JOANNA Yeates was just 25 years-old when she was brutally murdered in December 2010.
What started out as a missing persons case soon turned into a murder investigation.
Who was Joanna Yeates?
Joanna Yeates, born on April 19, 1985, was a landscape architect living in Bristol.
She was just 25 years-old when she was murdered in the run-up to Christmas 2010, in a case that dominated the headlines.
Originally from Hampshire, Joanna moved to Bristol for work, where she lived with Greg Reardon.
At approximately 8:00 pm on December 19, 2010, Reardon returned home from a weekend visit to Sheffield to find Joanna absent from the flat they shared.
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Reardon had been trying to contact Joanna by both phone and text, but with no success.
Upon returning to the flat, Reardon called Joanna once more, but her mobile phone rang from a pocket of her coat, which was still in the flat.
He then discovered that her purse and keys were also at the flat, and that their cat appeared to have been neglected.
Shortly after half past midnight, Reardon contacted the police and Jo's parents to report her missing.
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A search then began to find Joanna Yeates.
What was Joanna Yeates' cause of death?
Joanna disappeared on Friday, December 17, 2010.
Her body was later found on Christmas Day in Failand, North Somerset.
Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones of Avon and Somerset Police revealed the results of a post mortem examination as compression of the neck.
DCI Jones declared that her death was a murder.
Who killed Joanna Yeates?
On January 20, 2011, the Avon and Somerset Police arrested Vincent Tabak.
He was a 32-year-old engineer who lived next door to Ms Yeates with his girlfriend.
The police received a tip-off about Mr Tabak from a female caller who had seen Ms Yeates' parents' appeal on Crimewatch.
Mr Tabak pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but this was thrown out by the court.
The jury found him guilty of murder by a majority of 10-2.
He was later sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 20 years.
However, in 2005, the killer was also found guilty after admitting to four charges of possessing indecent images of children, after new evidence emerged.
Temporary assistant chief constable Julian Moss said: "Vincent Tabak is a dangerous, calculating and manipulative offender who is already serving a life sentence for the murder of Joanna Yeates.
“During the course of the investigation into Joanna’s murder, indecent images of children were found on Tabak’s laptop.
“These offences did not form part of the initial murder trial.
“Although he’s serving a minimum tariff of 20 years’ imprisonment, we felt it was crucial Tabak was brought to justice for possessing indecent images of children, so the full nature of Tabak’s offending is on record."
Why was Christopher Jefferies a suspect?
Ex-teacher Christopher Jefferies was arrested on suspicion of murder on December 30, 2010.
He was Ms Yeates' landlord living in the same building.
He was held in custody for two days, having seen his arrest extended on multiple occasions, before being released on bail, having been found to have no connection to the murder.
But he later won a libel case for defamatory media coverage of his arrest, with convicted murderer Mr Tabak trying to implicate Mr Jefferies on a number of occasions after seeing him in the news.
Was Joanna Yeates boyfriend Greg Reardon?
Greg Reardon was Joanna Yeates' boyfriend.
He too was an architect, who worked for the same firm as Joanna.
The pair first met in 2008, at the firm Hyland Edgar Driver in Winchester.
One year later, in 2009, the couple relocated to Bristol together for work.
In October of that year, Joanna and Greg moved into a flat at 44 Canynge Road- a large house that had been subdivided into several such flats, in the city's Clifton suburb.
It was here that Greg first discovered Joanna was missing.
Speaking to The Sun after Joanna's tragic death, Reardon said: “We were very happy and in love.”
He also told of how he hoped to marry Jo before her life was cruelly cut short.
“My mum and dad were very proud of me for finding such a nice girl.
“We were getting to the point where we were settling into life as a couple.
“We had lived together for over a year and got a pet cat together.
“We were very happy and in love. I think it’s highly likely the relationship would have developed into marriage.”
In the wake of Joanna's death, Greg began raising money for charity Missing People.
Where is Joanna Yeates killer Vincent Tabak now?
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Killer Vincent Tabak is currently serving a life sentence.
In April 2022, the Daily Mail revealed that he had been transferred to HMP Winchester from the maximum-security Wakefield prison where he had served most of his time since being sentenced.
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