When Veronica Anderson asked a neighbour to watch her six-year-old son on a summer night in 1991 she said "she would not be gone long".
But after the popular businesswoman, known as Vera, disappeared into the night she was never seen alive by her family again. Where she was going, or who she was meeting, remains a mystery - the only clue being a phone-call she received shortly before leaving her home in Hadfield Close, Widnes.
Vera was found slumped over the front seats of her blue X-reg Ford Cortina car with her throat slashed, on land off Tannery Lane in Penketh, Warrington, in the early hours of August 25, that year. No-one has ever been charged in connection with her death.
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For more than 30 years the case remained cold, until in March this year there appeared to be a breakthrough. Cheshire Police announced the arrest of a 70-year-old man from Widnes and a 61-year-old woman from Warrington on suspicion of Vera's murder.
The pair were questioned and later released under investigation. Cheshire Police have confirmed there has not yet been a charging decision and the pair remain under investigation eight months on.
Tributes at the time of Vera's death described her as a popular and "fun-loving" woman who ran a business supplying sandwiches to offices in the Widnes area, alongside her 19-year-old daughter.
Witnesses reported seeing a woman, matching Vera's description, speaking to a man in the Crown and Cushion pub, Penketh, between 10.30pm and 11pm that night. Detectives said they believed that man may have been the killer.
Shortly after 3am the following morning, a man out looking for a gang of teenage car thieves spotted her vehicle and made the chilling discovery. According to Liverpool ECHO reports from the time, a Home Office pathologist estimated the time of death would have been between 11.30pm and 2.30am.
The pathologist also said the severity of the wound to her neck meant she would have died almost instantly. Despite an inch by inch search of the scene, police never recovered the murder weapon.
However, a cotton glove with the brand name 'Minette' was recovered, stained with what forensic testing revealed was Vera's blood. Speaking in 1991, then Detective Superintendent Keith Anderton told the ECHO: "The glove was found during an intensive search of the area around where Mrs Anderson's body was found.
"There was blood on it. We have had it tested by forensic scientists and it is the victim's blood. We have concluded that it was worn by the killer."
Cheshire Police also said at the time that they were "reasonably certain" a length of cord found in Tannery Lane had been in the killer's possession. Det Supt. Anderton said: "He seems to have prepared to do the killing and to have worn the gloves, or at least one glove, at the time."
The case featured in an episode of Crimewatch later that year and despite theories that the killer may have been a long distance lorry driver, no real suspects emerged. Speaking a few days after her death, Vera's daughter Lorraine Anderson, then 19, tearfully told a press conference: "My mother was a fun-loving woman and a good mum.
"If anyone knows anything or saw anything on Saturday night or Sunday morning will they please come forward. It is very strange that she should just go out of the house that like that.
"My mother was separated and worked very hard to bring us up. Anyone who can help find the person responsible for killing her should please come forward."
Speaking on the 31st anniversary of her death in August, Detective Chief Inspector Adam Waller said: "A lot has changed in the last 31 years however for Vera’s family, time has stood still. No matter how many years pass, Vera’s death remains to have an impact on their lives.
"We will continue to work on any snippet of information that is provided to us and are committed to doing everything possible to find those responsible and bring them to justice."
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Cheshire Constabulary via https://www.cheshire.police.uk/police-forces/cheshire-constabulary/areas/cheshire/about-us/about-us/provide-more-information-about-an-appeal/ or call 101 quoting occurrence number 0709373610.
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