Stacey Queripel

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Stacey Queripel (c. 1986-January 24, 1993) was a young English girl who was the victim on an unsolved murder after being found strangled to death near her home in Bracknell, Berkshire, England. Although a preliminary examination suggested she might have choked accidentally after her green plastic necklace got caught on a tree branch while playing in the nearby wooded area of South Hill Park, a later autopsy showed she had been deliberatly strangled.

Police soon charged the girl's mother, 34-year-old Gilliane Queripel, after finding soil and pollen samples from her shoes matched the area in which her daughter had been found.

Gilliane Queripel denied any part in her daughters death and, after consulting with her lawyer, she claimed she had been running a bath on the night of the murder. When she left to check on her daughter and Stacey's half-sister Lynette, she discovered Stacy's bed was empty except for her favorite teddy bear. After waking her tennant to search his room, she was unable to find her after searching the lodging house.

On June 16, 1994, a formal inquest was conviened as her ex-husbund Barry Queripel testified. Gilliane Queripel was often unable to handle her anger towards her children and claimed under oath that she had told him that she had once nearly choked Stacey before she turned blue. Testimony from Gilliane Queripel's tenant and friends also recalled that, after informing them that she was going to have a bath after the children were in bed, she returned a half hour later and had changed her clothing and had muddy feet when told Stacy was missing.

Despite forensic eveidence and testimony against Gilliane Queripel, East Berkshire coroner Robert Wilson ruled that prosecutors had failed to maka a "100 percent tight case" and returned a verdict of "unlawful killing" in the murder case releaseing Queripel and stating new evidence would be needed to intetify the murderer. Although no new evidence has been discovered, the case remains open as of 2004.