The last time Nealle Wilson’s mum saw him she gave him a hug.
Her beloved son’s body resembled “a bag of bones” when it was found in a ditch in the bleak, beautiful surroundings of the Sidlaws in February 1993.
The Dundee man was liked by everyone who met him and would talk to anyone he met.
He also had a mental age of 10 and a disability that meant he would not, could not, have walked the six miles through woodland from his aunt’s house to his final resting place.
Nealle’s family were convinced he was murdered and his body dumped, face down, amid a plantation of young trees near Scotston Farm, Auchterhouse.
He was 24 years old.
Police were called on January 3
Despite the many challenges young Nealle faced — he was also epileptic — he was a happy-go-lucky chap who liked swimming and pool and was passionate about Dundee United.
Most accounts say he left a Hogmanay party in Menzieshill in 1990, but it was a family visit, not a party, and it was at his auntie Anna Lynch’s flat in Charleston, just off South Road.
When he failed to come home on January 1 no one was particularly alarmed.
But when it got to January 3 and no one had seen him, the police were called.
The Evening Telegraph helped to spread the word about the missing man and, even at that early stage of the inquiry, police said they were “anxious” for his well-being.
There were a couple of confirmed sightings in the city centre in the following days by people who actually knew Nealle, and that was that.
His mum, Lily Thompson, who lived with Nealle’s step-dad, George, in Turnberry Avenue, felt sure that there had been foul play and that Nealle had been taken and killed.
The family even contacted Glenrothes-based clairvoyant Ann Anderson, who, chillingly, said that Nealle was dead, would be found among trees and had been taken to the spot where he died in the company of someone he knew.
She said: “The person who took him up there knew that Nealle would not be coming back and was the last to see him alive.
“I knew as soon as I saw his photograph in his mother’s house that he was dead – you know immediately when you see the person’s picture.”
Farmer’s son Euan Baird was 16 when he found Nealle’s skeletal remains face down and fully-dressed in a long furrow between the lines of young fir trees.
“I thought it was just a bag of bones,” he said.
“Then I saw it was bones poking through trousers and jacket.”
No attempt to conceal the body
Moss and grass were starting to envelope the brittle, faded clothing which Nealle was known to have been wearing at the time of his disappearance.
Police found Nealle’s keys on the body and the distinctive ring he wore on his finger.
A trench was dug around the remains and a huge chunk of ground was removed for examination.
Nealle’s step-dad, George, said: “We expected this day to come.
“You rehearse it in your mind over and over but it does not make it any easier to accept.
“I had a strange feeling when I heard a body had been found, then the police came and showed us some things they had taken off the corpse.
“As soon as I saw the ring I knew it was Nealle – it was the same one I had given him.
“Just a cheap thing I had found in a scrapyard, but he loved it.
“Why was his body there, though, and why has it taken this long to find?
“It is miles from anywhere.
“He could not have walked from the town on his own, he had no reason to go that way and he didn’t know the hills.
“We have suspected foul play all along.
“Something in my gut tells me my laddie was killed and dumped up there.”
Nealle’s family, including his natural father, David Wilson, and his brother, Rab, joined step-dad George in making the long and difficult trek uphill from Scotston Farm to lay flowers at the spot on the hillside where his skeletal remains had been discovered.
“Nealle had club feet and his toes gave him awful bother,” said Rab.
“He could only go a short distance and then he’d have to sit down and take his shoes off.
“I’ve seen him come back home after just walking in the town and his feet have been red raw and bleeding – there’s no way in the world he got up there on his own.”
Nealle was formally identified through dental records.
The family said they would not rest until they knew how he got there and who took him.
Did someone know more?
George said: “It was the middle of winter and the hills were covered in snow when he disappeared.
“You don’t just go walking in the freezing cold at night in an area you don’t know.
“Nealle had enough sense to ask for help if he got lost – but he had no reason to be anywhere near that area in the first place, unless there was someone else with him.”
Working with solicitor George Donnelly, Lily and George pressed for a fatal accident inquiry, which took place over two days at Dundee Sheriff Court in January 1994.
Without any broken bones or obvious trauma, the cause of death was “unascertained”.
Sheriff Alastair Stewart said the event was unique in his experience in that it didn’t establish where or how Nealle died.
He said: “What happened is a complete mystery.
“I fully appreciate that this can be of no satisfaction to the family but I can do no more.”
Gail Taylor said she believed her older brother was murdered – and that she was handed a tantalising clue that has only added to the mystery.
“After Nealle disappeared, I was handed a letter by a man which said my little brother was ‘well dead and buried’,” she said.
“I asked who it was from but he said he couldn’t tell me and left — I was absolutely horrified.
“I brought it back to my house in Kirkton to read it to my family.
“They were shocked.
“My mother grabbed the letter and threw it into the coal fire, claiming it was a lot of rubbish.
“She probably did it because of all the emotions going through her head.
“It could have been a vital link to knowing what happened to my brother.
“If I still had that letter, it would have been in the hands of the police and my brother’s murderer would already be found.
“I believe he was murdered, there is no doubt in my mind.
“Both my mum and dad have gone to their graves not knowing what happened to their son and I don’t want that to happen to me. I’m still grieving and the rest of my family are still grieving because we don’t have closure.”
Nealle is buried at Birkhill Cemetery.
You can see the hillside where he was found from his grave.
Conversation