Responsibility is not often a term attributed to most teenagers. But for Paige Doherty, being responsible was a necessity in order to achieve her goals, and her dreams.
Paige Doherty was born on April 17th, 2000, in Scotland. She was a very happy, if shy, girl, who adored her friends and family. As a teenager, Paige loved to dance, and was planning for her future.
Paige wanted a career in the beauty industry, and worked a part-time job at a hairdressers shop in order to learn the ropes. She loved her job, and loved being one step closer to achieving her goals, and dreams.
She lived in Clydebank, Scotland with her family, with whom she had a very close relationship. Her mother was her best friend, and she also had great relationships with her step-father, and her siblings.
Paige had a bright future ahead of her, and was a very dedicated, and hard-working teenager.
On March 18th, 2016, a month shy of her 16th birthday, Paige spent the night with a friend. The following morning, March 19th, she left the friend’s house at around 8:00 AM, and headed for Kirkintilloch, about 19 kilometres (or 12 miles) away for her shift at the hairdressers.
When Paige failed to arrive, her colleagues grew concerned. This was not at all normal behaviour for Paige.
When her boyfriend contacted them, asking after her, they knew something was wrong. Paige’s boyfriend had tried to reach her, and was unable to. He feared something may have happened to her on her way to work. With more people growing concerned, Paige’s colleagues contacted her mother, Pamela
Pamela immediately knew something was wrong. This was not her daughter’s usual behaviour. Paige was known for being extremely responsible, and she would never miss a work shift, as it was key to her achieving her goals.
Pamela got in touch with as many people as possible, making appeals for information, and asking for help searching for Paige. Pamela also wasted no time in contacting the police, who took the case seriously immediately.
From their initial investigation, they figured that Paige was not the kind of teenager to run away. She was responsible, a good student, and had good relationships with her family, including her step-father. It was clear that Paige had been on her way to work – which they confirmed with the friend Paige had spent the night with – and something had happened. They didn’t waste any time, and declared Paige’s case a missing person’s case.
Investigators followed her route from her friend’s home to the bus she was supposed to take, and then to her job. Along the route, they made note and any CCTV cameras, and requested the footage. As this was known to take time, investigators began investigating through other avenues, mainly interviews.
They spoke to many of the business owners along Paige’s route, and found that she’d been seen that morning, seemingly in good spirits. One shop owner even stated that he waved to Paige as she walked down the road at around 8:15 AM. Contradictory to this, the owner of Delicious Deli said he hadn’t seen Paige at all that day.
As investigators were waiting for the CCTV footage, a disturbing call came in two days after Paige had disappeared. Passersby reported seeing something that may have been a body along the roadside near Glasgow’s Great Western Road.
When police arrived on the scene, they determined that what the passersby had found was, indeed, the body of a young woman. The young woman appeared to have been absolutely brutalized.
At the autopsy, the body was identified as Paige Doherty. She had been stabbed at least 61 times, with more than 100 knife wounds all over her body, as well as over 40 blows to her head and neck. It appeared as though Paige had put up a fight, as a lot of the wounds on her hands and arms appeared to be defensive.
While the autopsy was able to provide what had happened to Paige, investigators still needed to know how, who, where, and when. As they made more rounds around Paige’s route to work, another shop owner approached them.
The shop owner confided in investigators that they were highly suspicious of the man who owned the deli next door. The shop owner stated that the man had gone into their shop, urgently looking for cleaning supplies on the morning that Paige had gone missing. As the deli owner negated this statement, investigators had to rely on the CCTV footage that they were waiting for.
When it came in, the footage told them all they needed to know.
CCTV confirmed that Paige had gone her usual route to work. It also confirmed that Paige was seen walking down the road to her bus stop at around 8:21 AM, waving to one of the shop owners she was familiar with.
Then, the CCTV footage showed her walking right into Delicious Deli, contradicting the statement made by the owner, 32-year-old John Leathem.
John Leathem was a married man with a child, and had been known around the community for his very popular deli. Paige was also known for picking up a roll from the deli on her way to work every now and then.
Collecting CCTV from the deli, investigators were able to see Leathem arriving at around 7:17 AM, and preparing to open the shop. The footage revealed Paige walking in. But there was no footage of her leaving the deli at any time.
The footage available to investigators showed Leathem frantically leaving his deli, and buying the cleaning supplies. It also shows him moving his car to the back of the shop, with the trunk facing the back door. The footage then went on to show Leathem frantically moving things around the trunk of his car, before going back into the deli, and coming back out with a large, black garbage bag, and placing it in the trunk.
Investigators believe that Paige was murdered by Leathem in a frenzied ten minutes between the time she walked in, and Leathem moved his car.
At some point, Leathem had left the deli, changed clothes, and come back for several hours. All the while, the shop had been closed, much to the confusion of the community.
With the CCTV footage as evidence, investigators conducted searches of the Leathem home, his vehicle, and the deli. While nothing was found at the home, and the car appeared to have been cleaned, they did find something at the deli. While it looked clean, they found smatterings of blood in various different locations around the shop. The blood was collected, and was later found to belong to Paige.
At trial, John Leatham viewed the mountain of evidence against him, and entered a plea of guilty, avoiding a lengthy trial. He told the courts that Paige had entered his shop demanding a job. When he told her she was too young to work there, she threatened to tell the community that he had “touched her” inappropriately, and ruin his reputation. Leathem flew into a panic, and stabbed Paige in response to her threats.
John Leathem’s version of events did not make sense to anyone who heard it. Paige had a job she loved, and would not have left it to work at a deli. Everyone who knew Paige also poked holes in Leathem’s statements. They knew that Paige would never make threats of that nature.
Leathem stuck to his story, despite no one believing him.
On October 12th, 2016, John Leathem was sentenced to a minimum of 27 years in prison before being eligible to apply for parole. In February of 2017, he filed an appeal, which was granted, lowering his minimum prison term to 23 years before parole eligibility.
Pamela wanted to honour her daughter following her murder. She set up Paige’s Promise, an organization dedicated to teaching children self-defense. The organization also supports families whose children have been the victims of crime and tragedy.
Paige Doherty was working towards fulfilling her dream of working in the beauty industry. Her life was tragically cut short at the hands of a man who hid behind lies and slander to explain his actions.
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Sources:
Paige Doherty – Chilling Crimes
The Murder of Paige Doherty – Charlie O’Brien
About Time for True Crime podcast – The Murder of Paige Doherty
The Murder of Paige Doherty Wikipedia page