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The Newly Wed Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers

September 20, 2024 / 42:47

This episode covers the murder of Mary Goff by her husband Colin Wheen in March 2001, the investigation that followed, and Wheen's eventual capture. Key topics include domestic abuse, financial motives, and Wheen's manipulation of those around him.

Colin Wheen called emergency services claiming that his wife Mary had fallen down the stairs. However, investigators soon discovered that Mary had been murdered for her life insurance payout. Wheen staged the scene to appear as an accident, but evidence quickly pointed to his guilt.

The episode details Wheen's background, his controlling behavior towards Mary, and the signs of domestic abuse that emerged during their marriage. It highlights how Wheen's actions led to Mary's isolation from her family and friends.

As the investigation progressed, forensic evidence revealed that Mary had been strangled, contradicting Wheen's claims of an accidental fall. The police uncovered his internet searches related to strangulation and discovered a significant life insurance policy taken out on Mary.

After evading capture for 18 months, Wheen was eventually arrested in Spain. He pleaded guilty to the murder in 2005 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The episode concludes with reflections on Wheen's manipulative nature and the lasting impact of his crime.

TLDR

Colin Wheen murdered his wife Mary Goff for insurance money, staged it as an accident, and was later captured after fleeing to Spain.

Episode

42:47
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in March 2001 the Emergency Services received a call that 27-year-old Mary Goff had fallen down the stairs and was
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no longer breathing as senior investigators you deal with many different and difficult cases but this
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is one of the most shocking and difficult cases that I've ever been involved in Mary's husband Colin wheen
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made the call but this was no trag accident Wen had murdered Mary for her life insurance payout some people marry
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for money Colin ween married for money but to get the money he had to kill his wife as evidence piled up against wheen
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he decided to evade Justice by staging his own suicide and going on the run I saw that he hadn't signed on for 3 days
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and that's a breach of his his bail I said God where's he gone now like I
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think everybody was satisfied that there's no way Colin had taken his own life whatever he had done he' abanded to
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where we didn't know as the police search Unearthed concerning details from his past Colin wheen proved himself to
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be one of the world's most evil killers [Music] [Music] on the 28th of February 2001 Colin wheen
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arrived home from his Computing job in the city of Dublin Ireland at around 6:00 p.m. he enjoyed a Meal made by his
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wife Mary Goff they went out to a healthc care appointment together before returning home around 9:30 p.m. Colin
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tells us that he went for a shower and then that Subs Mary went for a shower just after midnight Colin wand made a
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frantic call to the emergency services saying Mary had had a tragic accident he said in his statement that yes I was in
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the house with Mary and I heard her to to Tod and I found her at the bottom of the stairs I knew she had fallen from
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the top of the stairs and that was it as detectives pieced together what had happened the truth behind the events of
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that night started to become clear first of all everybody thought it was an accident she fell down the stairs you
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know and that was the the consensus but you know within days you know it became clear that it was more this me Colin
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wheelen had set out to murder Mary from months prior to the murder this killer Story begins in
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county meath in Ireland born on the 14th of July 1971 Colin Wen was was the youngest of
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five children Colin wheen was born in a small town called Gorman toown in County me
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just a little north of Dublin middle class family one of five his parents that are from the very decent background
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was educated locally and then went to dondor to do a computer studies I actually spoke to um to a classmate who
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sat beside him in the class and he described him as a just an ordinary guy a bit aloof a bit aloof and a bit
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detached but apart from that he you know he's just an ordinary kid Colin wheen
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embarked on a career in the newly emerging field of computer technology computers were new and it was a
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lucrative work to get into so he got a job at Dublin based financial institution and he was earning you know
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good money Finance wasn't a problem in his life in 1993 wheen was 22 years old
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and earning a decent wage when he met Mary Goff a 19-year-old bid working in his local
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pub Mary was an only daughter she was the apple of her brothers and her family's
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eye Mary was described as a lovable girl one of the gang you know she just wanted
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to be liked and uh she was happy very happy woman all Mary wanted was a family a husband a home to call her own to live
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a life and she was an absolute Peach of a woman honest dedicated you know family
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orientated really really good person nice circle of friends Mary and Colin wheen got to know each other fairly well
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during their encounters at the pub they became very close and they were in a relationship pretty quickly and uh
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things seemed to be going quite well anyone that knew them said they were perfect
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couple two years after the couple met Colin wheen abruptly ended the relationship with Mary Mary came home in
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floods of tears that col had broken off without any reason without any explanation so she was very upset she's
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horrified this is the first time she's really been in love and yet he treats her as though
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she's irrelevant she doesn't know what to do suddenly after 6 months apart wheen
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appeared back on the scene wanting to rekindle the romance he bought his grandfather's
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house in B Brian a Seaside town on the east coast of Ireland and Mary moved in with him when Wan and Mary got back
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together that was because he had planned that she was still quite invested in him
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as a partner and she was probably really pleased that they got back together but
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his intentions were not that she should be happy to the outside world wheen appeared to be Mr Perfect but in truth
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he was actually planning Mary's demise she was botted with him by this point
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and trusted him completely I think it would be fair to say that Wan took advantage of that and
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made it abundantly clear that he could pretty much decide her fate or her future this is not a man deeply in love
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or Head Over Heels this is a man who's clearly planning in a very careful way Colin wheen wanted Mary's family to
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see what a gentleman she was with putting on big displays of generosity for their benefit we're all out having a
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meal like family get together all this stuff and Colin got up and paid like himself for the whole lot like you know
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and wanted to be shown as the Mr Nice Guy also that Christmas of 2000 he had bought Mary a lot of presents and left
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them under the tree and would not let her wrap them up or anything they were under the tree so when the families came
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in and they see all the presents under the tree so they were all oh Jesus this a great guy like you know but it was
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pure his mind was that I'm Sean I'm a perfect husband I'm a good guy he was what we would call love
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bombing her you know it's flowers and presents and you're wonderful and I love
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you all made up it's all a huge act to make sure that he won that person over
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and more than one them over had complete control of them complete domination not
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only of what they did but of their emotions and the way that they would respond to him and that was almost like
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a game to somebody like Colin wheen Colin and were engaged to be married and the wedding day in September
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2000 was another excuse for a lavish performance from wheen they had a big wedding you know
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typical Irish wedding you know huge and people have seen the video afterwards and noted there something a miss you
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know it's it's all fun and but Mary seems to be you know if not unhappy she
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seems to be distant you know she you can you can see she's not our there was
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something just not right although this was supposed to be the happiest day of our life while Mary spent the day
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distant and distracted her new husband Wan didn't seem to notice or care as he
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was too busy enjoying himself Colin seems to be loving the Limelight taking you know the dominant position you know
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in pictures you know greeting people and stuff like that and Mary just sitting there in the background or standing
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there in the background did Mar very sense that something was wrong at that point did she realize that she was
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rendering herself into the hands of a man who was probably disinterested in her when I see it now I can see you know
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very devious man he's actually when he looks into his wife's eyes you know he's
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actually calculating he knows he's going to kill her Colin wheen had rekindled his
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relationship with Mary Goff had gone on to marry her from the outside their marriage seemed like that of any other
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couple Wan liked to Lavish his wife with gifts and attention showing the world he
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was the perfect husband but it wasn't long until people noticed that the honeymoon was well and truly
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over following the wedding in September 2000 the family saw I suppose a change in Mary and a change in the Circ C ances
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where she was she lost confidence Mary's mother and Mary are the best of friends they used to M
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Mary's mother used to go there and stay there the other night but when she got
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married that stopped Mary's communication with her mother was virtually non-existent and Mary's mother
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was very upset over this Mary had always taken pride in her appearance but this had started to deteriorate not long
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after the wedding a change that was noticed by Mary's mom Marie her clothes were becoming quite
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shabby her nails weren't painted cuz Mary was very proud of our nails and getting our nails done and that and uh
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she knew that there was something wrong and any time she met Mary or Mary had called over she discovered that she
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wasn't wearing the perfume she used to wear I said oh Colin doesn't like that
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perfume and he you know so he was controlling her Mary was showing all the classic signs of somebody who's
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suffering domestic abuse and coercive control she had become quieter she was dressing differently she'd become
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isolated from her friends and her family she was not happy and this absolutely demonstrates that what Mary was going
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through was probably absolutely horrendous he was in effect bringing her down like he was a losing her mentally
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like you know because he knew what in his mind what he was going to do with her like you
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know on February the 28th 2001 Wan and Mary seemed to be going about their business like any normal day Wan
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returned home from work and they ate dinner they went to a Homeopathy appointment and then returned home
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together we're happy again that they arrived home around 9:30 Colin tells us
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that he went for a shower and and then that Subs Mary went for a shower but as the evening progressed
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things took a shocking turn in the wheen household shortly after midnight on March the 1st 2001 he calls the police
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and the fire brigade and says that his wife Mary has had a dreadful fall down the stairs in their house in
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balban and he found Mary in a prawn position at the bottom of the stairs who was bleeding heavily from the from the
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face and mouth uh and that he wanted the merer service to come to the house immediately the call Operator kept Wen
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on the line and talked him through how to perform CPR on Mary Wen said he was following these instructions but there
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was no improvement when the Emergency Response Team arrived at the scene they were confused by the condition Mary was
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in when they arrived they had taken Mary then from the the stairs into the sitting room and they tried to
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resuscitate her and they gave her electric shocks and all that to to resuscitate her and they even commented
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that they said she was an acetol and that means that she was flatlined there was no sign of any heart activity at all
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and they would always expect someone that would have died a short period earlier that there would be some
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activity on on the machine that they had and there wasn't and they found that
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strange and they found as well that she was very cold Mary was taken to hospital in a last
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attempt at saving her life although they couldn't get a pulse on Mary they decided to bring her as quick as
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possibly could to Bowman hospital and they had a trauma team waiting for her in there a number of the nurses
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interacted with Mary and to see if they could save her life despite the intense efforts of the
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medical team to revive Mary there was nothing they could do at 1:25 a.m. on March the 1st 2001 Mary Goff was
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pronounced dead the medical team turned their attention to her grieving husband to check on his
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welfare and a fabulous nurse was working there on the night was talking to Colin
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wheen and consoling him and asking if he was all right and he was leaning over and his shirt buttons were open down and
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she could look in and she saw scratch marks the fresh marks made the nurse suspicious and she immediately alerted
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the police a superintendent arrived at the hospital to speak to WAN and suggested that he undergo a medical
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check unaware of the scratches on his body wheen agreed to the examination he took off his shirt and there was scratch
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marks evident scratch marks on his body on his chest and he was asked about and this is where he fell foul as well he
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was asked ask the scratches and he didn't realize the scratches and he was just oh she must have scraped out of me
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when she was flailed out of me like you know so he was telling the CPR man she's
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dead like you know I got there's no breeding there's nothing and here he's
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now saying oh she grasped out of me like you know so it just wasn't all fitting
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together it was it was a lot of questions there that needed to be answered less than 24 hours after the
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death a postmortem was conducted on Mary's body Mary had done a postmart she
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came out to me and she says well the bad news is that you have a murder on your hands wow I said H I wasn't expecting
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that at all she said look she was dragged down the stairs because there's burn marks on our but
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Hooks and our injuries are not consistent with a fall down the stairs it was clear that Mary had been move to
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the bottom of the stairs rather than falling down them and further results from the postmortem showed that she
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hadn't died from a fall the pathologist told Pat Mary of her findings this girl
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has been strangled by way of leature I says wow I said how sure have you and she says I'm 110% sure this girl was
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strangled it was a lier marks around the neck uh with some damage to the the larynx there were swelling of the tongue
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and there was evidence of Pia which are small hemorrhaging in the skin under the
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skin so they are evident around the lips um and the forehead behind your ears uh
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and in in your nostrils even obviously we had a murder at that stage and that obviously brought Colin to the the level
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of the threshold of being a suspect for the murder of his wife Mary Wan's actions and behaviors at the time were
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being scrutinized could the police gain any vital evidence at this early stage to prove that wheen was responsible for
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his wife's death very early we could see cracks in his demeanor he was telling
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people different versions of what happened and we learned that he was cunning he was conniving he was cold
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blooded he was greedy from an early stage it was evident that there was a number of red flags that had come to our
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attention police suspected Wan of murder but needed hard evidence of his involvement there was still a long way
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to go with the investigation one of the first of inquiry for Detective Pat Mary was to go back to the emergency call
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from the night in question if Colin was talking on the phone and he was given CPR like he was
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told to do and this that and the other you would imagine there be some blood on his hands that would be on the phone of
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Mary's and I took the phone I seized the phone and we had it technically examined
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in the forensic lab and they told me there was no blood no saliva no nothing on the phone whatsoever so it CH you
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done nothing he didn't give two fluts of the lies were starting to become a parent from an early stage wand's
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initial account of the evening was Revisited he is saying it was only himself and Mary that were in the house
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and she ends up being strangled as per theologist so obviously the the Finger of Suspicion was somewhat pointing
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towards Colin wheelen initially that there's a lot of questions here have to
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be asked and answered the postmortem showed that Mary was strangled and wand's own admissions made him the prime
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suspect forensic teams moved in to examine the property the evidence was quite blatant in that in the bedroom of
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the house we found blood staining on the saddle board and on the wall between the
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on suite and the door into the bedroom when someone has been strangled they emit blood from their nose in a misted
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format that can't really be seen by the naked eye but this spray was found on
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the wallpaper between the door to the bedroom and the UN Suite so we knew that the struggle or she was strangled in
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that location between those two doors the forensic search of the property continued to provide results
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for the investigation team the forensic team also discovered Colin wheelan's dressing gown and on
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that dressing gown there was what you tie your robe with and that was stretched and taught in the middle so we
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suspected that that was the actual murder weapon and on analysis of that particular uh item we did discover Mary
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Go's DNA and it there was saliva on it and all of that soic we knew that that
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was the Mortal weapon all of the evidence now pointed to exact how Mary Goff had been murdered
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by Colin Wen but from the outside the couple had seemed to live a normal happy life so what was the motive for such an
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horrific attack police made the decision to examine wheelan's computer hard drives for more
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information incidentally he's wiped his own computer but the one at his office
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has kept a record of his Communications so every keystroke that was ever made in
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the in in the building was recorded and everything Colin whe did was on those tapes with a vast amount of historical
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records to sift through police needed to find a way to analyze the data fast we could see where colen wheelen
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was looking up on the internet sites of strangulation asphixiation choking smothering you know all of these type of
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sites he had been trolling the internet for way you know to kill without leaving
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any traes on the 2nd of January Wan had looked up asphixiation choking smothering and blocking the Air Supply
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on the 29th of January he searched the term death by asphixiation on the 19th of February he researched causes of
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instant death and on the following day wheen looked into how a lack of oxygen can cause death what was going through
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this man's mind we all know what was going through his mind now like it was pure evil wheen was off the scale and
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he'd been planning this for a very long time further Computer History showed
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that Wen had been looking to a notorious serial killer for inspiration we discovered that he had been researching
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a guy by the name of Henry Lewis Wallace who had murdered nine women in North Carolina and he was convicted off the
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murder off them all after strangling them and he used a towel to put around their neck and
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whatever ligature he had he would then strangle them and that would not leave a mark on their neck and he'd used the
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towel then to mop up any blood or that type of thing and when Mary's body was
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found at the bottom of the stairs the ambulance man found a towel at the bottom of the stairs in a duv which she
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had been wrapped in the Irish police are certainly in even less doubt now that wheen is actually guilty they've got the
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blood stains on the wallpaper they got the strange position at the bottom of the stairs they've got the fact she was
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cold when she came downstairs every single finger seems to be pointing at Colin weon as the killer
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of his wife Mary the likelihood of Colin wheel and murdered his wife was quite evident now
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the next question is but why did he do this investigators were confident that Colin
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wheen was responsible for his wife's death but before arresting him they needed to be 100% sure while Mary's
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family grieved the search for evidence continued and Colin wheen remained a free man a killer roaming the streets of
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Bal Brian this was a unique case because openly and to the public Colin wheen and
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Mary Goff were in a loving relationship had got married and seemed to have an ideal life but behind the scenes things
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were different on the 28th of February the day he probably killed her he buys her an expensive present and makes a
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great show of telling the shop assistant that it's for his wife who is convinced
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that he's a really nice man but this pretense was all part of his sickening Act somebody like Colin wheen is not
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capable of feeling love in the way that we know it he's he's not capable of that
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so if we think did he really love Mary the answer would have to be no not only did he not love her he
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didn't really have any care for her and this isn't because Mary wasn't lovable
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this is because someone like Colin wheen can't love anybody further analysis of wheelan's
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computer provided evidence that he wasn't the dedicated husband that he wanted people to believe he was this guy
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had engaged with a a cyber affair with a lady in Wales to such an extent that that lady in Wales was in love with
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Colin wheel and even though she had never met him in any physical format just pictures and talk and greeting
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cards and that type of stuff she told him where she was and the mother had died and she was lonely and it's like
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she was vulnerable he can understand her position she was grieving and he took advantage of that and that was
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as simple as that and played her along the whole way he spoke to her at lunchtime the day of the murder spoke to
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her for half an hour he then H lifted the phone and spoke to his wife and then he went straight onto his computer and
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looked up a site on strangulation you know it's mindboggling really you know
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but it is evil it is like you know his thought process the police needed to find out
00:25:28
more more about this cyber affair on the 9th of March not long after Mary's death the Irish police
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visit the lover in Wales and discover the extent of the lies that wheen has told her just want to talk to he said
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his wife died I know she said and I was right he told me she died in an accident
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like a a road traffic accident like you know and that he was Widow like you know
00:25:54
he was you know I said no no no his wife died on the 20 at I said you know and she was murdered and with that uh she
00:26:03
collapsed on the ground on caring wheen had targeted this woman at her most vulnerable promising
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her a perfect future together for an internet relationship it was quite intimate he sent you know love
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letters and you know little emojis and all sorts of things over to her she actually believed that this guy was
00:26:27
going to come over for lier and um and that's what he said I mean he he was so
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manipulative he convinced her he would use anything in his power to get what he wanted and and he seemed to want the
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attention of women especially always got to be this Larger than Life perfect representation of himself to make sure
00:26:51
that he absolutely wins over and dominates the other person Colin wheel's online in Wales you know really believed
00:27:00
she had met the man of her dreams but she could have met the man of her nightmares the Cyber Affair pointed
00:27:09
towards a possible motive perhaps Wan had been wanting to move on from Mary to another woman but police still weren't
00:27:17
convinced that this murder was entirely motivated by a desire to be with a new partner and these suspicions seemed to
00:27:24
be confirmed when they discovered yet more incriminating evidence at the couple's home while Colin Wen was
00:27:31
staying with his parents the police early on they couldn't find a motive for
00:27:35
the killing but when they search the house after the forensics were done and they went to search the house they found
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a an insurance policy taken out on Bo Colin wheen and Mary gof initially it was for £200,000
00:27:48
and we're satisfied without Mary's knowledge that he increased that to 400,000 on the 1st of June 2000 so it's
00:27:57
about 78 months before he murdered Mary he had been in a relationship with her had dumped her discarded her wasn't
00:28:05
really worried about her as a person but seemed to start formulating this plot in
00:28:13
his head that he wanted to make money although not unusual for couples to take out insurance policies to help the other
00:28:23
in the case of death this particular one didn't make logical sense the policy itself was a kind of an
00:28:33
obsolete policy because after 10 years there was no cashing value to it so it was just like in the prime of their life
00:28:41
so between 30 and 40 you know normally people wouldn't die suddenly it was taken out you know almost on the premise
00:28:49
that one of them would die and the Survivor would get 400,000 so this was absolutely the reason why Colin whe and
00:28:56
killed Mary Go at that stage of his life Wen had a decent job he wasn't struggling
00:29:04
financially his plans seemed to be entirely motivated by greed we could see from his internet
00:29:12
history he was looking up expensive holidays expensive cars you know holidays around the world
00:29:20
all of this type of stuff so he was planning what he was going to do with his money when he got it he was a honest
00:29:26
decent Young woman going about her life and her husband is happy to kill her just for financial
00:29:34
[Music] gain for the police the investigation was coming to a conclusion they had hard
00:29:43
evidence that this was a premeditated killing and had established a motive for the murder on Tuesday the 10th of April
00:29:52
2001 at 8:00 a.m. detectives went to Wan's parents' home to make the the
00:29:58
arrest he was arrested for the murder of his wife he made no comment he had to be
00:30:02
cautioned and he was immediately brought to bbri Gard station we wanted to make sure that we had all our ducks in a row
00:30:10
all our Evans was available and we were ready to put it to him particularly in the computer Evans that was very very
00:30:16
significant most of the answers he said no comment he denied looking up these sites can't remember or just that and
00:30:23
the other you know but it was quite evident we had him nailed at that despite the evidence stacked against him
00:30:33
Colin Wen refused to admit what he'd done for the director of public prosecutions to authorize a charge there
00:30:41
needs to be a strong case File in this case there was more than sufficient evidence available so Colin wheen was
00:30:49
charged with the murder of Mary gof and he was kept in custody overnight to appear in court the next morning as we
00:30:55
thought to be a bit of a heave and there was an awful lot of people there so I was taking them out of the van and
00:31:01
people were trying to get a scal at them and door calling them all types of names
00:31:07
a trial date was set for October 2003 Colin Wen was to return to court then to have his case
00:31:17
heard everybody's presumed innocent until proven guilty so he went to the high court and with a number of
00:31:24
conditions he was given bail nobody was really surprised that he got bailed because that's the way it is in Ireland
00:31:30
you know the court case could be you know maybe two years down the line and if you're not deemed you know a flight
00:31:36
risk or you won't interfere with Witnesses you know you usually do get bailed so it wasn't surprising you know
00:31:41
that he got bailed well we did make conditions that there had to be an independent shy with a certain amount of
00:31:47
money and that he sign on at BB and garden station on a daily basis in March 2003 after following the
00:31:56
rules and dining on each day as required for 2 years wheen suddenly went missing
00:32:03
and failed to turn up at a police station detectives had no idea where to find him he had seemingly vanished Into
00:32:12
Thin Air we learned from the local members of G chakon that he hadn't s on a particular day and we thought it could
00:32:19
have happened he could have been sick but second when the second day arrived we knew there was a problem and I spoke
00:32:25
to some of my own team to say listen col wheel hasn't signed on uh I Wonder has
00:32:30
he had sced I saw that he hadn't signed on for 3 days and that's a breach of his
00:32:36
his bail and I said God um where's he G now like you know the race was on to
00:32:43
find the suspected murderer on the 12th of March 2003 he drives to Cliffs not far from
00:32:52
Dublin Parks his car and disappears we initially then learned learned that his car was found on hill
00:33:00
of H the abandoned car was left at ho Cliff's a well-known suicide spot and evidence found in wand's car certainly
00:33:09
looked as if the driver had the intention to end his life there was items in his car particularly Battle of
00:33:16
alcohol uh the keys were left in the car and from initial viewing of the car one
00:33:23
could suspect that Colin ween could have maybe committed suicide and jumped into
00:33:28
the IRC at the bottom of the cliffs but police knew Wheeland well by this point and weren't convinced by this
00:33:37
suggestion I think everybody was satisfied that there's no way Colin had taken his own life we were happy that
00:33:44
whatever he had done he had absconded to where we didn't know if Colin wheen
00:33:51
was in Singapore or if he was in Colombia or he was in the let's say the North Pole I would get him
00:34:01
because I would not lie until I got him after being charged with the murder of his wife Wan had set his plan in motion
00:34:09
he used another person's identity without them knowing and applied for a passport in their name like something
00:34:17
from a spy novel he went to extrem lens to find a new identity and he used that password in with his picture with a
00:34:24
different identity and could travel all over the world really he got away with it he's
00:34:31
disappeared nobody knows where he's gone knowing that Wan hadn't committed
00:34:38
suicide the police started to look for the wanted man they knew Wan had gone on the run but they didn't know where
00:34:47
detectives decided to search the main routes out of Dublin at that time there was no CCTV at
00:34:54
the train station we we seized all the CCTV in in an airport and we spent hours upon hours days looking at the CCTV as
00:35:02
part of their investigation the police had looked into wheelan's background and
00:35:07
past relationships was there other people in his life had he acted like this previously had he been violent towards
00:35:14
any other girlfriends or friends for that matter what they found was disturbing we did come across girls that
00:35:23
had relationships with Colin wheen some of them only had time limits small relationships with him but they all said
00:35:29
the same he was overpowering controlling he was like buying them presence trying
00:35:35
to win them over police were building up a clear picture of a man who was a danger to women with the concern that
00:35:43
more women could be at risk of this Predator even more pressure was on to find Colin
00:35:50
[Music] wheen he was on the run for approximately 18 months he went to Belfast and got a flight from Belfast to
00:36:02
Barcelona and then got a a boat from Barcelona to meor wheen had got himself a job working
00:36:09
behind a bar in the upmarket resort of Puerto portals on the island in a stroke of luck for the police wheen was spotted
00:36:19
by somebody that he'd been at school with the person seen this Barman and they said Bor great likeness to Colin
00:36:29
wheen if Colin wheen had had an iota of remorse or indeed an iota of the intelligence he pretended to have he
00:36:39
most certainly wouldn't have been so silly as to make himself abundantly obvious to Irish tourists it's it's
00:36:49
inconceivable and yet that's what he did and that was to prove his downfall not
00:36:54
long after the first sighting the police were alerted to a second a couple who were uh in Spain and
00:37:02
befriended an individual nourish man in in a pub who's working in the pub by the
00:37:07
name of keen Sweeney and he she had a good chat with him and that and he said oh yeah I'm from GW God I'd love um
00:37:13
there I love to buy an Irish rubby Jersey and she said sure look give me your email address and your address and
00:37:18
I'll get one and I'll post it out to you unbeknown to The Fugitive the couple had
00:37:24
realized that Kean Sweeney was in fact wheen around the same time an Irish newspaper was running a fresh appeal to
00:37:32
try and find wheen which the couple had seen thankfully they had taken up one of
00:37:39
the local papers and saw the picture of keen Sweeney but actually just call Wheel this was the same man that the
00:37:46
woman had been talking to in the bar and she got afraid she said oh my God that's you know so she got in
00:37:54
contact with the incident room I was contact I spoke with her she showed me the paper that's Colin whe and he goes
00:38:01
by the name a ke and Sweeney police back in Ireland now had enough to suspect that Kian Sweeney was in fact their
00:38:09
wanted man Spanish police were sent to the bar in Puerto portals to make the arrest they did go and arrest him and
00:38:20
Colin protested that they had the wrong person that he wasn't coling Wheeling
00:38:24
but they had the set of fingerprints and they took the set of fingerprints off him over there and they matched and then
00:38:29
he put his hands up and he said yeah I'm Colin Wheeling it was great relief for
00:38:33
Mary's family because they never thought he was dead Mary's family were absolutely delighted because now they
00:38:38
were going to get Justice Colin wheen was to stand trial on the 11th of April 2005 4 years after
00:38:48
the murder of his wife we initially viewed that that trial could maybe take four four five six
00:38:58
weeks maybe so it's a long you know prolonged trial particularly for a murder so we did a lot of work it was
00:39:05
initially taught that that Colin would Brazen it out you know being the character he was and you know plead not
00:39:11
guilty in court on the day of his trial he let it be known fairly quickly that you know he was going to he was going to
00:39:19
plead guilty the reason for that is because he you know he knew he had no chance the evidence he against him was
00:39:25
overwhelming he was going to be convicted and rather than have the evidence come out he somehow Tau the
00:39:31
Despicable character he was you know maybe it would be hidden on April the 13th 2005 at the central Criminal Court
00:39:39
in Dublin Colin Wan was sentenced to life imprisonment the judge said sentencing wheen that this was the most
00:39:48
calculated and callous killing he'd ever encountered in his time in court I think
00:39:54
the Judge is absolutely right both callous and calculated there is no sign whatever of any remorse for Mary's
00:40:04
brutal killing no explanation no nothing to indicate that wheen is anything but proud of having committed this Dreadful
00:40:14
crime it is breathtaking his arrogance as seni your investigators you deal with many different and difficult
00:40:24
cases but this is one of the most shocking and difficult cases that that I've ever been involved in Colin wheen
00:40:32
was Psychopathic he was calculating devious and evil he planned over a period of time right you I'm targeting
00:40:43
you and I'm going to kill you to get the money murder doesn't get any worse than
00:40:49
that this was an unusual case it's probably one of the most coldblooded cases I've ever seen after living over
00:40:57
18 years of his life sentence Colin Wan is allowed to apply for parole regularly
00:41:04
if granted he would be moved to an open prison before being released back into society conin whe is probably the most
00:41:14
mipa of man I've ever come across I believe a man who can kill you know his his new bride for money you know it's
00:41:22
it's really capable of anything he could do anything Colin Wen married Mary Goff and
00:41:29
immediately started a pattern of domestic abuse towards her taking away her confidence and isolating her from
00:41:37
friends and family wheen used and abused Mary before murdering her purely for financial gain he was motivated by greed
00:41:46
and his own sense of entitlement refusing to face Justice for what he'd done wheen faked his own death
00:41:54
and fled the country Colin wheen has shown No Remorse for his horrific actions and will be remembered as one of
00:42:03
the world's most evil killers [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Biggest twist
  • 85
    Most heartbreaking
  • 85
    Most surprising

Episode Highlights

  • The Shocking Murder of Mary Goff
    Mary Goff's tragic death reveals a dark plot by her husband Colin Ween.
    “Colin Ween married for money, but to get the money he had to kill.”
    @ 00m 35s
    September 20, 2024
  • The Pathologist's Revelation
    A postmortem reveals Mary Goff was strangled, not a victim of an accident.
    “This girl has been strangled, I'm 110% sure.”
    @ 16m 10s
    September 20, 2024
  • Evidence Points to Colin Ween
    Investigators find overwhelming evidence linking Colin Ween to the murder of his wife.
    “Every single finger seems to be pointing at Colin Ween as the killer.”
    @ 22m 42s
    September 20, 2024
  • The Deceptive Husband
    Colin Wheen appeared to be a loving husband while secretly plotting his wife's murder.
    “This pretense was all part of his sickening act.”
    @ 23m 47s
    September 20, 2024
  • The Cyber Affair
    Evidence reveals Colin engaged in a cyber affair while planning his wife's murder.
    “He took advantage of her vulnerability.”
    @ 24m 56s
    September 20, 2024
  • The Arrest
    Colin Wheen was arrested for the murder of his wife after a thorough investigation.
    “He made no comment and was immediately brought to the station.”
    @ 30m 00s
    September 20, 2024
  • Life Imprisonment
    Colin Wheen was sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of Mary Goff.
    “This was the most calculated and callous killing he’d ever encountered.”
    @ 39m 48s
    September 20, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • Colin Ween married for money, but to get the money he had to kill.
    The Newly Wed Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • This girl has been strangled, I'm 110% sure.
    The Newly Wed Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • Every single finger seems to be pointing at Colin Ween as the killer.
    The Newly Wed Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • He’s not capable of feeling love in the way that we know it.
    The Newly Wed Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • This was the most calculated and callous killing I’ve ever encountered.
    The Newly Wed Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • Colin Wheen has shown no remorse for his horrific actions.
    The Newly Wed Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers

Key Moments

  • Postmortem Findings15:31
  • Suspicions Arise17:21
  • Evidence Accumulates18:41
  • The Perfect Husband23:25
  • The Expensive Gift23:34
  • The Cyber Affair Exposed24:22
  • The Insurance Policy27:41
  • The Arrest30:00

Tension Over Time

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Vibes Breakdown