The family of George Murdoch, who was murdered over 40 years ago in Aberdeen, has offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to his killer’s capture. Murdoch was a taxi driver and was found dead in 1983 beside his vehicle on Pitfodels Station Road, with a cheese wire nearby. Police said in September 2021 that they had a DNA profile of the killer and had identified 200 potential matches, whom officers have visited to take genetic swabs. While not suspects, it is hoped that familial DNA testing will help identify family ties and deliver new leads.
A Facebook page dedicated to justice for Murdoch said that the reward and testing were “an incentive” for those targeted to comply. “It is possible that this secret was known only to them and never shared with others. Hence why this new form of familial DNA testing can be so useful in tracking killers, no matter how many years may have passed,” it said.
Murdoch’s nephew, Alex McKay, has led the campaign to identify his killer, with forensic scientists having already developed a male DNA profile from crime scene materials. In an effort to identify potential family members, investigators are also looking at a man captured on CCTV wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt at a bar in Aberdeen in 2015.
Murdoch’s wallet and money were stolen in the murder, and though over 10,000 homes were visited and over 8,000 statements from the city and beyond were taken, the case remains unsolved. Murdoch’s wife Jessie passed away in 2004 without seeing justice for her husband.
Detective Inspector James Callander appealed to the public for information: “The solving of this horrific crime requires the help of the public. I would urge anyone with information to please come forward. We want to give George’s family some much-needed closure.
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