More than five years have passed since the body of 22-year-old Annalise Johnstone was found near the Maggie Wall’s Witches Monument in Dunning, Perthshire.
The discovery on May 10, 2018, triggered a major police investigation, with Annalise’s brother and his then partner acquitted of murder at a trial a year later.
Nobody has been convicted of killing the young Traveller, who has family in Kirkcaldy.
But The Courier has exclusively revealed police have followed up new information in what is believed to be the first development in the case since 2019 when officers failed to find the murder weapon.
This is a timeline of the hours leading up to – and following – Annalise’s death.
May 9
Around lunchtime
Annalise leaves her hometown of Ardrossan, Ayrshire, for a road trip with brother Jordan Johnstone and his then partner Angela Newlands.
The pair were forced to leave their Auchterarder home a month earlier due to flooding.
2pm
CCTV shows Ms Newlands and Mr Johnstone stopping off at Sainsbury’s in Stewarton, Kilmarnock.
4pm
CCTV shows Coatbridge-born Annalise visiting the Alpine Store in Ardrossan before dropping off her dog Sadie at friend Donna Paton’s house.
She tells Ms Paton she has to go and do something with her brother but that she will be back in an hour.
In February 2020, nearly two years after his sister’s death, Mr Johnstone tells The Scottish Sun that Annalise had joined him and his then girlfriend to take a caravan from Irvine to Inchture.
Ms Paton notices Annalise has been self-harming and later tells the murder trial her friend was anxious to return home from an earlier trip with Mr Johnstone and Ms Newlands.
Later that day, she messages Donna, writing: “I’m sorry, he’s taking ages.”
She assures her she will be back to collect Sadie.
Evening
Jordan, Angela (at the time living in Auchterarder) and Annalise drive to Ms Newlands’ parents’ home in Green Julian Place, Inchture.
11.45pm
The trio, along with Ms Newlands’ four children, leave the house to get food in her Ford Galaxy.
May 10
Midnight
Just after 12 o’clock, the seven-seater vehicle is spotted at the BP Garage at Kingsway, Dundee, before arriving at the McDonald’s Drive-Thru at Camperdown Park.
It travelled on passed the Myrekirk Roundabout.
Ms Newlands says she was dropped off at a bus stop off the A90 and walked with her kids to her mum and dad’s home.
During the investigation it is established her and the children could have made this walk without it being captured by cameras.
1.28am-2am
CCTV from a private address shows the Ford Galaxy arriving at Maggie’s Wall monument.
At the trial it was agreed Annalise – whose mum died of a heroin overdose in 2006 – was killed during this time period.
Mr Johnstone told the court he found his sister lying face down in front of the memorial cairn, taking off his T-shirt to try and stop the flow of blood before she died in his arms.
He later told a tabloid newspaper: “I was telling her I loved her and begging my mammy to look after her. My mum passed away. I was begging my mum ‘Please just look after her.’”
1.45am
The Ford Galaxy leaves the monument but returns a minute later.
2am
Angela Keiro, a neighbour of Ms Newlands’ parents John and Cheryl, is awoken by the sound of her dog barking in the early hours.
The businesswoman looks out the window to see a caravan parked in the couple’s driveway.
Ms Keiro hears voices and sees people but is unable to identify them.
At 2am she sees the caravan is still outside and recognises Ms Newlands’ voice, while seeing another unidentified man.
Her evidence gives Ms Newlands an alibi.
Back at Maggie Wall’s monument, the car leaves the crime scene again before returning at 2.23am and departing 15 minutes later for the final time.
Early morning
A hotel worker spots Mr Johnstone burning clothes at the side of the Inchture-Errol road, where he claims to have buried the weapon that killed Annalise inside a McDonald’s Happy Meal box along with her phone and glasses.
Police Scotland later said a search for it had concluded.
Midday
Annalise’s body is discovered at the drystone wall near the witch monument – next to the B8062 – by retired Nairn couple Elaine and Stephen Bailey.
Her throat was cut from ear to ear and she bled to death within minutes.
Mrs Bailey told the murder trial: “There was a lot of blood.
“It was a strange luminous colour, at the base of the neck or the head.”
She added: “We could see a hand and it was extremely white, so we thought it might be artificial, like a mannequin.
“My husband poked it with a walking pole and we confirmed it was a real person.”
May 11
Early hours
Mr Johnstone, giving his address as Raven Grove, Auchterarder, reports his sister missing.
2.50am
Four police officers attend the property – where there are “signs of a disturbance” – but nobody is home.
Mr Johnstone is then traced to Ms Newlands’ parents house in Inchture.
At Police Scotland’s Dundee HQ, where he is about to make a statement about his missing sister, he is told a woman matching Annalise’s description has been found dead.
Detective Constable Helen Ireland later tells the murder trial: “He was very upset and emotional.
“He was crying and he hit his head off the table a couple of times.”
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