Marriage to a murderer? The love story that revealed a crime

A new series on Netflix is ​​inspired by the true story of a woman who discovered that her fiance had fatally run over a cyclist.

What would you do if the person you loved said he killed a man?

It is easy to imagine that would act rationally, morally and without hesitation. But Marry a Murderer?, Netflix’s three-part true crime documentary series that debuted this Wednesday, suggests that love complicates everything in real life.

Em 2017, Alexander McKellarknown as Sandy, drove drunk and ran over and killed cyclist Tony Parsons in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. McKellar and his twin brother, Robert, buried Parsons’ body.

O body remained at the sceneundiscovered, for three years, until McKellar’s new girlfriend, Caroline Muirhead, discovered the truth and led police to the shallow grave.

When series director Josh Allott first heard the story, he said that “I couldn’t believe it was real“.

“I thought it was the plot of a drama series and something like that couldn’t happen in real life.”

Clare Beavis, a producer on the series who followed the case as it unfolded because it had “major impact on Scotland“, states that the “missing part of the coverage of the story was Muirhead’s testimony and his version of events.”

The series begins with Muirhead still reeling after a difficult breakup, before meeting McKellar on the dating app Tinder in the fall of 2020. The meeting leads to beginning of an intense romance which, within a few weeks, led to an engagement.

Shortly after they got engaged, she asked him if there was anything in his past that could affect their future.

He told her that, a few years earlier, he had hit a cyclist driving home from a hotel with his brother, but did not seek medical attention for the victim.

It later emerged that Parsons’ injuries were so severe that he would have survived only for 20 or 30 minutes untreated, but it is unlikely that he died when he was run over.

The brothers left the place and later returned in another car. They then took Parsons’ body to a nearby property on the Auch Estate, where the brothers buried the victim.

The revelation put Muirhead in a dilemma, torn between loyalty to her partner and doing what she considered right.

For Allott, the documentary’s director, it was this emotional and moral tension that made the story impossible to ignore.

“It’s a dilemma impossible not to imagine in your own relationship. It makes you think about what you would do in her place, because it’s a scary, nightmarish case.”

Muirhead reported the crime to the policebut what he did next is what makes the story so extraordinary and, in part, explains why the series exists. Instead of moving away from her partner, she maintained the relationship with him, while, in secret, she went to the police and collaborated with the investigation, without McKellar knowing that she was the person who reported the crime.

They passed almost three years between confession from McKellar to Muirhead and his sentencing to prison.

During this period, Muirhead secretly recorded confessions on his cell phone and returned to the Auch Estate property with McKellar, where discreetly left a can of Red Bull as location marking. He then advised the police where to look for the body in the isolated area.

While some may question the decisions he made, Allott says Muirhead did the right thing by reporting the crime.

The McKellar brothers were arrested in December 2020 and subsequently released on bail. The formal accusation only came in December 2021.

“She expected the brothers to be held in pre-trial detention, to be tried and imprisoned forever, and to be out of her life, but they are back in her life,” Allott said.

According to Allott, Muirhead had to go through this moment of uncertainty alone, as she was “exposed to them for almost a year and it is in this context that decisions need to be understood”.

It is precisely the complexity of Muirhead’s personality that makes her such an interesting figure. According to Allott, she “was articulate and intelligenta promising young pathologist with eight years of medical training.”

“She had her life together and, after meeting Sandy [McKellar] and find out what he did, everything falls apart.”

In the series, Muirhead talks openly about how resorted to alcohol and drugs to deal with the situation he found himself in.

Allott and Beavis say the intention is to present a balanced account of the events, but also to highlight “the impact that be on the sidelines of a crimewithout direct involvement, can have in someone’s life.”

There is also a focus in the documentary series on how the police handled their dealings with Muirhead after she reported the case.

Allott argues that the police “didn’t know how to deal with Caroline [Muirhead]”, and, without revealing too much, states that if she had received “consideration and care from the police, she he wouldn’t have made some of the decisions he made“.

Beavis, the series’ producer, agrees and adds that Muirhead’s experience “echoes a lot of people’s experiences with the criminal justice system.”

“We want to show how slowly the wheels of justice turn, and how this affects people’s lives.”

Police Scotland and Victim Support Scotland declined to participate in the documentary series.

Muirhead did formal complaints against Scottish police.

After five years of investigation, most of the complaints were dropped. Police Scotland reaffirm they have offered Muirhead adequate support.

“To your own devices”

In a note about the series, Muirhead said she “trusted the system to stand by her and keep her safe when she was at her most vulnerable, but that’s not what happened“.

Muirhead added: “I hope that by talking publicly about this and sharing what happened to me, we can start an honest dialogue about more protection for victims and witnessesas well as the desperate need for a much deeper understanding of mental health within the police and judicial system.”

“The impact of trauma and abuse is often underestimated or dismissed completely, and that means people like me are left to their own devices to deal with the consequences alone”, concluded Muirhead.

In July 2023, shortly before the trial of the McKellar brothers began at the High Court in Glasgow, Alexander “Sandy” McKellar admitted to the charge of intentional homicidewith a reduced sentence.

His brother, Robert, had his plea of ​​not guilty to the crime of manslaughter accepted, but both brothers admitted the crime of obstruction of justice by trying to cover up the crime.

Alexander “Sandy” McKellar is over sentenced to 12 years in prisonand his brother, Robert, five years and three months.

The case was also the subject of a BBC documentary series called Murder Case: The Vanishing Cyclist.

The miniseries Marry a Murderer? is now available on Netflix.