Malika Maria de Fernandez was the estranged wife of Peter Reyn-Bardt who was presumably murdered by her husband after a domestic dispute. The perpetrator, long under suspicion, confessed to killing her after partial remains (later determined to be archaeological) were located.
Case[]
de Fernandez married Peter Reyn-Barndt on 28 March 1959, when she was 32 and he was 33. At the time, he had yet to change his name, which was Edwin Rainbird. In June 1961, she disappeared after the pair separated; some sources have indicated she went missing as early as 1960.
When an inquiry surrounding de Fernandez' abrupt absence initially began, Peter Reyn-Barndt told authorities she had discovered he was residing with another man, with whom he was in a romantic relationship. She allegedly requested financial means to remain silent about the situation, and he proceeded to drive her to Wimslow, leaving her at this location to purchase cigarettes. Despite this account, suspicion surrounded Peter Reyn-Barndt. The victim's estranged husband had apparently bragged about murdering her to a series of witnesses over a period of nearly 22 years, claiming to have disposed of her dismembered body in the Lindow Moss peat bog, which was near his residence.
Reyn-Barndt was convicted of her murder in December 1983, following the May 1983 discovery of a mummified partial skull in the Lindow Moss peat bog that prompted him to admit responsibility for her death. Testing performed on the recovered remains concluded they did not belong to de Fernandez, but were actually an archaeological discovery that was dated back to between 1,500 and 1,800 years before.
Reyn-Barndt withdrew his confession after this was determined, yet he was still convicted and incarcerated after the conclusion of his trial. His statements regarding how she was killed indicate the victim was strangled and subsequently dismembered, although he later claimed he was unable to recall how he ended her life.
Peter Reyn-Barndt eventually died in prison in 1995, and the remains of de Fernandez were never located. Following the discovery of the first set of archaeological remains, Lindow Moss yielded two more additional finds in 1984 and 1987; both were also determined to be far too old to have died during modern times.
Gallery[]
Media[]
- The murder of Malika de Fernandez was included in a 1998 documentary, Overkill, which detailed the Lindow mummies.
- The 2003 book Bodies from the Bog by James M. Deem mentions the case when the Lindow mummies are discussed.
Sources[]
- Lindow Woman on Wikipedia
- The Courier
- Overkill POSTMORTEM WARNING