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The killer of Shani Warren, Caught 35 Years Later
On the evening of Easter Saturday in 1987, a lady walking her dog near Taplow Lake found the body of a young woman floating in the lake. The case did not get solved until 2021.
Shani Warren was born into a wealthy middle-class family to Joe and Eloise Warren, she had 2 brothers and was the youngest of the 3 children. Shani worked as a secretary at a company called Microscope, but it was a job that she did not like so much and wanted to leave. She lived with 2 housemates in Stoke Poges near Slough, in a house that her parents had bought for her.
On the Thursday before the 1987 Easter weekend, Shani went out for dinner with an ex-boyfriend called Roger Pell in Maidenhead. They both enjoyed the evening and agreed to meet again. The next morning on Good Friday, 17th April 1987, Shani drove to her parent's house in Gerrard Cross to borrow an extension lead to mow her lawn. Shani was due to spend Easter Sunday with her family in Bournemouth and discussed logistics with her father.
Later that day, Shani mowed her lawn and loaded the grass cuttings into her car at around 6 pm. One of her housemates saw her get into the car and drive off at about 6.05 pm. Shani told her housemates that she had no plans for the evening and was going to take the grass cuttings to her parent's house as they had a compost heap and only lived 10 minutes away. However, when she pulled away in her car, her housemates noted that she drove in the opposite direction to her parent’s house.
It is not clear if Shani’s housemates called her parents to report that she did not return home that evening. This was before mobile phones, so they perhaps thought that she had stayed at her parent's house for the evening, as that is where she told them she was going.
The next day, on Easter Saturday, Marjorie Arnold was out walking her German Shepherd at around 6.30 pm near Taplow Lake. The dog seemed intrigued by something in the lake. When Mrs Arnold went to take a look, she found a woman’s body lying face-down in the water.
When the police arrived at the lake, they found Shani’s black Vauxhall Cavalier parked in a lay-by near the lake. The…
