Paradise

As the podcast nears its conclusion, fresh information kept hidden in UK Foreign Office files for 40 years delivers yet another twist to this case. Martin Bottomley of the Greater Manchester Police Cold Case Unit gives an unexpected reply to a question Dan hesitates to ask - and it becomes clear this story is far from over. And Boston's public defender, Lexi Nagin, reveals she's an avid listener to the podcast - but hasn't changed her mind about her client.

As Dan heads to Belize, hopes of finding Chris and Peta’s graves in Guatemala fade with new information about the lengths the FBI went to in their attempts to find them. We meet Orlando, Dan’s Belizean fixer, who seems to know everybody in Belize by name as we begin to follow Chris and Peta’s steps. Peta’s letters start to come to life as we trace people and places she mentioned in her letters 40 years before. Very few locals seem to remember Boston – but a visit to the factory Peta write about in her letters leads to a breakthrough in the investigation and Orlando’s experience as a mechanic proves pivotal. Penny joins us in Belize to see some of the places her brother experienced on his travels with Peta in ’78 – before a memorable meeting in Belize City with Vince – the first time they have met. On board a near replica of the Justin B, Vince reconstructs the entire attack. The episode ends with a conclusion to one of the podcast’s biggest questions – but a possibly bigger one remains.

Dan travels to Oxfordshire to meet Penny and her mother, Audrey, who by now is in her nineties. He hears how Audrey and her late husband, Charles, painstakingly tracked down information about Chris and Peta's whereabouts and made appeals on radio and TV.Back in Greater Manchester, the now retired detective, David Sacks, talks about the investigation he conducted, with the help of Charles Farmer, that centred in on Silas Duane Boston. It's his file, sent to the US in 1979, that Boston's lawyer, Lexi Negin, says contained all the details necessary to frame her client. But were details in that file ever leaked? Dan tracks down the officer in the US who received it, Jim Kelly, to find out.It's in speaking to Jim Kelly that Dan learns a startling revelation that explains why the case went cold for so long. And it appears Vince and Russell's former step mum, Kathe, may hold the key to closing out Lexi's defence - or maybe there's another way of solving this case.Find out more about the case here: www.bbc.co.uk/paradise

A remarkable set of coincidences on both sides of the Atlantic sees Boston arrested after 38 years but with crucial evidence buried, how watertight is this case? Stephen and Dan head to Sacramento to interview Detective Amy Crosby, who led the US cold case investigation of Chris and Peta’s murders. We hear the extraordinary timing of her investigation starting at almost the same time Chris’s sister, Penny Farmer, gets Greater Manchester Police to reopen the case. The evidence stacked against Boston looks compelling but when Stephen and Dan meet prosecutor Matt Segal they find him less than upbeat about how likely a conviction would have been in this case. Surprised by his gloomy assessment they speak to Boston’s public defender, Lexi Negin. It’s the first time anyone’s heard what Boston’s defence was going to be – and what Lexi reveals turns everything on its head.Find out more about the case here: www.bbc.co.uk/paradise

Stephen and Dan head to Savannah, Georgia to meet Vince Boston – son of suspect Silas Duane Boston. Vince (then 13) and his younger brother, Russell (12), were on board the ‘Justin B’ with their dad, when they met Chris and Peta in June 1978. Through Vince’s words and Peta’s letters we hear about their happy first few days as they sail south from Belize. But as Peta’s writings grow more troubled, Vince details how his father’s temperament grew more and more menacing. Vince’s account turns into a horror story as he recounts how he was made to stand guard over Peta the night before she and Chris were killed. Vince tells Stephen every detail of the unfolding plot that leads to their drowning. The question is – what had his father done to him to render him so silent in the face of such terror?Find out more about the case here: www.bbc.co.uk/paradise

Peta and Chris are in paradise. They sail into hell.