Age: 31
Sex: female
Date: 10 Nov 1994
Place: Alder Green, Middleton Park, Bourtreehill Park, Irvine
Shona Stevens was beaten to death with a hammer while coming home from the shops.
She was found in undergrowth with head injuries yards from the back door to her home in Middleton Park.
She had gone out to the shops at Bourtreehill Shopping Centre and on her way back from the co-op store between, 1pm and 1.30pm, she was attacked on a path that ran along the back of her home. She was last seen walking along Towerlands Road at 1.10pm. It was heard that her attack had lasted for about eight minutes.
She was later found in a field near the pathway which ran between Towerlands Farm Road and Middleton Park.
When she was found she was still alive, but unconscious, and she was airlifted to Southern General Hospital in Glasgow but died three days later. She never regained consciousness.
Shona Stevens had lived in Alder Green in the Bourtreehill Park area with her mother and seven-year-old sister.
The police said that they had not established a motive for the attack. They said that they interviewed more than 7,500 people in connection with her murder. The police said that the attack on her was vicious and frenzied.
The police said that three men that had been seen in the area around the time of the murder were never traced, although the police added that they did not necessarily consider them as suspects.
The police said that they thought that her murderer was from the Irvine area, noting that the park was not the sort of place that a person just travelling through the town would have happened across. They also said that they thought that the murderer had probably confided in someone about the murder over the years.
No one was ever arrested.
The police operation investigating her murder was called Operation Short.
In July 2021 the police released images of a novelty keyring, a semi-naked toy figure in a red coat which was 8mm tall which was found at the scene of the murder and which they said they thought might be significant. The police said that they thought that the item looked like it had been broken off of a keyring.
The police said, 'We know the item didn't belong to Shona and, while we can't be sure of its origins, we believe it may hold significance to this case. Although it was found almost 27 years ago, it's very distinctive and could prove vital to our inquiries. I'm urging anyone with information to come forward and help us get justice for Shona'.
see STV Scotland
see Herald Scotland Murderer questioned over woman's death
see Herald Scotland Still hoping for justice after 10 years Murder victim's mother in appeal to find killer
see Irvine Times
see BBC
see Police Scotland Appeal Portal
see BBC