Mums Mysteries & Murder · Marti & Cheryl

The Murder of George Murdoch

·51 min·3 clips

A taxi passenger used a cheese wire to cut George Murdoch’s throat after a fare from Queens Road.

1. Mums Mysteries & Murder covers the 1983 murder of George Murdoch in Aberdeen. 2. Margie and Effie host the episode, with Margie leading the case and Effie reacting to the details. 3. The episode asks how George Murdoch, a 58-year-old taxi driver known as Dodd, was attacked and why the case stayed unresolved for decades. 4. George is described as born and bred in Aberdeen, married to Jessie for 37 years, and recently moved from factory work into taxi driving after redundancy. 5. Jessie was worried about his night shifts and reportedly waited up for him when he worked late. 6. On 29 September 1983, George took a fare from Queens Road in central Aberdeen around 8:30 p.m. 7. He radioed taxi control to say he was heading toward Cooter and then turned down Pitfodden Station Road in Brayside. 8. The passenger attacked him with a cheese wire from the back seat and George tried to fight back after getting out of the car. 9. Two teenage boys on bikes heard George calling for help and rode to the nearest phone box to call police. 10. Police arrived after the attacker had fled, and George died at the scene. 11. The cheese wire made the attack stand out as a very specific and close-range weapon. 12. The episode notes that some people wondered whether the attack was robbery, because George’s wallet and fares were stolen. 13. Even so, the hosts point out that only about £30 was taken from the taxi driver. 14. The police visited 10,000 homes and took 8,000 statements during the original inquiry. 15. An employee at Mr Chips takeaway on Great Western Road reported a bloodstained man with scratches, a bruised eye, and a cut hand. 16. The suspect description given at the time was a man aged 20 to 30, about 5 foot 7, clean shaven, thin, with short dark hair and dark clothing. 17. George’s family kept pushing the case forward, including a £10,000 reward in 2018 and a £20,000 reward in 2022. 18. Police later said they had a DNA profile from the scene and were asking people in Aberdeen to come forward with family suspicions and DNA swabs. 19. The tone is conversational and chatty, with Margie and Effie mixing case details with local references and personal reactions. 20. Listeners who like Scottish true crime and cold cases will probably stay engaged, while people who want a fast, spoiler-light mystery may skip it.

As heard by us

A loose case conversation that keeps circling back to the victim and the people involved.

The episode works best as an easygoing case conversation, with Margie and Effie repeatedly returning to why the people around a case matter. One host’s interest in hearing about everyone involved, including the victim, gives the discussion its clearest shape.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a sad true-crime case with a generous detour through 1983, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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