Army joins search for remains of mother and son murdered 50 years ago

The British Army is assisting police in their search for the remains of a woman and her three-year-old son, who were murdered nearly 50 years ago.

Renee MacRae, 36, and her three-year-old son, Andrew, were murdered by William MacDowell after they disappeared from their home in Inverness on November 12, 1976.

Their remains have never been found.

MacDowell was found guilty of their murders at the High Court in Inverness in September 2022 at the age of 80. He died in February 2023.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson confirmed that the British Army is currently supporting Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency following a request for specialist expertise.

Detective superintendent Brian Geddes said: “Our investigation into the murders of Renee and Andrew MacRae remains ongoing and officers continue to examine all available lines of investigation.”

A number of searches have taken place in the years since the pair went missing.

In 2004, a full cold case review resulted in a month-long excavation of Dalmagarry Quarry, just yards from where Mrs MacRae’s car was discovered on fire the evening she disappeared.

The focus turned to a forensic search of nearby Leanach Quarry five years later.

An item, reported to be a child’s potty, was recovered near Dalmagarry in March last year.

Renee MacRae was 36 when she disappeared STV News

What happened to Renee MacRae and her son?

The murders of Renee MacRae, 36, and her three-year-old son Andrew were one of Scotland’s most notorious unsolved cases.

Their disappearance in November 1976 stunned and shocked the Highlands and beyond, sparking one of the most intensive searches and investigations in Scottish history.

Mrs MacRae, who was estranged from her building contractor husband Gordon, was described as a devoted mother to Andrew and her eldest son – also named Gordon.

The court heard how Mrs MacRae had been having an affair with MacDowell, her husband’s married work colleague, at the time she and Andrew disappeared.

On November 12, 1976, Mrs MacRae loaded an overnight bag and a pushchair into her car and told her estranged husband that she was taking Andrew to Kilmarnock to visit her sister.

Close friend Valerie Steventon, however, knew that Mrs MacRae had been involved in a five-year affair with MacDowell, who was the company secretary at her husband’s business and the father of her youngest son, Andrew.

Steventon also knew Kilmarnock was not Mrs MacRae’s destination on the night she went missing.

MacDowell told Mrs MacRae he had accepted a job with the oil firm Texaco in Shetland, where they could set up home together.

“Renee said that they were going down to Perthshire so they could take a break together before going to Shetland,” Ms Steventon told the documentary Unsolved, produced by Grampian Television.

“I said to Renee ‘is Andrew going to stay with us, as he had done in the past’, and she said ‘no, Bill wants to get to know him’, which struck me as peculiar because they were going to live together in Shetland.”

Their blue BMW then headed south on the A9 and was next seen parked in a layby near the Meallmore Hotel at around 8pm. Two hours later, a passing motorist reported the vehicle ablaze in a layby at Dalmagarry, six miles from Meallmore.

The police investigation sprang into action, but the inquiry ran into problems from the start because officers were slow off the mark. By the time CID became involved, the trail was already three days old.

The burnt-out car yielded few clues, though traces of blood matching that of Mrs MacRae and Andrew were found in the boot.

One of the biggest hunts in Scottish criminal history was launched, covering hundreds of square miles. Aircraft with heat-seeking equipment were brought in, as well as diving units.

The bodies have never been found, along with an overnight bag, Mrs MacRae’s sheepskin coat and a child’s pushchair.

MacDowell was arrested and charged with murdering his lover and their young son in late 2019. A jury found him guilty of the crimes in what was described as a “compelling circumstantial case”.

Passing sentence after MacDowell was found guilty of murder at the High Court at Inverness, judge Lord Armstrong told him: “These murders appear to have been premeditated, planned and carried out in the most calculated way – not a spontaneous event or spur of the moment.”

He added: “These appear, in effect, to have been executions.

“You murdered your victims and then disposed of their bodies and personal effects, including the boy’s pushchair.

“You then took steps to conceal the crimes you had committed.”

As well as being convicted of the murders of Renee and Andrew MacRae, MacDowell was also found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of their bodies and personal effects.

He died in hospital in February 2023.