Virtual Alibi: The Chilling Case Of Natalie McNally

[Music] Lan Northern Ireland December 2022 32-year-old Natalie mcnali was born to parents nol and bernardet and had three brothers Brendan Dean and Nile with Nile saying that being the only girl she was definitely the princess of the family described as quick witted independent and driven Natalie had studied law before going into marketing and she now worked for the huge Bus and Rail Services Company TransLink outside of her job her loves and hobbies were simple jigsaws reading Sports and long walks with her dog River Natalie was a big activist and loved supporting her local charities and community and she was also a regular face of Belfast Pride she even campaigned for better services for those living with diabetes in Northern Ireland something which she had dealt with herself since the age of three her best friend said she was Tiny and gentle but when it came to things she was passionate about she could be the loudest person in the room she was in a relationship with 33-year-old Steven McCulla and they had just found out that Natalie was pregnant although they had only been together for a few months bernardet said the pair were really in love and couldn't wait to meet their little one Natalie had told her mom and dad about the baby but was going to surprise the rest of her family on Christmas day with the news this would be her parents first grandchild and the first niece or nephew for her brothers it was a really special time for everyone on December 18th 2022 she spent the day with her parents and her dog River cheering on Argentina who were playing France in the World Cup final she was in no rush to leave and had had a lovely evening with her parents bernardet described her as very content a baby on the way Christmas Around the Corner a great job and she was about to have some much needed time off however Natalie did have a shift the next day and as much as she wanted to stay in talk she bundled River along with a load of Christmas wrapping paper into her car she turned and said Mommy I'll see you Monday or Tuesday come on River let's go and see the cats they waved her off and she drove back home to the Silverwood green area of luren where lived with river and her two cats once home she briefly tuned into social media where she saw her boyfriend to posted a status about doing a big Christmas live stream on YouTube Hello friendos I started YouTube in 2010 and back then it was very straightforward you made a video you uploaded a video people either watched it or they didn't if people did watch it they liked it they subscribed that was it it was great over the years he had amassed almost 40 ,000 subscribers he would often upload videos of himself gaming giving reviews of products and TV shows talking about all manner of electronics and gadgets and showing off his extensive array of Collectibles his channel was a big part of his life and this was his first live stream in almost a year Natalie liked his post and he sent her a text saying wish me luck she replied and said I might have a peek at your live stream later she then fed the pets and started winding down for the night the following morning alarmingly Natalie didn't turn up for work and she wasn't answering her phone as the hours ticked by and it was soon late and dark after such a lovely day with her family the lack of communication was very unexpected at 10 p.m. that night with still nothing from Natalie Steven who lived about a 20-minute driveway decided to pop over with her being pregnant and the potential of something being wrong the concern had mounted quickly no sooner had Steven entered her home he was on the phone to the authorities there was blood everywhere Natalie had been viciously attacked and had been dead for some time Natalie's younger brother Nile answered the phone to their dad at 5:30 a.m. he knew nothing good would be coming at this time but hearing his mother screaming that his sister was dead in the background was an outof body feeling they had to officially identify her and NL said his daughter's injuries were so bad he couldn't even see her face an autopsy showed Natalie had been struck with a blunt object beaten strangled stabbed multiple times had broken bones and was covered in defensive wounds she had been dead for around a day having been attacked late the previous night and two neighbors would later report that they had heard what they now realized was a scream at around 9:00 p.m. an autopsy was also able to determine that Natalie was carrying a baby boy a boy she would have called Dean she was just 3 days away from the scan that would have told her this a scan that she and bernardet have been planning to go to together detectives from the major investigation team have now launched a murder investigation following the death of Natalie mcnu and luran this follows the results of the postmortem the 32-year-old died a violent death having been stabbed a number of times and there are signs of defensive injuries she was murdered at her home in the Silverwood green area of the town and evidence now suggests that she was murdered on the night of Sunday the 18th of December officers were called to the property along with colleagues from the northern irand Ambulance Service sadly natle was pronounced dead at the scene it is distressing to add that natly was in fact 15 weeks pregnant this fatal attack which happened in her own home has therefore resulted in a double tragedy the death of a mother du along with her own born baby I am asking anyone with information about this murder to please come forward in particular I am appealing to motorists who were traveling on the killan road luran on Sunday the 18th of December between 8:45 p.m. and 9 45 p.m. and who may have captured dash cam footage of this journey given that Steven had walked in and being the one to find her officers were cautious and arrested him he said he was home all evening showing them his live stream which lasted from 6:00 p.m. until midnight hey and we're live hello everyone um yeah a little bit out the blue this isn't it so hello hello to all in this glorious Sunday evening um yeah so I just thought why not I'm going to do a live stream because uh this day next week is Christmas uh so what more could you want for Christmas other than a an evening with your old pal Steven um I I wanted to do a live stream I've been wanting to do one for quite some time now only trouble is there's a there's a couple of elements shall we say that have been preventing me from doing any anything uh mostly it it has been work and um it has been stuff in my private life it's also been the fact that the this computer is on its last legs uh the fact that I've had so many YouTube videos to work through uh it's all been a bit of a nightmare well some of it was a blur because he had been drinking throughout he hadn't left and he hadn't spoken to Natalie during this time he told them he had been cutting out drinking as Natalie was now avoiding alcohol so it was in solidarity with her but as it was a Christmas streaming special he decided to in his words get shitfaced he fell asleep almost as soon as the stream ended and was pretty hung over and sleepy most of the next day who on Earth would want to do this to Natalie they asked Steven told them her ex partner had recently been harassing her and it was the only name that came to mind his live stream was a solid Alibi and he could be accounted for and with this as well as giving them a name to look at Steven was released without charge and the Police Service of Northern Ireland also known as the psni was saying he was not a suspect in all the commotion with Steven coming into the house and the noise Natalie's beloved dog River was so frightened he bolted out of the front door and ran into the road being hit by a car thankfully he did pull through and was swiftly taken to Nolan bernardet where he would carry on living from that point although the police couldn't completely rule out a random Intruder it seemed very very unlikely there had been no forced entry and nothing had been stolen they believed that Natalie had not yet got round to locking her door and her killer had just walked in without knocking this would be a very strange and risky thing for a chance Intruder to do due to the brutality of the scene her killer would almost certainly have had blood on them and would have had to wash off or dispose of the clothing and shoes so maybe there had been something dumped somewhere officer started combing through the area around the Silverwood golf club which backed onto Kiln Road directly behind Natalie's home following Steven's arrest and release a second unnamed man in his 40s was also arrested but was quickly released on bail pending further inquiries vigils were being held in the quiet culdesac where she lived and huge rallies with her family and Steven in attendance were held I just want to say that whatever difference of opinions there are in this country we know there's no difference of opinion everybody wants to see an end the violence against women and girls and everybody in Society has to redouble our efforts the end violence against women's and girls in memory of our sister not so thank you all very much more than 1,000 people attended a rally in luren park and Natalie's case was spreading through the media her favorite team Everton football club even displayed a tribute to her during their matches and a personalized Stone was laid in their new grounds something her family said would have meant everything to her because she could now always be in one of her favorite places I would like to appeal to my sister's killer to do a decent thing and confess to her murder nuts as we called her was the only girl in our family and we treat her like a princess I cannot actually put into words the heartache we're experiencing she was the life and soul of our family and we were heartbroken she will not be sitting around the table with us this Christmas day or any day not really was the best sister ever and such a lovely person she she had so many friends and would have done anything for anyone she had a heart of gold I'm appealing on behalf of our family to bring any information to police or Crim Stoppers to help them put nuts killer Behind Bars the killer still walking the street we need everybody to go again we need everybody to think again think back to the night think back to the night of the World Cup final what were you doing think if you have any CCTV or anything from that time and even to the days after is is there anything unusual anyone acting suspiciously cuz we we need everyone on our side to go again we're grateful for what everyone's done but we need everyone again to think back and come forward with anything at all on Christmas Day Natalie's family had a wake and a day later her funeral was held in her coffin her family placed photos of Natalie and her pets and the bibs she had just bought for baby Dean Steven asked to have 20 minutes alone with her to say his goodbyes privately while there is no easy time for people to say goodbye to someone to have just lost Natalie and Dean in such an awful way around a time of year like Christmas it created even more of a Dark Cloud as Christmas came and went bernardette said her daughter's presents just sat under the tree they couldn't bear to move them or put anything away they were just Frozen in time in a nightmare the investigation was becoming extensive hundreds of house-to-house inquiries had already happened and over 4,000 hours of CCTV footage was being gone through several cars had been seized and officers were stopping people asking for their dash cam footage Crim Stoppers had also offered a reward of up to £20,000 it soon rolled over into the new year and on the 5th of January the PS and said they had some tapes that they wanted to release to the public tapes which showed who they strongly believed was Natalie's killer 3,000 hours of CCTV footage have been gathered but the Public's attention is still drawn to One Clip showing the me suspect entering and leaving Silverwood green where Natalie lived on the night she died in the footage a man could be seen entering Natalie's Street at 8:52 p.m. on the night she was was [Music] killed then at 9:30 p.m. a little over half an hour later he was spotted coming back out and walking the same way he came in he was wearing white shoes and a hat and carrying a rook sack more CCTV from another camera which they did not release to the public showed the same figure walking straight up to Nat house they felt the way in which he walked up to her home showed he clearly knew the area knew Natalie and was there for one thing it was a targeted and planned attack the calmness with the way the man had walked back down the street was deeply unnerving our investigation into her horrific murder is continuing and I have several appeals to make today I'm still keeping on open mind but my main line of inquiry is that the murder was committed by someone that notle knew and indeed was comfortable allowing enter her home I would like to direct people's attention to the CCTV footage that we previously released I believe this shows Nat's killer on his on her way into her home at Silverwood green at 8:52 p.m. on Sunday the 18th of December our efforts to identify the man captured in the footage remains ongoing and I would appeal to anyone who believes that they recognize this person to get in touch someone must know who he is and I would appeal to you to do the decent thing and and to get in touch with me do you really want to protect a man who can kill a woman and her unborn baby and if the person did do that you know there has to be someone protecting them yes you have to be do you do that and go home and act normally like do you really I don't know I I think somebody's going to have some and what loyalty you can't have a loyalty to a Monster who brly murdered myly like it's just not it's not you know are you going to live with that for the rest of your life you know right coming forward and would you wanted on your cence if this person killed someone else if he could kill an innocent we girl like he could do it again and if you don't give this person up he could who who could be the next person he kills you know that'll be in your conscience for the rest of your life knowing you could have prevented this authorities had also located what they believe to be the murder weapon a knife that had come from inside Natalie's house not something the killer had brought with them a maragold BL print was found in blood inside her house too it was now 6 weeks since Natalie had been killed and authorities just didn't have anything concrete the name that Steven had given them had gone nowhere and there were no more tips coming in about the CCTV there was no evidence to suggest that this ex-boyfriend the person who Steven had accused was in luran at the time of her murder and that that person was with someone else at the time a total of three arrests had now been made but no charges filed there was now a fear that so much time had passed her killer could long have fled Northern Ireland and gone elsewhere and if that was the case they were looking at an almost impossible task instead of continuing to move the searches for Clues further a field they decided to focus back in and closer to home detectives said so much of it was down to waiting for forensics to come back and going through people's devices with a fine tooth comb one detective said a good percentage of our investigations we're able to resolve in a relatively short period of time often within seven or 8 days I can't go into specific details about why this investigation is so difficult but it is a complex investigation something about a certain person's devices had rung an alarm Bell Steven McCulla Natalie's partner his behavior in general since Natalie had been killed was odd to say the least after his release he had not once asked the detectives for an update on her case not once chased them for any information and quite frankly had shown zero interest in getting anything solved hello YouTube viewers and random Doctor Who fans yes the time is finally upon us after years of B&M Frankenstein and mashup figure sets character options have at long last released something new the Regeneration set from the power of the doctor it brings us an updated 13th Doctor figure wearing an outfit she technically wore for all of 2 minutes of screen time but hey new is new plus we he had also refused to give give detectives the full details about Natalie's house when he got there what he saw and what happened before he called for help Natalie's family didn't really know Steven and had only met him a handful of times but after Natalie died they described him as ingratiating himself within them suddenly he was around all the time they had his devices seized and his computer was now highlighted as something that would blow the case wide open his Alibi for that night was of course the live stream I just realized I'm literally going to be drinking and driving in the game by the way I'm I'm not leaving the house tonight so um yeah in the game I will be drunk while driving in the game I'll be drunk in real life I'll be driving in the game just uh just uh keep myself in the in the good book shall we say and during the 6 hours he was online he had been playing Grand Theft Auto Vice City police force that we have lost over the last 12 years is just [ __ ] frightening and no wonder crime is on their eyes that's why I lot sticking to just doing crimes in a video game keeps things simple mate his stream was also called violent night Christmas live gaming stream wearing a Christmas hat and drinking his description box read celebrate the most joyous time of year by watching a drunk Mash buttons on a controller as if he's some sort of expert then go mental after failing miserably all in real time Merry Christmas but this 6-hour live stream he had done on December the 18th was in fact not live at all it had actually been pre-recorded late on December 14th and had been set to play on YouTube between 6:00 p.m. and midnight on December 18th and just 5 minutes after it went live on YouTube Steven had deleted the pre-recorded video off his computer he had frequently apologized to his viewers saying he was unable to interact with them in the chat because his computer was having technical issues creating the illusion that he was live when actually they were watching a video that had already been made uh in fact I am I'm still live good right yeah so um I need to get my anxiety about whether or not the stream will crash just out of the way otherwise it'll affect the whole bloody thing to be honest I'm genuinely not looking at the live chat so I don't know if if people picked up on that or not but um yeah I I I think i' I kind of [ __ ] that last mission the worst part is I can't even use my phone to check the [ __ ] live stream comments either because I'm pretty sure that will [ __ ] with my internet and uh [ __ ] with this stream so that's good isn't it the more experts watched the more frightening everything became and the more obvious it was that the length he had gone to to falsify his Alibi was chilling that will do me's got work tomorrow as well again this my final week so work Monday Tuesday Wednesday off Thursday off Friday off Christmas day off boxing day off couple of days after that back in to work on wedes day then off until New Year's so it'll be enough time to rest relax spend time with my loved ones I actually think it'll it'll be a really [ __ ] good Christmas this year but yes sorry I'm I'm getting horribly distracted uhhuh y that's that's physics that's that's what would happen in the real world Absol [ __ ] nly Absol [ __ ] natly during a break in the video at around 9:15 p.m. instead of the title card that said live stream back soon as it had in the previous breaks the screen was replaced momentarily with a photo of the James Bond film no time to [Music] [Music] die this would have been the time that Natalie was being killed and the same time that neighbors had heard the scream they had worked back through the CCTV as well and now had more than enough evidence to prove that the person on the footage on her street was Steven although they didn't release this to the public the cameras showed that before he walked onto her street he could be seen at a bus stop at Kingsway dun Murray where he had waited for 15 minutes he had the hood of his coat pulled down and a mask on his face he was carrying an Asda bag for life and as he got onto the bus he dropped some money onto the ground he removed a black glove which showed a yellow maragold glove and underneath gloves that lat to match the print of blood in Natalie's home during the bus ride he was sat very still only moving his mask slightly to take a sip of a can of Coke he got off the bus with the Asda bag walking for a while and carrying on past the railway station near Natalie's home then at 8:42 p.m. he was seen on another camera getting closer to Natalie's Street he disappeared for 10 minutes and then returned this time without the Asda bag and instead with a black Rook sack what happened to the bag or what was in it is still unknown after he left her street at 9:30 p.m. he was seen again on various cameras walking into luren town center before approaching a phoner cab taxi that had been ordered via an app the driver had picked him up outside a pub and was supposed to drop him off not far from there but Steven had told him he needed to go to a different address than the one he had booked for something about his mom being ill detective spoke to the taxi driver and he confirmed that he had dropped Steven off at what would turn out to be his address this was at 11:13 p.m. and at 11:13 p.m. he was still he claimed Live on YouTube 3 minutes after he was dropped outside his house Steven's phone manually swiped open for the first time in more than 5 hours the taxi driver was easily able to identify him as well the police had been keeping this all very close to their chests they had already released Steven once so they needed to be absolutely sure they had everything before they arrested him again I think I'll wrap up this stream with none of you watching at all um just by say Merry Christmas everyone it's um it's a time that we sort of we look forward to and we get excited about whenever we're young and then as we get older We Get Much More cynical and stuff like that and then we reach the stage where we realize it's not about us anymore it's about the the younger generation it's about keeping that that love alive and and passing it on and I think that's that's something I'm looking forward to doing more than anything else really I think the important thing to take away from it is to use it as a time not for what we receive but what we can give in terms of presence in terms of love in terms of sex it's just been one of those nights hasn't it but um but yes I think the uh I think the message rings true that Christmas it's not about the shopping it's not about the lights and the ttin and all that crap it's literally just about having some time off to enjoy spending time with the people that you love so until next time everyone thank you for watching good night on February 2nd 2023 to the shock of everyone Natalie's partner and father of her unborn baby was officially charged with murder his lawyer applied for baale saying that he had had to pre-record the Stream because his computer was not working and it's actually a fairly normal thing for people to do it was argued that pre-recording something doesn't make someone want a killer his lawyer said you still need to be there you still need to be activating with the equipment to stream it he said that any connection of Steven to the person in the CCTV was minimal at best he comes before the court with no record he comes before the court with ties to the community and with his own address I would ask this court to find that he is a suitable candidate for Bale his lawyer argued but despite his please the judge denied his bail she said the risk of further offending if he can carry out an attack like this if the police case is right then who knows what else he is capable of and the planning involved in the knowledge of technology which is far above my head but I assume that also means there is potential to interfere with the investigation in a way that someone like me could not do the prosecution and police said that the degree of planning and level of sophistication shown along with the premeditation deceit and efforts to conceal is something that courts in this jurist dition will rarely have seen it also later came out that Steven had left his phone in Natalie's family's house to secretly record them for almost an hour likely they think to see what if anything they knew and what their suspicions were so he could always stay one step ahead but why the prosecution could only speculate on the motives and they still cannot say anything with certainty but they know that Steven had access to Natalie's phone knowing her passcode she had allegedly being in contact with a former boyfriend on December 15th the prosecution Barrister said the prosecution suggests that sexualized contact with this individual and indeed others over a period of time is the Catalyst for what occurred to miss MCN on the morning of the day of her death Steven had unlocked her phone nine times to look at her messages go on her WhatsApp and her Twitter by this point Steven was already planning his attack he had already pre-recorded the video just a matter of hours after he first saw any messages on December the 15th he staged the stream the timings and made sure to leave all of these chilling references throughout the prosecution said the devil is in the detail the detail of this video is chilling brazenly taunting and leaving messages behind now while Steven would eventually admit he was not live streaming on the night of the murder he still denied the murder itself and maintained he was drinking on his own in his house and fell asleep he entered a plea of not guilty Natalie MC's family and friends were in court today to watch her former partner Steven McCulla deny murdering the 32-year-old mom to be Steven McCulla of Woodland Gardens in lisburn stood in the dock and when the charge of murder was put to him he replied not guilty a trial date was set for the 9th of September and is expected to last 3 to 4 weeks during the court hearing a request was also made for the trial to be held in Belfast because the case is heavily CCTV and Technology based as 33-year-old Steven McCulla was led out of the dock in handcuffs he didn't look at Natalie's family including her parents in the public Gallery the cas will be reviewed again in March in January 20124 it was announced the earliest time his trial could start would be September 2024 with the judge calling the most complex case she had ever seen police said the lens that Steven had gone to to plan what he had done cover it up and give himself an alibi was staggering he stood with her family at her funeral grieving alongside them while secretly recording them and all while knowing exactly what had happened a strategy for tackling violence against women and girls was due for publication in Northern Ireland after this happened with the government saying Northern Ireland has the joint highest female homicide rate in Europe and the number of women murdered in their their own home doubled during lockdown Natalie's family continue to work with other people that have gone through similar things campaign and keep Natalie's name alive in the media no said his worst fear in life was always one of his children passing away before him bernardette said Natalie would always say wise up would you mommy just get on with it her daughter was a no fuss and no drama person and her get on with its attitude inspires her to take everything as it comes as hard as that might be there was nothing that Natalie couldn't handle and bernardet always remembers that in her darkest [Music] moments thank you all for tuning in if you would like to support our Channel and help us to continue to make our content we have a patreon with many perks including exclusive episodes behind the scenes and AD free Early Access [Music]

Channel: Truly Criminal

Views: 302,714

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Id: LGkPOwbJmxs

Length: 31min 8sec (1868 seconds)

Published: Sat May 18 2024