Karen Price, also known as Little Miss Nobody, was a fifteen-year-old Welsh murder victim, who had vanished in 1981. After the discovery of her body in 1989, her skull had been reconstructed by Richard Neave, an English facial reconstruction artist. 

The facial reconstruction and the matching of her DNA to that of her parents led to the identification of the body; this was the first time DNA had been used in this way

Discovery and identification

Comparison with the clay reconstruction with photograph of Karen Price.

In Cardiff, Wales, two construction workers unearthed a rolled carpet while constructing a garden behind a house. When the carpet had been unraveled, the skeletal remains of a young female were visible. Entomologists studied the insect eggs around the site of the discovery to show that the girl had been dead for approximately ten years.

Workmen found Karen Price’s remains at the back of a property in Fitzhammon Embankment, Cardiff

After fruitless attempts to identify the body, Richard Neave of Manchester University created a clay facial reconstruction of the skull. Both the reconstruction and the DNA samples taken from the bones compared with the DNA of her parents identified the remains to be that of Karen’s. 

Alan Charlton was convicted in 1991 at Cardiff Crown Court

It was believed that the runaway girl had turned to prostitution, and In 1991, Idris Ali (pictured below in 2010) and Alan Charlton, (pictured above in 1991) who were thought to be in charge of Karen’s soliciting, were later charged with her murder. 

However, Ali’s charge was reduced to manslaughter and was therefore released in 1994, while Charlton remained on a life sentence, but has a parole hearing due in 2015

Ali has since served jail terms for robbery and inciting a cell block riot which left two Welsh guards with horrific injuries. He was jailed for 12 years in 1997 for the prison riot. Ali still has family in the Cardiff area but was living in a bail hostel in Swansea under the supervision of South Wales Probation Service when he breached the terms of his licence in 2010