On November 2, 1996, 16-year-old Damien Nettles vanished after a night out in Cowes on the Isle Of Wight. His disappearance rocked his small community and his case remains unsolved, almost 20 years later.
Now, his disappearance is the subject of a new BBC Three documentary series called Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared. Headed up by journalists Alys Harte and Bronagh Munro, it's a new kind of true crime format. Rather than Alys and Bronagh completing their investigation before pulling together their findings into a nice neat documentary (à la Making a Murderer), Unsolved... allows watchers to follow them as they carry out their investigation as they meet up with anonymous sources, rifle through old case files and go in search of various unsavoury characters. It is, at times, hairy and tough to watch but ultimately leaves viewers heavily invested in the tragic case of Damien Nettles.
'I just couldn't believe that a 16-year-old boy could vanish in a place as small as Cowes on an island.' Says Bronagh when we speak to her and Alys about why they chose Damien's case as a focal point. 'It wasn't just a missing boy, it is extraordinary; he went missing without a trace.' Adds Alys, who explains that Damien's case is an example of 'ambiguous loss' - the form of grief a family of a missing person go through as they are forced to live without closure.
Last seen on November the 2nd at 11:45PM on the CCTV of a local chip shop, subsequent CCTV footage of Damien was lost by the police. It was the first in a series of what the family feel have been failures in the handling of their case. It was only in the past few years that they feel adequate action has been taken.
Valerie Nettles, Damien's mum, now lives in the US. She came back to the Isle of Wight help Bronagh and Alys with their investigation and her determination and stoicism was something that both women found humbling. 'I admired and responded to her, says Bronagh. 'I knew she had an uphill battle and I thought we could do something for her.'
Throughout the case, rumours and half truths have hindered forward movement. Today, nearly 20 years on, it's tough for friends and family to remember what is fact and what has merely become accepted rhetoric amongst the small community in the years since. 'Tracking people down was the easy part,' Admits Bronagh. The hard part, she says, was separating fact from fiction. 'They were giving us information that that was based on fact; repetition of rumours and lies and it was hard to differentiate between the two.'
Bronagh and Alys spend a lot of the investigation seeking out individuals who have dealings with the island's criminal underworld. The Isle of Wight once had a huge narcotics problem and, it's something, as Alys and Bronagh persevere, they find to be intrinsically linked with Damien's case. 'When people think of the Isle of Wight they think of this picture postcard place.' Says Alys. 'And it is a gorgeous island but, in the mid-90s the island was dealing with a severe drug problem, drugs were coming into the UK through the Isle of Wight; they called it Smugglers Island.'
Because of this, Alys and Bronagh find themselves in several uneviable situations over the course of the investigation. Situations like walking through the forest in the dead of night with one anonymous source who claims to have information, driving to the middle of nowhere with another. 'You take calculated risks.' Says Bronagh who explains that, as a journalist her fear lies not in the potentially dangerous situation but in not getting the answer that she wants. Alys too struggled with risk and potential return. 'Often in cases like this you have to go to strange places at 1AM and the car's GPS isn't working and you think "I have no coverage, I don't know this person, is this OK?"'
Working on the case of one person for so long weighs heavy on those involved. It's hard not to get in too deep. Bronagh and Alys lived on the island during their investigation and found themselves fully immersed. 'I've asked Damien's mother more questions than she's ever been asked in her life,' Says Bronagh. 'I built a strong relationship with her and you build a sort of relationship with the people you're investigating. Damien was fascinating. The life and soul. Everyone had a story to tell you about what a character he was. At 16, he made a huge impact on peoples' lives.'
Getting a conclusion to Damien's case was a key aim of Bronagh and Alys. But mainly, they wanted to help Valerie. 'Catching a bad guy and putting him in prison would be asking for the sun, moon and stars.' Says Alys who focussed mainly on trying to separate some of the fact from the fiction that has accumulated over the years. Now, the women hope that the documentary might inspire more people who know something to come forward. 'The programme is finished but the story won't end there.' Says Alys. 'People change and remember and the great thing about this is that you don't know what's going to happen next.'
Fingers crossed that whatever does happen brings some form of closure to Damien's loved ones.
Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared is available now on BBC Three
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.