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A DEADLY AFFAIR_ THE MURDER OF SAMANTHA EASTWOOD · NO FILTER

0:08
Speaker 1: She's my best friend and partner in crime. Without her
0:14
Speaker 1: and me is gone. It's Amanda reveal. Is slim when
0:18
Speaker 1: he's getting torch? Wait, he's getting in touch. Get home.
0:31
Speaker 2: You're watching totally true crish. This case takes us to
0:40
Speaker 2: Stoke on Trent in England. Twenty eight year old Samantha
0:44
Speaker 2: Eastwood was a talented woman. She had trained as a
0:47
Speaker 2: midwife and in twenty eighteen she was working in the
0:52
Speaker 2: maternity unit at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. She'd been
0:58
Speaker 2: in a relationship with a man called John Peak since
1:02
Speaker 2: twenty ten and they were engaged to be married. She
1:06
Speaker 2: had picked out her wedding dress and the ceremony was booked,
1:10
Speaker 2: and life was looking hopeful and exciting for Samantha. But
1:16
Speaker 2: in January twenty eighteen, John and Samantha's relationship broke down
1:21
Speaker 2: and the wedding was called off. The couple split up
1:25
Speaker 2: before Samantha could wear the beautiful white lacy dress that
1:29
Speaker 2: she'd bought. She listed it for sale on Facebook for
1:33
Speaker 2: a four hundred pound stating that it had never been
1:37
Speaker 2: worn except when she tried it on in the shop.
1:42
Speaker 2: On the twenty seventh of July, six months after her
1:45
Speaker 2: wedding was called off. Samantha worked a night shift on
1:49
Speaker 2: the maternity ward. She was caught on CCTV leaving the
1:53
Speaker 2: hospital when she finished at seven forty five am, and
1:57
Speaker 2: she was captured with a female colleague. She was then
2:01
Speaker 2: seen getting into her Volvo car alone. It had been
2:05
Speaker 2: parked in the hospital car park and CCTV caught her
2:09
Speaker 2: driving it home. But at seven pm that night, Samantha
2:15
Speaker 2: didn't turn up for her night shift. This wasn't like her,
2:19
Speaker 2: so an alarm was raised. Her family found that her
2:23
Speaker 2: car was parked on the driveway of the home that
2:26
Speaker 2: she shared with her ex partner, John Peak, but there
2:30
Speaker 2: was no sign of Samantha. Some think that deeply concerned
2:34
Speaker 2: the police and her family were the discovery of her
2:38
Speaker 2: bank cards that she'd left in the house. This meant
2:43
Speaker 2: she had no access to money. Detective Superintendent Simon Duffy
2:49
Speaker 2: told the media that this had ramped up their concerns.
2:54
Speaker 2: But Jemma Eastward, Samantha's sister, had been messaging Samantha and
3:01
Speaker 2: she was receiving replies on the day after she was
3:05
Speaker 2: reported missing. This series of texts were exchanged between the
3:10
Speaker 2: sisters at nine point fifty am. Jemma wrote, where are you?
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Speaker 2: Ring me to let me know you are safe. Samantha responded,
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Speaker 2: I love you all. I've had a massive breakdown about stuff.
3:26
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry. I'll be okay. I'm in touch with
3:29
Speaker 2: the helpline. I'm not going to do anything silly. I
3:33
Speaker 2: just want to be left alone. Gemma replied with where
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Speaker 2: are you. Let me come and see you. I won't
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Speaker 2: tell anyone. Just let me come and see you. I
3:45
Speaker 2: won't tell anyone. Let me help you, Samantha said, please
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Speaker 2: leave me alone. Jemma continued to message her. She said,
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Speaker 2: where are you? Who are you with? We're all worried.
4:00
Speaker 2: The police are involved and they're going to do a
4:03
Speaker 2: press release. Just tell me where you are. I'll come
4:06
Speaker 2: and meet you on my own and I won't tell anyone.
4:10
Speaker 2: Samantha's phone replied, saying no, jem I'm sick of pretending.
4:14
Speaker 2: I'm okay. I'm going to the doctors. I just need
4:18
Speaker 2: some time to blow off some steam. Jemma asked her
4:22
Speaker 2: sister to call the police, but Samantha replied and said,
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Speaker 2: I just want time for me. I'm sick of Facebook.
4:30
Speaker 2: I just want me time. I'm sorry, I've caused so
4:34
Speaker 2: much stress and upset. I just don't feel myself at
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Speaker 2: the moment, Gemma, you aren't listening. I need time. Jemma
4:43
Speaker 2: again asked her sister to contact her, but Samantha said,
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Speaker 2: I will soon love you all. I mean it. I'll
4:51
Speaker 2: be okay, speak to you later, I promise. This text
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Speaker 2: conversation ended, but just a few hours later, at forty
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Speaker 2: five pm, these messages came from Samantha's phone. Jem I'm
5:06
Speaker 2: in a car blubmw He's taking me to the motorway.
5:10
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. I met a guy off the internet. He's mad.
5:14
Speaker 2: I messaged you. The last message from her phone said
5:18
Speaker 2: just two words, Lee Davis. The police were told about
5:24
Speaker 2: the text messages, but they did not reveal this information
5:27
Speaker 2: to the public because there was a chance that it
5:30
Speaker 2: was not Samantha writing these messages. If she had come
5:34
Speaker 2: to harm, there's a chance that the culprit had her phone.
5:39
Speaker 2: The local media were now following the case and appealing
5:43
Speaker 2: to locals for information. As the police conducted door to
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Speaker 2: door inquiries in the neighborhood, they came across a neighbor
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Speaker 2: who said they heard a scream coming from Samantha's house
5:55
Speaker 2: at around two pm on the day she went missing.
5:59
Speaker 2: The police related images of Samantha along with a description
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Speaker 2: of her. Samantha was white, around five foot three, a
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Speaker 2: medium build, and with shoulder length ginger hair. She also
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Speaker 2: had freckles. Photos of her in her hospital uniform holding
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Speaker 2: a baby that she'd just helped deliver became a frequent
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Speaker 2: site on social media accounts and in the local and
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Speaker 2: national news. She was now classed as a high risk
6:30
Speaker 2: missing person. John Peak, Samantha's ex, wrote on Facebook, please
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Speaker 2: please help find sam and bring her home to her family,
6:42
Speaker 2: but members of the public turned against John. They thought
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Speaker 2: he was involved because he was her ex partner. The
6:51
Speaker 2: police interviewed John and discovered that their breakup had not
6:55
Speaker 2: been a smooth one. Whilst the police interviewed John, they
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Speaker 2: also spoke to Samantha's colleagues at the hospital. One of
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Speaker 2: them revealed that Samantha had told her that she had
7:07
Speaker 2: recently been threatened. She also told her to call the
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Speaker 2: police if she didn't turn up for her shift that evening,
7:17
Speaker 2: So when she was twenty minutes late to her shift,
7:20
Speaker 2: her colleague called the police and told them what Samantha
7:24
Speaker 2: had told her this missing person's inquiry was now shrouded
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Speaker 2: in mystery, and Jemma Eastward, Samantha's sister, made a public
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Speaker 2: appeal for information.
7:37
Speaker 1: And Samantha was a happy, bobbley and smiley woman. She
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Speaker 1: could be very straight and direct. She's my best friend
7:44
Speaker 1: and partner in crime. Without her from me is gone,
7:52
Speaker 1: Samantha reveal is shim. Please get in torch. We all
7:56
Speaker 1: will you and miss you very much. We just need
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Speaker 1: your home where you belong. Samantha is a fantastic woman
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Speaker 1: and friend. She's warm, friendly, loyal, kind and generous with
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Speaker 1: the great sets of humor, and whoever she is with
8:09
Speaker 1: will always make their times together fun. Samanda was determined
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Speaker 1: to become a midwife from a young age and succeeded
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Speaker 1: all of Samander's work. Friends describe her as an amazing midwife.
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Speaker 1: She's caring, harmless and gentle. She's selfless and would do
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Speaker 1: anything for anyone before herself. Samantha is five foot three,
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Speaker 1: medium build with ginger shoulder length hair and green eyes.
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Speaker 1: She has freckles on her arms, face and neck. And
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Speaker 1: I just want to say, if she's out there or
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Speaker 1: anyone knows where she is, just please get the fuck
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Speaker 1: go home.
8:49
Speaker 3: Prior to remains the sacred turn of Samantha. This is
8:53
Speaker 3: still a high risk missing person and investigation and we
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Speaker 3: have nothing to the contrary at this stage, nothing otherwise,
9:01
Speaker 3: nothing other to suggest it's anything else. At this time,
9:07
Speaker 3: the investigation into Samantha's disappearance is ongoing. There are numerous
9:11
Speaker 3: lines of investigations you can imagine, specially stoficers who continue
9:16
Speaker 3: to search locations around North Staffordship. As you can imagine,
9:21
Speaker 3: there's a very significant CCTV troll. So we can look
9:24
Speaker 3: at what's gone on following on from the last positive
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Speaker 3: sciighting of Samantha, which I put out the other day
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Speaker 3: was at zero seven forty five or seven forty five
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Speaker 3: am on Friday the twenty seventh by a member of
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Speaker 3: staff at the hospital. Obviously, we'd love to hear from Samantha.
9:44
Speaker 3: Heard the appeal from Jenny or anyone who knows where
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Speaker 3: Samantha is. We do them to get in touch with us.
9:51
Speaker 3: Anything they want to tell us will be dealt with
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Speaker 3: in the strictest confidence. I've made an appeal the other
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Speaker 3: day for anyone in the Norse Aftertuare area over the
10:01
Speaker 3: weekend who's had anything that they thought was suspicious, something
10:04
Speaker 3: that they didn't feel was quite right. I'll just reiterate
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Speaker 3: that appeal because you know, if you've seen someone parts
10:10
Speaker 3: in isolated locations and lay bys in car parks, however
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Speaker 3: silly or innocuous it may seem to you, you don't
10:19
Speaker 3: know how useful it may be towards an a durgy
10:20
Speaker 3: to get in touch. I touched on the fact that
10:23
Speaker 3: we were doing a lot of CCTV work just to
10:27
Speaker 3: that appeal the other day. What I would ask for is,
10:30
Speaker 3: I know dash cans are fairly prevalent nowadays, so if
10:34
Speaker 3: anybody who was out and about within North Staffordshire, particularly
10:37
Speaker 3: around Badly Green on the main arterial routes, has got
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Speaker 3: any dashcan footage, whether they're privately owned, whether it's commercial
10:45
Speaker 3: vehicles or whether the transport vehicles. We're getting up now
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Speaker 3: towards the anniversary. It's a week today since the last
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Speaker 3: positive science of Samantha, so you know, if people have
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Speaker 3: got those on recorder delays and just ask you know,
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Speaker 3: we don't know how relevant they may be in the future,
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Speaker 3: but just as a precautionary measure, I would make that
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Speaker 3: appeal to people if you've got those and you've been
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Speaker 3: around all staffs of Stoke on friends around that location
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Speaker 3: that they would retain that forty fift tour possible. That
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Speaker 3: you just never know if we change the parameters of
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Speaker 3: an appeal. As this investigation continues.
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Speaker 2: A hundred officers were now involved in the search for Samantha.
11:28
Speaker 2: The public were asked to keep a lookout for abandoned
11:31
Speaker 2: cars in remote places and report them if they came
11:34
Speaker 2: across anything that looked suspicious. As that hour was ticked by,
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Speaker 2: the police came more and more concerned for Samantha's safety.
11:44
Speaker 2: Unbeknown to the public, the police did have a prime suspect.
11:50
Speaker 2: Two days after Samantha was reported missing, an arrest was made.
11:55
Speaker 2: The police didn't announce who had been arrested, except to
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Speaker 2: say that it was not her ex John Peak. In fact,
12:03
Speaker 2: it was Samantha's former brother in law, Michael Sterling. Michael
12:09
Speaker 2: was married to the sister of John Peake, Samantha's ex fiancee.
12:15
Speaker 2: After speaking to her colleagues in more depth, the police
12:18
Speaker 2: discovered that Samantha had been having an affair with Michael
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Speaker 2: for the past three years, and this was why her
12:25
Speaker 2: wedding to John had been called off. She told her
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Speaker 2: colleagues that she was nervous because she had told Michael
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Speaker 2: that she was going to tell his wife about their affair.
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Speaker 2: Michael had been with Samantha's family whilst they looked for her.
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Speaker 2: He had been in search parties looking for her, and
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Speaker 2: he had been seen hugging and comforting her sister, Gemma,
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Speaker 2: as well as appealing for information. Thirty two year old
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Speaker 2: Michael Sterling was a landscape gardener. During his police interview,
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Speaker 2: he gave them a prepared statement, but said he had
13:01
Speaker 2: no clue as to Samantha's whereabouts and answered no comment
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Speaker 2: to all of the questions asked of him. He was released,
13:10
Speaker 2: but the police was certain that he knew about Samantha's
13:14
Speaker 2: disappearance and what had happened to her. They decided to
13:18
Speaker 2: keep eyes and ears on him. In their initial chat
13:22
Speaker 2: with Michael before he was arrested, he had told the
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Speaker 2: police that he'd been at Samantha's house on the day
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Speaker 2: she went missing. He said he was working in her garden,
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Speaker 2: and he put himself as the last person to have
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Speaker 2: seen her. He also put himself there at the same time.
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Speaker 2: The neighbor said she had heard the screen coming from
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Speaker 2: Samantha's house. Just days after he was released, Michael got
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Speaker 2: on a bicycle and cycled to an area called tick
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Speaker 2: Hill Lane in Caverswall, which is just outside of Stoke
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Speaker 2: on Trent. Tracked him going to a remote part of
14:02
Speaker 2: the lane. It was an area known to Michael because
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Speaker 2: nearby was a disposal center that he often used to
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Speaker 2: get rid of garden waste he collected from his gardening jobs.
14:14
Speaker 2: What Michael hadn't realized is that he'd just led police
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Speaker 2: straight to Samantha's body. As the officers approached the area
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Speaker 2: that he'd been to, they saw there was a mound
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Speaker 2: of freshly dug earth and they called the forensics team in.
14:31
Speaker 2: Samantha's body was found wrapped in a douvet with tape
14:36
Speaker 2: over her eyes and mouth. The discovery of her body
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Speaker 2: left her loved ones and the wider community heartbroken, and
14:45
Speaker 2: many floral tributes were placed outside of the Royal Stoke
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Speaker 2: University Hospital where she worked. The police had enough evidence
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Speaker 2: to arrest Michael Sterling.
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Speaker 4: Five plaster Liven Yesterday morning, especialist search trained officers went
15:03
Speaker 4: to that area where this disturbed earth to be seen.
15:07
Speaker 4: Especially search trade officers went there and they found a
15:14
Speaker 4: human body buried in a shallow grave, and the human
15:20
Speaker 4: body that was buried within it has been positively identified
15:25
Speaker 4: as Samanthay stood h, Yeah, what are you going to
15:33
Speaker 4: tell me about that? Snooth coincident? Is Michael Snooth coincident
15:42
Speaker 4: in the areas that these people have seen you and
15:47
Speaker 4: the deposition side of Samantha, which is no coincidence?
15:51
Speaker 1: Is it?
15:55
Speaker 4: You may have made some very very bad decisions over
15:58
Speaker 4: the last few days, Michael Kah very encouraging to make
16:03
Speaker 4: the right decision this afternoon. Please explain to us and
16:06
Speaker 4: tell us what happened to some anthy and they call it.
16:11
Speaker 4: This is a very very serious matter. She has family
16:16
Speaker 4: and loved ones. They want answers. They in view, those
16:22
Speaker 4: answers about the final movements of their their daughter, their sister.
16:31
Speaker 4: I can't provide those answers to them. I need your
16:34
Speaker 4: help and that's what I'm asking you to do today.
16:39
Speaker 4: Make the right decision now and I'll explain what happened
16:46
Speaker 4: to it.
16:49
Speaker 1: M hm.
16:52
Speaker 4: Okay, what have you done to some anthy? I can
16:59
Speaker 4: have you killed Samarth Priestwood if you haven't, Tom who.
17:04
Speaker 2: Has no copt even though he said no comments through
17:09
Speaker 2: most of his interview, he did eventually confess to murdering
17:14
Speaker 2: Samantha Eastward. In the month prior to Samantha going missing,
17:19
Speaker 2: Michael had called Samantha one hundred and twenty eight times
17:24
Speaker 2: and she had called him twenty five times. The police
17:28
Speaker 2: had started to build a picture of what had happened.
17:31
Speaker 2: The day Samantha went missing. Michael had been in her
17:34
Speaker 2: home when she arrived home from her shift, and an
17:38
Speaker 2: argument between the pair had started. It had struggled on
17:42
Speaker 2: the floor, and Michael put his hands over her mouth, nose,
17:47
Speaker 2: and throat, killing Samantha. He said it was not a
17:51
Speaker 2: premeditated murder. As the argument escalated, he decided to kill her.
17:58
Speaker 2: He then wrapped her body in a and taped her
18:01
Speaker 2: eyes and mouth shut. He said he did this so
18:05
Speaker 2: that they would be protected from the elements when he
18:08
Speaker 2: buried her. He then put her body in the back
18:12
Speaker 2: of his van, text his wife and arranged to meet
18:16
Speaker 2: her at her parents' house, where they had dinner together.
18:20
Speaker 2: The whole time Samantha's body was in his van parked
18:25
Speaker 2: outside his in law's house. At the meal, he was
18:29
Speaker 2: described as fine and cheerful. He then went to tick
18:34
Speaker 2: Hill Lane and buried Samantha's body. He had told his
18:38
Speaker 2: wife he was going out to help look for Samantha
18:41
Speaker 2: as part of the search party. After burying her in
18:46
Speaker 2: a shallow grave, he did in fact join Samantha's family
18:50
Speaker 2: in a search, and this is when he hugged her
18:53
Speaker 2: sister Jemma, a moment that Jemma has since said haunts her.
18:59
Speaker 2: He was also the one who was texting Gemma pretending
19:02
Speaker 2: to be Samantha. He had fabricated the story about meeting
19:07
Speaker 2: a man called Lee Davis off the Internet in employ
19:11
Speaker 2: to throw police off his trail. Two other arrests were made,
19:16
Speaker 2: a twenty eight year old male and a sixty year
19:18
Speaker 2: old male. The sixty year old was Michael's father, Stephen Sterling.
19:25
Speaker 2: These men were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender,
19:29
Speaker 2: but the charges were later dropped. Michael Sterling pled guilty
19:35
Speaker 2: to murdering Samantha Eastward. His defense cited that he had
19:40
Speaker 2: experienced serious mental health issues in the past, and in
19:44
Speaker 2: the days following the murder, he had searched for ways
19:48
Speaker 2: to take his own life. The judge sentenced him to
19:52
Speaker 2: life in prison and ordered him to serve a minimum
19:56
Speaker 2: term of seventeen years. A tribute to Samantha on a
20:01
Speaker 2: go fund Me page that was set up to help
20:04
Speaker 2: the family pay for her funeral read quote, Samantha was
20:08
Speaker 2: a lovely young woman who helped to bring so many
20:12
Speaker 2: lives into this world. She had a bright future ahead
20:15
Speaker 2: of her and sadly this was taken away far too soon.
20:22
Speaker 2: Samantha's story has been followed by midwives and NHS workers worldwide.
20:28
Speaker 2: They have been touched by the kind words from mothers
20:31
Speaker 2: Samantha had cared for in her role as a midwife.
20:35
Speaker 2: Samantha was described as warm, gentle, and kind and will
20:41
Speaker 2: be remembered for her amazing efforts as a midwife and
20:45
Speaker 2: is truly missed by many. Thank you for watching. If
20:50
Speaker 2: you found this video interesting, please do like and subscribe
20:55
Speaker 2: for weekly videos like this you've been watching totally True
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