It's been nearly 35 years since British model Rachel Nickell was brutally murdered in broad daylight on a busy London common, leaving her two-year-old son as the sole witness. Her story is now being told in full in a new Netflix series, The Witness, and an accompanying documentary.
On July 15, 1992, 23-year-old Rachel Nickell was walking through Wimbledon Common with her young son Alex and their dog Molly when she was attacked without warning. She was sexually assaulted and stabbed 49 times, all in broad daylight, as her toddler son looked on.
Alex tried to wake his mother, but she didn't respond. He claims he saw the killer emerge from the bushes, grab him, and throw him to the ground before his mother collapsed beside him. He also says he watched the attacker wash blood from his hands in a nearby stream before vanishing.
The investigation that followed was one of Britain's most criticized, with 32 men interrogated before police charged unemployed local man Colin Stagg in August 1993. However, there was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime, and he was later cleared.
It wasn't until a decade later, with the help of advanced DNA techniques, that investigators were able to reexamine evidence found on Nickell's body and match it to convicted murderer Robert Napper, who was already detained at Broadmoor Hospital for a series of rape attacks dating back to 1989.
The Netflix series, The Witness, centers on how Alex and his father navigated life in the aftermath of the murder, dealing with intense media scrutiny, a chaotic police investigation, and the weight of unimaginable grief.
