DNA-first that found Saturday Night Strangler from Steeltown Murders 30 years on
In the summer of 1973, three teenage girls had been out partying in the Welsh town of Port Talbot but tragically never returned home.
In two separate incidents that were three months apart, a woman and two friends had tried to hitchhike lifts in the early hours.
But horrifyingly, their bodies were found days later after being strangled to death.
Despite the killings sparking the biggest murder hunt the country had seen, the unknown perpetrator remained at large for years.
The murders sent shockwaves across the nearby towns around Swansea, instilling fear into young girls that were then too afraid to leave home at night.
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It wasn't until almost three decades later that DNA evidence finally connected serial killer Joseph Kappen to the crimes - but he evaded punishment as he had already died before being caught by police.
Scott Arthur as DCI Paul Bethell in 1973 in new BBC drama Steeltown Murders (Simon Ridgway)The extraordinary tale is now being told in a new BBC drama - Steeltown Murders - which follows the hunt to catch the grisly killer.
Set in both 1973 and the early 2000s, the four-part series, which launches on Monday, May 15, showcases how in the first case of its kind, the mystery was solved almost 30 years later using pioneering DNA evidence.
So what was the real story of the Steeltown Murders and how was Joseph Kappen eventually revealed as Wales' first serial killer?
In July 1973, Sandra Newton, 16, had been out with her boyfriend in the town of Briton Ferry.
But on her five-mile walk home at 1am in the morning, she disappeared.
Police believed she had tried to hitchhike her way home but she was found dead two days later, with her body stuffed into a culvert.
The young woman had been hit over the head and terrifyingly strangled with her own skirt.
Murder victim Geraldine Hughes (Mirrorpix)
Pauline Floyd was hitchhiking a lift home when she was murdered by Kappen (Mirrorpix)Just two months later, friends Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd, both aged 16, were also found dead after hitchhiking their way home from a party in Swansea.
Their bodies were discovered in woodland in Llandarcy - just seven miles from where Sandra was found.
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The girls had been beaten, raped, and strangled to death.
Their murders sparked the country's biggest hunt with a team of 150 officers questioning around 35,000 people who fitted a loose description of the person last seen with the two best friends.
He was described to be between 30 to 35-years-old, had a moustache and bushy hair, while officers also had a description of the car he had been driving.
Witnesses saw the girls getting into a Morris 1100 that was being driven by a man of that description.
The murders instilled fear in young women across the community, with posters warning against hitchhiking put up in shop windows.
Police suspected that the same man was responsible for the three murders, however, Sandra's boyfriend was named a prime suspect for her death.
However, he maintained his innocence and was never charged - and later had his name cleared amid breakthrough evidence.
Joseph was questioned by police at the time of the murders (WalesOnline)
He had a fake alibi and claimed his car was broken on the night of the murders (Collect)Detectives continued to run inquiries for the unexplained murders but it took almost 30 years for the families of the victims to finally have the answers they deserved.
The two separate investigations were linked in 2000 when South Wales Police began to reopen cold cases with a new crime-solving tool using DNA matching.
There were semen stains on Geraldine and Pauline's clothing that matched the same man, but the man in question wasn't on the new DNA database.
A year into the newly established Operation Magnum inquiry, it was then discovered that tests ran on Sandra's underwear showed DNA present from an unknown male also - this pieced together that the same man was responsible for the three murders.
But given there was no information on their database, scientists had to get creative.
The mysterious killings sent shockwaves across the Welsh towns (Mirrorpix)They had a printout of several thousand DNA profiles to see if there were any children of the offender in the database.
"This was a ground breaking technique, the first time it's ever been done in the UK and possibly the world - and from there, the new investigative tool now known as familial DNA was developed," Dr Dark, whose team was continually checking the sample with new profiles on the ever-growing DNA database, told the BBC.
They came up with a shortlist of 500 men where they then looked for the previous description, if they owned that particular car model, and previous convictions of sexual assault.
Paul Kappen, who was on the database after committing car theft offences in and around the area, stood out.
But at just seven at the time of the crimes, he was ruled out.
His father, who fit the description and drove a Morris 1100, had been questioned at the time but had an alibi from his wife.
He'd also said his car had broken down on the night of the murders.
Siôn Alun Davies as Phil Bach, Rees Scott Arthur as DCI Paul Bethell and Dyfan Dwyfor as DS Vic Jenkins in 1973 (TomJackson)But with his son's DNA proving he was a 50 per cent match of the killer's DNA, he became prime suspect.
However, when they went to take a swab from Joe, a nightclub bouncer and part-time bus driver, they found he had already passed away 11 years prior, in 1990 at the age of 48.
Scientists swabbed his ex-wife and daughter, which made up two-thirds of the profile.
Extraordinarily, the home secretary gave the green light to exhume his body in 2002.
After almost three decades, a DNA examination proved that Kappen was the killer of all three girls.
Steeltown Murders starts tonight on BBC One at 9pm.
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