Julie Pacey murder mystery as ominous 'Overalls man' evades justice for decades

The identity of the murderer who killed a 38-year-old mother hasremained an unsolved mystery for decades.

Police have struggled to uncover the prime suspect in the murder investigation, a man who authorities have nicknamed “Overalls man”. The identity of this individual hasevaded investigators for years, despite police possessing a “nearly complete” DNA profile of the killer.

Horror struck after the body of Julie Pacey, 38, was found in the bathroom of her family home in Grantham, Lincolnshire, by her teenage daughter, then 14, after the child returned home from school. On Monday 26 September 1996, Julie had been sexually assaulted, strangled with a wired cord as her killer left her dead body on her bathroom floor.

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The murder horrified the local community as it stumped investigators who were baffled as to why the woman had been targeted in what appeared to be a pre-planned attack. Julie, a mother of two, was a part-time child carer at the local preschool St Peter's Day Nursery.

Married to her childhood sweetheart Andrew Pacey, Julie lived in a luxury bungalow in Grantham with her husband and their two children. Andrew later described his wife as someone who "got on with everyone" and was "kind and caring and considerate" and "lived for the family."

The prime suspect of the murder investigation was an individual named “Overalls Man”, a suspicious man dressed in blue overalls. The suspect was reportedly seen by numerous witnesses on the estate where Julie lived in the days around the murder.

Three days before the murder, a local girl – who came to the Pacey’s home after school to wait for her own mother to return from work – told investigators she came face to face with “Overalls Man”. The schoolgirl told investigators she walked past the suspected killer on the driveway of the Pacey's residence on her way to the front door.

She described the man as wearing brown workman's boots, being fairly chubby and looking around 35 years-old – meaning the man is around his 60s if the suspect is still alive. The schoolgirl told investigators she had asked Julie about the man she had walked past on the driveway. Julie told the girl the man had knocked on the front door of the house and had asked for directions to nearby Eskdale Road.

Police also discovered the suspect had been asking people in the area for directions, including how to get to an industrial estate on the other side of town. Police were also stumped by a blue BMW that was seen pulling into the driveway of the Pacey family home on the day of the murder.

After the crime was committed investigators revealed only one item was missing from the house – a £10 French Luc Desroches watch. In 2015 publicity on the case returned after a “nearly complete” DNA profile of the killer was created due to new scientific advancements.

As the killer's DNA did not have any matches on the UK National DNA Database, police continue to appeal to the public to come forward with information. Detective Inspector Helen Evans of Lincolnshire Police explained what this DNA profile meant for the case: "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."

The detective added the killer behind Julie Pacey’s murder may no longer live in the Grantham area and could have since moved away or fled the country. The case was covered in Crimewatch, a UK television series that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public.

In a bizarre turn of events the actor who played the "Overalls Man" in the episode was investigated as a murder suspect in September 2015 after some viewers who had watched mistakenly called in to report him as the killer.

Steve Watson, the actor depicting “Overalls man” in the episode had his DNA taken by police after viewers told police he was the suspect the authorities were searching for.

Despite reassuring police he was an actor and not the killer, he previously claimed he was left in “limbo” while waiting for police to conclude the investigation. Crimewatch actor Steve Watson said: “[My face] was on the screen for too long and even then, people in the street said, 'Oh, is that that murderer?’”

Steve has since said: “I just wish the case had been solved.”

Ultimately, no further action was taken against Steve as the hunt for the mysterious “Overalls Man" is still ongoing 30 years later. To this day the individual who murdered Julie Pacey in her home in Grantham still remains a mystery.