With this development, investigators were able to convince family members of Kappen to provide swabs for DNA. The car thief turned out to be Kappen's son, Paul. The case went cold in the 70s and in the early 2000s after advancements in DNA testing technology, The Sun reports.Ī DNA swab matched the DNA of a car thief, however, the thief was only seven years old at the time of the murders. To get the latest Celeb & TV news straight to your inbox, you can sign up for our newsletter here. In 2002, Kappen’s body was exhumed and forensic testing proved him to be the murderer. He became the prime suspect after police looked at the DNA of his son, Paul, a car thief whose DNA was already on file. That same year, Kappen was identified after police did a DNA search for matches with possible living descendants of the killer. It wasn’t until 2001 that DNA testing was able to identify Newton’s killer as the same as Hughes’ and Floyd’s. Police reopened the investigation into Hughes and Floyd in the late 1990s after advancements in DNA testing meant the killer’s DNA was isolated from their clothing. What happened when the investigation was reopened?
The initial investigations into the deaths lasted about a year before being scaled down in mid-1974. He raped them all and then strangled them to death.Īt the time, Newton’s death was not linked to Hughes and Floyd’s. Joseph raped and murdered the three teenage girls – Sandra Newton on July 14, and Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd just over two months later on September 16.Īll three were aged 16 and were lured into his vehicle on Saturday nights. Their disappearances occurred on different Saturdays earning Joseph the moniker 'Saturday Night Strangler'. The girls had gone missing after leaving nightclubs in small towns in South Wales. Yes, Steeltown Murders dramatises the story of the devastating impact of three unsolved murders on a close-knit community over a 30-year period.
True story of Steeltown Murders' Port Talbot serial killer Joseph Kappen (Image: Wales Online) Is it based on a true story?
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