The night Julia Rosson walked into the Bottle and Cork pub in Dudley, she had no idea she was being watched. It was just after midnight on May 12th, 2019. She’d missed her bus to Birmingham, ending up in Dudley instead, and decided to grab a drink somewhere familiar. A man sat alone at the bar.
Julia, true to her nature, went over to talk to him. She saw someone who looked down, maybe lonely, and she wanted to cheer him up. They talked about art, his tattoos, music. She was still texting friends and family until late.
Elaine, Julia’s partner of over twenty years, went to sleep around 11 p. m. She never spoke to Julia again. Around 2 a.
m. , after last call, the man convinced Julia to come back to his apartment. She went willingly. She had no reason not to trust him.
The man was Nathan Maynard Ellis. His partner, David Leesley, was waiting at home. Inside that apartment, the walls were lined with horror masks, mounted spiders, and weapons. A bookshelf held crime novels, including a history of British serial killing.
There was a shrine to Chucky from Child’s Play. On the surface, it was just a macabre collection. But Nathan had been fantasizing about killing a woman for years. He wanted to decapitate her, defile her corpse.
He’d told mental health professionals about these urges. They weren’t going away. When Julia realized she was in danger, it was already too late. Nathan beat her and killed her.
The exact cause of death was never determined. Then he and David dismembered her body into eleven pieces with a saw. They scattered her remains in the Tipton canal, hidden in undergrowth. They burned some of her clothes and threw the rest in the trash.
Julia’s friends and family noticed her absence almost immediately. They walked the routes she might have taken, hoping to find a trace. Nothing. Debbie, one of her closest friends, got the call on her way home from work.
“One of my friends has gone missing,” the voice on the other end said. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. They reported her missing on May 14th. For days, there was no sign of her.
Police traced Julia’s last known movements to the Bottle and Cork. CCTV showed her talking to a man with distinctive tattoos. They shared the footage across the county. On May 25th, a security officer in Dudley town center spotted Nathan and David.
They were arrested. Investigators searched their apartment and pulled back a newly placed carpet. Underneath, there was a bloodstain. David was arrested two days later.
For three days, police searched the canal. They found nothing at first. But the evidence was enough to charge both men with murder. On May 27th, the police announced they strongly believed Julia was dead.
It wasn’t until June, on the 12th and again on the 29th, that her remains were found. Her head, hands, and feet had been amputated. Dental records and DNA confirmed it was her. Her family was devastated.
“She was a talented artist and musician,” their statement read. “The mutilation of her body in the callous way in which her remains were scattered has revolted us. ”
The Strokes concert came and went. Elaine couldn’t bear to go without her.
“They killed a part of me, too,” she said. “Not a day goes by when I’m not thinking about her. ”
In court, Nathan tried to claim he never intended to kill Julia. He said she flirted with him and got too close.
He claimed he hit her with a rolling pin in a moment of panic. David blamed Nathan entirely, saying he knew about the fantasies but had no part in making them real. But the prosecution laid it all out for the jury. Nathan had been addicted to thoughts of violent, sexualized killings for years.
The pair had them brought to life. Multiple other women came forward. Nathan had assaulted and threatened them before. He was charged with sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, and making violent threats.
On November 9th, 2020, both men were found guilty of Julia’s murder. The judge gave Nathan a life sentence with a minimum of thirty years. David received life with a minimum of nineteen years. The judge called their cover-up comprehensive.
He noted Nathan’s fascination with films involving extreme violence, serial killers, necrophilia, and even cannibalism. He said David was enthralled to Nathan, devoted to him, and shared his intent to kill. After the trial, the inspector told the press, “All murders are tragic, but Julia’s death and the way she was treated after was despicable. ”
Julia’s funeral was delayed until April 2020 because her remains were still needed for the investigation.
Because of the pandemic, her loved ones couldn’t gather to mourn. Instead, they lit candles at 11 a. m. on April 15th.
Debbie wrote a poem for her. It ended with words for her friend, her “Jew,” her uncut diamond. She bought a small garden statue of a fairy on a swing and named it Dinky Daffodil, after Julia’s favorite flower. Years later, criminologist David Wilson noticed something strange.
The photos of Nathan and David’s apartment showed a bookshelf with his books on it. He’d written about Jack the Ripper and other serial killers through an educational lens. He realized Nathan and David had copied some of Jack the Ripper’s methods to the letter. For a time, he felt guilty.
But he knew the truth. True crime doesn’t make someone a murderer. Something inside the individual does. Julia Rosson was a woman who saw the good in everyone.
She greeted people with hugs, called out “You smell like coconuts,” and was always covered in paint. She was six feet tall with shaggy black hair and a grin you couldn’t help but laugh at. She said a happy child is a mucky child. Her friends still look for her in daffodils and shiny things.
They light candles and hold onto the memories. They know she’s free now, and she’ll never be far. Elaine still thinks about her every single day. “I loved her in colors that don’t exist,” she said.
“And now it’s the same how much I miss her. ”
