Lyn Bryant

Status:

Open

Offense Location:

Ruan High Lanes, Cornwall

Summary:

Linda 'Lyn' Bryant, a 40-year-old mother of two, was killed on Tuesday, October 20, 1998, as she walked her family dog in quiet rural lanes near her home in Ruan High Lanes, Cornwall. She was stabbed multiple times in a prolonged attack. As of 2024, the case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

On the morning of October 20, 1998, Lyn cleaned a local house in Ruan High Lanes, visited her parents, and returned home. Around 12:45pm, she drove her grey Ford Sierra to Harris Garage in Tregony but there was no fuel there, then drove to Chenoweth's garage at Ruan High Lanes, buying fuel, milk and groceries. A white van driven by a heavy-set man in his 50s with a full scruffy beard pulled onto the forecourt at the same time. He remained in the van but appeared to follow Lyn when she drove away. Mrs Bryant returned home and saw her daughter Erin, 19. They had lunch and watched Emmerdale. At 1:30pm, Mrs Bryant set out on her regular walk with Jay, the family's lurcher dog. Lyn was last seen alive at 1:45pm close to the Ruan Methodist Chapel chatting to a man described as being in his 30s and around five feet, nine inches tall and wearing 'light' clothing. A holidaymaker discovered Mrs Bryant's body, lying in the gateway to a field near the chapel, at about 2:30pm. Her body was found in a field gateway between Ruan High Lanes Methodist Chapel and Treviles Manor. She had been stabbed a number of times in a prolonged attack. The attack is believed to have been sexually motivated because Mrs Bryant's clothing had been disturbed when her body was discovered.

Additional Details:

Lyn was wearing tortoiseshell glasses at the time of her death, but these were not found during a fingertip search of the crime scene and surrounding area. Four months later, on 2 February 1999, the glasses reappeared on top of the mud in the gateway. Mrs Bryant was married to her husband Peter for about 19 years. They had two children, Lee, then aged 21, and Erin, then aged 19. Lee's son Keelan was 10 months old at the time. The murder prompted Operation Grenadine, one of the Force's biggest murder enquiries. Over the course of the enquiry, officers have traced 1,600 people to establish their whereabouts at the time and taken 7,863 statements. In 1998, police pieced together her final movements, including critical witness reports of three unknown men seen in the area at the time. The men remain unidentified and the sightings are still a key part of the investigation. A number of reviews of the case have taken place, with one in 2015 resulting in the discovery of new forensic evidence. Following the murder, DNA samples were taken from 6,000 people but these had to be destroyed in 2013 due to changes in legislation. In 2018, it was revealed that a DNA profile had been isolated in the Bryant case, leading to renewed hopes that the perpetrator could be identified. A 20th anniversary appeal in 2018 generated more than 200 messages from the public, providing 60 new actions or enquiries. In the last five years detectives have completed 450 enquiries and actions as part of the long-running investigation. Crimestoppers have offered a reward of £20,000 for information which leads to an arrest and conviction.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 14, 2026