing message that would lead to a significant breakthrough in one of the region’s most haunting cold cases: the rape and murder of Louisa Dunne. For almost 60 years, the questions were left hanging. Finally, forensic specialists were able to obtain a full DNA profile of the suspect from evidence gathered from Dunne’s skirt. The epiphany hit on the final day of her summer vacation. It rekindled new hope for justice.
Jo Smith had spent her career in child protection. More recently, she moved into a civilian position in Avon and Somerset’s statutory review team. This relatively small body included deputies, both officers and civilians, some on a half-time schedule, others job-sharing. Smith’s unit was tasked with opening up cold case files on homicides, sexual assaults, long-term missing persons, and UID cases. In addition, they returned to active cases with new eyes, looking for new leads that may have fallen through the cracks the first time around.
Smith’s involvement with the Dunne case began when she decided to reopen it as part of her team’s mandate. The case had been so cold for so long that everyone thought it would never be solved. Now armed with new DNA evidence, Smith and her colleagues worked even harder. Like any great investigators, they were hell-bent on delivering justice to the victim’s family.
The team’s initial challenge was tracking down their main suspect, Ryland Headley. On the day of his arrest, Smith walked up to Headley’s house both scared and determined. Stanley still vividly remembers her nervousness when she went to the door of the disoriented old man.
“I felt no compunction knocking on the door of a slow, seemingly confused old man,” – Jo Smith
Whatever doubts she may have had, Smith’s experience put her in a position to parry and thrust on the ground effectively. Having spent six years in child protection, she developed a fine art for dealing with potentially awkward situations. She had worked on some notable cases before this one, most notoriously Britain’s youngest female paedophile, Sophie Elms.
At his arrest interview, Headley was able to give specific memories that scalped the investigators.
“We had his original statement in front of us and asked him what he could remember from that day,” – Jo Smith
Headley was able to remember every single detail from the time he stepped inside Dunne’s house. His recollections were so fresh, clear and detailed, you’d think they happened yesterday.
“He said: ‘I’ve been a doctor all my life and seen a lot of dead bodies but that’s the only one that had been murdered. That stays with you. Every time I’ve driven through that part of Bristol, I’ve thought about Louisa and the fact that whoever did this was still out there.’” – Jo Smith
After cracking the case, the investigative team continued to explore archival materials connected to the case. Their research uncovered deep differences in the ways journalists used to investigate versus now. Smith was struck at how best the witness accounts of 1967 compared and contrasted with the account you might hear today.
“The witness statements. The way they describe people. Today, it would typically be: ‘He was wearing a tracksuit.’ In the statements, it’s: ‘He always wore brown trousers, a tie and a jacket.’ There are so many generational differences,” – Jo Smith
Smith remembered the heartache of going through files that had never been subjected to the type of modern forensic scrutiny. She recounted her horror of opening boxes to find evidence that had not been properly safeguarded.
“I opened the first and put the lid back on again immediately. Most of our cold cases are in forensically sealed bags with barcodes and case reference numbers. These weren’t,” – Jo Smith
Though these proved to be hurdles, Smith was encouraged by the overall focus of their investigation. She showed through the screen her enthusiasm for her job as the audience development lead for their team.
“I think I’ve now got one of the best jobs in the force. Solving problems that are hard to solve – that’s my engineering mindset – trying to think in new ways. We’re making our own luck,” – DI Dave Marchant
The emotional toll of their practice was something that Smith and her staff never took lightly. With each discovery, they got further along in understanding what happened to Louisa Dunne and how to bring her perpetrator to justice.
In one particularly heart-wrenching instance of their investigation, one victim’s statement struck a chord with Smith and her team.
“Would you want someone to do this to your mother or your sister?” – Victim’s statement
That made this moving feeling all the more effective in highlighting the human cost behind every unsolved case they blue-lighted. The cumulative pain and loss suffered by families like Dunne’s motivated Smith and her team to push Smith and her team further in their battle to achieve justice.
As she looked back on her time since stepping into this difficult position, Jo Smith was filled with appreciation and enlightenment.
“It just feels different, I don’t know why,” – Jo Smith
At 24, Smith became a police officer driven by her natural curiosity and a passion to serve people in crisis. She felt like each person’s case was her and the agency’s overall responsibility. Her passion and commitment is what makes her exemplary! Most recently, her team won the Investigations Team of the Year award at the National Conference for Senior Investigating Officers this past November.
Yet, as Smith goes about her work, she can’t help but know there are thousands more cases still waiting to be resolved.
“We’ve got so much more to do,” – Jo Smith