Who was Shani Warren and what happened to ‘The Lady in the Lake’?
SHANI Warren disappeared after heading to the shops for a routine trip she had made several times before.
After spending time mowing her lawn, Ms Warren headed out to dispose of the cuttings and to go shopping but was never to return.
Who was Shani Warren?
Shani Warren was the daughter of wealthy parents Joe and Elsie.
They had bought her a house in Buckinghamshire which she shared with two housemates.
Ms Warren was described as a pleasant and friendly person who would take time out of her day to chat with neighbours.
She came from a very loving family and was close to all of her relatives.
What happened to Shani Warren?
On April 17, 1987, Shani Warren was looking at the carefully manicured gardens of her neighbours when she decided to tackle her overgrown garden.
She had travelled to her uncle’s house that morning to borrow an extension lead to be able to mow her lawn.
The job turned out to be a bigger one than she envisaged and it was not until early evening that she completed it.
Ms Warren had decided to go and dispose of the cuttings on her way to a shopping trip to pick up a few items.
A trip that should of only taken an hour or so, saw the 26-year-old never return.
Her car was found in a layby near the A4, with binbags of grass cuttings in the boot and an Easter egg in the footwell of the vehicle.
Shani Warren’s body was later found at the edge of Taplow Lake in Slough with her hands and wrists tied and mouth gagged.
Marks around her neck suggested that she had been strangled prior to her murder.
Why was Shani Warren called The Lady in the Lake?
On April 18, 1987 a woman was walking her German Shepherd around Taplow Lake in a regular evening stroll.
The dog showed an unusual interest in an object in the water.
It was at this point that it became evident it had discovered the body of Shani Warren in some 18 inches of water.
When the woman and a passer-by dragged the body onto the bank, it became clear there was nothing they could do and that the person was dead.
This led to the case being dubbed “The Lady of the Lake“.
The area where the body was found was a local beauty spot surrounded by homes of millionaires.
It was not until major breakthroughs in DNA testing that the culprit of her murder, Donald Robertson, was convicted of the crime over three decades later.