The Morgue Monster: The Chilling Case of David Fuller
In the quiet town of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, a sinister predator lurked for decades, committing unspeakable acts that would shock the nation. David Fuller, known as the "Morgue Monster," was responsible for two brutal murders in 1987 and the sexual abuse of over 100 corpses in hospital mortuaries. This is the disturbing story of how a seemingly ordinary man concealed a monstrous nature for over 30 years before justice finally caught up with him.
The Bedsit Murders: A Cold Case Comes to Light
On a warm Sunday in June 1987, 25-year-old Wendy Knell attended her father's 58th birthday party. As she left, she told her mother she'd skip her usual Monday visit and see them on Tuesday instead. Little did her family know this would be the last time they'd see Wendy alive.
The following day, Wendy failed to show up for work at Supasnaps, where she was the manager. Concerned colleagues called her parents, who rushed to her bedsit at 14 Guildford Road. What they found would haunt them for decades to come.
Wendy's naked body lay in her blood-stained bed, bearing signs of a brutal attack. She had been raped, strangled, and bludgeoned to death. The crime scene yielded few clues: a footprint on a white blouse, a bloody fingerprint on a shopping bag, and Wendy's missing diary and keys.
Just five months later, another young woman fell victim to the same killer. Caroline Pierce, 20, was abducted outside her bedsit, mere yards from where Wendy had lived. Her body was discovered 40 miles away in Romney Marsh, naked except for a pair of tights.
The murders sent shockwaves through the community. Despite an extensive investigation, the killer remained at large, and the cases went cold. For 33 years, the families of Wendy and Caroline lived with the agonizing knowledge that their loved ones' murderer walked free.
A Breakthrough in Forensic Science
It wasn't until 2019 that hope for justice was rekindled. Advances in DNA technology allowed investigators to revisit the evidence from both crime scenes. A damaged sperm sample yielded a familial DNA match, narrowing the pool of suspects dramatically.
Detective Superintendent Ivan Beasley and his team painstakingly combed through family trees and records, eventually focusing on one name: David Fuller. Born in 1954, Fuller had trained as an electrician and maintenance man. He had a minor criminal record for theft and arson in his youth but had managed to stay off the police radar for decades.
On December 3, 2020, police knocked on the door of Fuller's home in Heathfield, East Sussex. The 66-year-old man who answered seemed unremarkable – a husband, father, and grandfather with interests in birdwatching, cycling, and photography. But behind this facade lay a monster whose crimes would prove far more extensive and horrifying than anyone could have imagined.
The Shocking Discovery
As investigators searched Fuller's home, they uncovered a trove of disturbing evidence. Hidden behind a false wall in a cupboard, they found hard drives containing over 14 million images of sexual offenses. What they saw left even seasoned detectives reeling.
The images and videos documented Fuller's systematic abuse of corpses in hospital mortuaries. Over a period of at least 12 years, he had used his position as a maintenance worker to gain access to the bodies of deceased women and girls, ranging in age from 9 to 100 years old. Fuller had meticulously recorded his crimes, cataloging them alongside mundane details of his daily life.
The sheer volume and nature of the material stunned investigators. One detective remarked, "I could not comprehend it. My thoughts were very much for Wendy Knell's family and Caroline Pierce's 33 years without justice. But now families are finding out that their loved one, when they should have been safe and afforded dignity in death, suffered at the hands of David Fuller."
The Morgue Monster's Modus Operandi
Fuller's position as a maintenance worker at Kent and Sussex Hospital and later at Tunbridge Wells Hospital gave him unfettered access to areas most employees couldn't enter. He possessed an "all-access" swipe card that allowed him to move freely throughout the facilities, including the mortuaries.
Exploiting gaps in security and oversight, Fuller would visit the morgue at an alarming rate, often outside his normal working hours. He knew the locations of security cameras and took advantage of areas without surveillance, particularly the post-mortem room
.In a chilling detail, investigators found that Fuller had obsessively recorded every aspect of his life, from work invoices to restaurant outings. This meticulous nature extended to his crimes, with each abusive act carefully documented and cataloged.
The Trial and Aftermath
Initially, Fuller denied involvement in the 1987 murders, claiming he had never visited Tunbridge Wells. However, faced with overwhelming DNA evidence, he changed his plea to guilty on the fourth day of his trial in November 2021.The courtroom was filled with raw emotion as victims' families confronted the man who had caused them so much pain. One mother, addressing Fuller directly, said, "You raped my baby. She couldn't say no to a dirty, 66-year-old man who was abusing her body. I feel guilty I left her there. I will not enjoy my life again. This unnatural sick pain I will never get over."
Judge Mrs. Justice Cheema-Grubb did not mince words in her sentencing, telling Fuller, "You became a vulture, picking your victims from among the dead within the hidden world of hospital mortuaries which you were free to inhabit simply because you had a swipe card... The depravity of what you did reveals your conscience is seared."
Fuller was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce. He received an additional 12 years for the mortuary offenses, though this sentence pales in comparison to the lifetime of trauma inflicted on the families of his victims.
