Our story begins in the hauntingly beautiful Hagueley woods, a dense thicket of ancient trees that stood as silent witnesses to the passage of time, to world wars, and to a crime that would baffle investigators for decades.

It's a sublime setting, the kind you'd imagine in a Gothic novel with gnarled branches

casting eerie shadows and the air thick with a sense of foreboding. It's England. 1943. The world was

gripped in the midst of World War II, and amidst that chaos, a sinister secret was buried

deep within the woods. This is the case of Bella in the Witch Elm.

This is the case of Bella I'm I'm I'm I'm The Welcome to coffee and cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold.

My name is Allison Williams.

And my name is Maggie Damron.

We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement so justice and closure can be

brought to these families.

With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page,

Coffee in Case's podcast, because, as we all know,

conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness,

helping to keep their memories alive.

So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.

It was April, 1943, when four young boys, Fred Payne, Tommy Willits, Robert Hart, and Bob Farmer

decided to explore the dense thicket seeking refuge from the grim realities of wartime life.

According to most sources, their venture into the woods was for a

poaching trip looking for eggs. Other sources say they were hunting rabbits. Some sources suggest that

given the rations in place during World War II, it made sense that the pastime of these young

boys was to look for more potential food.

However, their little adventure meant trespassing on someone else's land.

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