Sep 3, 2026 · 28 min · 11 segments
When you move into a small flat in a new town, just how much can you really know about your neighbours? Melanie Sturton had only recently left home to work and study when she moved into a flat in…
It was Friday the 8th of October, 1999, and 22-year-old Melanie Sturton was looking forward to relaxing after a busy week.
Melanie was training to be a nurse and had relatively recently moved from her family home in the picturesque village of Ballater, a stone's throw from Balmoral Castle and the Cairngorms National Park, to Aberdeen's bustling West End.
Like anyone moving to a big city for the first time, Aberdeen had taken some getting used to.
While training as a nurse, Melanie also worked at a retirement home for the elderly, which allowed her to put her caring nature to good use.
It was small, but it was a perfect size just for her and right in the middle of Aberdeen's leafy and affluent West End.
She had neighbors living in the flats above and below hers, and you know how it is if you live in a flat.
One of these was a woman close to her in age, 20-year-old Pamela Gorley, who worked as a chef.
Pamela would often have friends around, but Melanie, well, she enjoyed her own company, and she preferred to keep herself to herself.
By Saturday, Melanie's mom, stepdad, and little brother had touched down in Spain.
But keen to let her daughter know they'd arrived safely, her mom, Susan, was trying to call her daughter but struggling to get hold of her.
"She must be busy," Susan thought, so she tried calling her again the next day, Sunday.
But Sunday came and went, and when Susan still hadn't been able to get hold of Melanie, her concern deepened.
Where was she? Was everything okay? Although she was only in Spain, at this moment, Susan couldn't feel any further away.
It was Friday the 8th of October, 1999, and 22-year-old Melanie Sturton was looking forward to relaxing after a busy week.
Melanie was training to be a nurse and had relatively recently moved from her family home in the picturesque village of Ballater, a stone's throw from Balmoral Castle and the Cairngorms National Park, to Aberdeen's bustling West End.
Like anyone moving to a big city for the first time, Aberdeen had taken some getting used to.
While training as a nurse, Melanie also worked at a retirement home for the elderly, which allowed her to put her caring nature to good use.
It was small, but it was a perfect size just for her and right in the middle of Aberdeen's leafy and affluent West End.
She had neighbors living in the flats above and below hers, and you know how it is if you live in a flat.
One of these was a woman close to her in age, 20-year-old Pamela Gorley, who worked as a chef.
Pamela would often have friends around, but Melanie, well, she enjoyed her own company, and she preferred to keep herself to herself.
By Saturday, Melanie's mom, stepdad, and little brother had touched down in Spain.
But keen to let her daughter know they'd arrived safely, her mom, Susan, was trying to call her daughter but struggling to get hold of her.
"She must be busy," Susan thought, so she tried calling her again the next day, Sunday.
But Sunday came and went, and when Susan still hadn't been able to get hold of Melanie, her concern deepened.
Where was she? Was everything okay? Although she was only in Spain, at this moment, Susan couldn't feel any further away.
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