Lyn Bryant

Lyn Bryant was murdered as she was walking her lurcher dog along a country lane at Ruan High Lanes on the Roseland peninsula near Truro in Cornwall on 20 October 1998.

Her body was found at 2.40pm by a tourist in the gateway to a field. She had been stabbed several times in the neck, throat and back.

When the air ambulance arrived at 2.50pm, she was pronounced dead.

It was thought that she had fought a fierce struggle with the person that attacked her and that that person would have been covered in blood and probably in an agitated state.

The police said that they thought that her murder was sexually motivated, noting that her clothes had been disturbed in such a way as to suggest that. They also said that they thought that her killer had been in contact with her for some period of time, adding that they thought that she had been stabbed both while she had been standing up and also while she was lying down horizontally.

Her dog, a tan and white Lurcher, was unharmed.

She was last seen at 1.45pm near the Ruan Methodist Chapel talking to a man dressed in light clothing about an hour before her body was discovered. The field gateway where she was found was about 100 yards away from the chapel.

The man was described as being in his 30s and about 5ft 9in tall.

She had been wearing a brown waxed coat, a blue jumper, dark jeans and brown walking boots.

She had earlier driven her grey Sierra car to Harris Garage, but when she found out that they were out of petrol she went to Chenoweth's garage about a mile from her home where she had bought some milk, food and petrol. At the time it was noted that she had been followed by a man in a white van who was described as being in his 50s and of a large build. The van was described as a pale coloured Volvo and was seen at the forecourt of Chenoweth's garage at about 1.05pm.

A farmer also reported seeing a clean-shaven man wearing normal clothes walking through a field around the time which he said he thought was very unusual.

Six months after her murder her tortoiseshell glasses were found a few feet away from the place where her body was found and it was thought by the police that her killer had returned them to the scene.

It was thought that her murder might have been connected to the murder of Kate Bushell who was murdered in November 1997, the previous year, and who had also been out walking her dog. It was also later suggested in 2015 that her murder could also be connected to that of Helen Fleet who was murdered in March 1987 whilst also out walking her dog.

The police operation to find her killer was called Operation Grenadine. During the investigation the police interviewed every male between the ages of 14 and 70 on the Roseland Peninsula.

In 2013 a Psychic drag queen said that he had had visions about Lyn Bryant's murder and two years after giving his evidence the police visited him and tested his DNA as a potential suspect. He said that he had given the police a description of the killer and his car. He had said that he had had dreams in which Lyn Bryant showed him the crime scene about six months after the murder but that at first he was afraid to go to the police in case they suspected him of her murder but later got fed up with Lyn Bryant showing him the crime scene. He claimed that what she was showing him was quite graphic and prolonged. He later said that he thought that the reason that the police had taken his DNA was because the information that he had provided them was so accurate. He said that he had been clairvoyant since he was a child.

In 2018 the police reported that they had found the DNA of her two killers. The police noted that during their investigation they had taken 6,000 DNA samples but had to destroy them in 2013 because of changes in legislation, three years before the new technology was introduced to produce the new DNA profiles from the crime scene evidence.

In November 2023 it was reported that the police had 40 new lines of inquiry following an appeal in October 2023.

Lyn Bryant had two daughters and had lived in Ruan High Lanes all her life and had been a housewife.