Arrests of 2 Murder Suspects Shatter Hopes in Case of Missing British Girls

A drama that has gripped Britain took a chilling turn Saturday as police arrested two people, reportedly school employees, on suspicion of murdering a pair of 10-year-old girls who vanished from this rural village two weeks ago.

Detectives had said only the night before that they remained optimistic that Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were alive. But their use of the word “murder” in announcing the arrests shattered the hopes of residents of Soham, near Cambridge, and the rest of the nation.

Police later said two bodies had been found 20 miles away in a wooded area called Thetford Forest Park, near the U.S. air base of Lakenheath, but said it would take time to identify them.

A spokesman said the bodies were discovered by a man walking in the woods at about 1 p.m. He said the forensic examination of the area would be a “long process.”

News reports identified the suspects as Ian Huntley, a caretaker at the local secondary school, and his partner, Maxine Carr, a former teaching assistant who worked with Holly and Jessica’s primary school class until July.

Cambridgeshire police did not release names of those arrested, saying only that they had apprehended a 28-year-old man on suspicion of murder and abduction and a 25-year-old woman on suspicion of murder. The ages matched those of two people questioned by police Friday and identified by news organizations as Huntley and Carr.

Det. Chief Inspector Andy Hebb, announcing the arrests at a news conference, said officers had discovered “items of major interest to our inquiry” at the school.

Holly and Jessica vanished Aug. 4 wearing identical Manchester United soccer shirts. A security camera recorded them as they walked through Soham together shortly after leaving a family barbecue that Sunday afternoon.

The search for the girls has received round-the-clock media coverage. More than 400 police took part in the investigation, making it one of the biggest manhunts in British history.

Candlelight vigils were held in Soham, and detectives received about 14,000 tips from the public. Soccer star David Beckham, whose No. 7 shirt the girls were wearing, made a personal plea for their safe return.

Police had said as late as Friday night that they still held out hope the girls were alive, and their parents pleaded at a news conference for the abductor to return them.

After the arrests were announced Saturday, the streets of Soham were nearly deserted despite sunny weather that would normally bring families out. A few people huddled in groups discussing the case, while parents kept an anxious watch on their children.

Posters plastered all over the village appealed for information on the girls.

“There’s a deep sense of foreboding. It’s a very strange and tense atmosphere,” said the Rev. Tim Elbourne, diocesan director of education at the local St. Andrew’s Church.

“There’s been a constant flow of people during the day coming to church, being quiet and expressing their feelings.”