RED-faced with dungarees pulled tight over his round belly, the “Overalls Man” was a key feature in Julie Pacey’s mysterious murder.
The mum-of-two was discovered strangled in the bathroom by her 14-year-old daughter when she returned home from school.
She had been sexually assaulted and only one item was missing from the house – a £10 French Luc Desroches watch.
Her death in Grantham, Lincolnshire, in 1994 both horrified and gripped the nation following a string of bizarre twists.
Even before Julie was found, a puzzling timeline emerged that heaped more mystery on the disturbing case.
The chilling tale began on September 22, 1994 – four days before the 38-year-old’s murder.
A number of locals reported seeing a suspicious man in blue overalls on the estate where Julie lived.
The mystery figure was described by witnesses as having a particularly red face and later became known as the “Overalls Man”.
Police found out he had been asking people in the area for directions – including an industrial estate on the other side of town.
The following day, a young girl who would often wait at Julie’s home for her mum to pick her up saw the “strange man” walking up the driveway.
When she walked past him to get to the front door, he left – with the girl later describing him as fairly chubby with an “all pink” face and rough hands.
She asked Julia about him and was told he had knocked and asked for directions to nearby Eskdale Road.
On September 26, Julie had gone to a nursery where she worked part time while husband Andrew left the house for a plumbing job.
She finished at 2pm and called her parents before passing through town then heading home in the family’s Audi.
As she neared the house, the Overalls Man walked into the road – causing Julie to slam on her brakes.
He was then seen by witnesses running in the direction of Julie’s car.
At 4.15pm, Julie’s daughter returned home from school to find her mum strangled to death on the bathroom floor.
Her tights and underwear were pulled down and a ligature mark was found around her neck.
There were no signs of a break in, no indications of a struggle and the only missing item was the cheap watch.
The Overalls Man was spotted the day after Julie was discovered dead kicking grass nearby as though he was looking for something.
He has never been traced despite an e-fit being issued during the large-scale police investigation.
To add to the confusion, it later emerged a blue BMW had been seen parked on Julia’s driveway next to the family’s Audi on the day she was killed.
Some witnesses also reported seeing Julia driving the car in the days leading up to the murder – despite her husband being adamant she did not have access to a second car.
Police ruled out the mum was killed in a burglary gone wrong as they struggled to find a motive.
Some sleuths feared a serial killer nicknamed the Grantham Strangler could have killed Julie.
Just two months before the horror, another mum was discovered dead in the town after being beaten and strangled.
Sharon Harper was walking home from the pub where she worked when she was murdered then dumped in shrubbery.
The 21-year-old, who had a baby daughter, had been seen arguing with a man before she was killed.
In 2001, police investigated a possible link under Operation Engima, which looked into the unsolved murders of dozens of women in the UK in the 1990s.
But the case went cold again for several years until July 2015 when the murder featured in an episode of BBC Crimewatch.
It was revealed that advances in DNA meant police were able to create a “nearly complete” profile of Julie’s potential killer.
Det Insp Helen Evans, senior investigating officer, said at the time: “This means that if we can link that DNA to a person, it is entirely possible that we may have found Julie’s murderer.
“The one drawback is that the DNA does not match anyone presently in our databases. For that reason we are asking the public for help and urging them to give us a name.”
In another twist, the actor who played the “Overalls Man” in the Crimewatch reconstruction was accused of being Julie’s killer.
Steve Watson had his DNA taken by officers after viewers told police he was the suspect.
Despite reassuring police he was an actor, he previously claimed he was left in “limbo” while waiting for cops to drop the probe.
He added: “[My face] was on the screen for too long and even then, people in the street said, ‘Oh, is that that murderer?’
“To hear those words you think, ‘Please, it’s just a reconstruction, surely you understand’, but unfortunately they don’t.”
No further action was taken against Steve – with the hunt for the mysterious Overalls Man still ongoing 30 years later.
