My step-mum murdered my dad, stole £77k of his money and kept his head in a handbag for SIX years
CAROLYN Burrough thought her dad was happily married – until he disappeared. The 49-year-old, from Florida, USA, was baffled by her step-mum Loretta Doyle’s claims Daniel had run off with a younger woman. After six long years, it emerged Loretta, from New Jersey, had murdered Daniel and left his dying body in the bath while […]
CAROLYN Burrough thought her dad was happily married – until he disappeared.
The 49-year-old, from Florida, USA, was baffled by her step-mum Loretta Doyle’s claims Daniel had run off with a younger woman.
After six long years, it emerged Loretta, from New Jersey, had murdered Daniel and left his dying body in the bath while she went on holiday. She later chopped him up into pieces – and even kept his severed head in a handbag.
His decomposing remains were stored in Loretta’s cupboard for six years – while she sold his possessions, pocketing £77,000.
Speaking for the first time, Carolyn opened up to Fabulous Digital about the horror her family had been through…
“You need to file a missing person’s report,” my Uncle Ray told my brother Danny and me. “He’s been missing for two weeks – something’s not right.”
It was summer 2007 when Uncle Ray called to explain my dad, Daniel Burroughs, 61, was missing.
They were very close and normally saw each other every weekend – so he was instantly concerned.
The news came as a shock to Danny and me. We’d visited Daniel and my step-mum Loretta Doyle, now 68, at their home in New Jersey just two weeks earlier.
We’d had a lovely weekend of drinking cocktails and singing karaoke – joined by my daughter Amanda, then 17.
Dad and Loretta seemed normal, I had no reason to believe anything was wrong.
Police were immediately drawn to a horrific smell coming from the cupboard in the spare bedroom. They found my dad’s severed head and decomposing body
Carolyn Burrough
I hadn’t always been close to my dad. I was six years old when he split from my mum Carol and left home.
But when I turned 13, he came back into our lives. We would go out on his boat at weekends and have dinner at his house during the week.
It felt really good to get to know my dad again.
In the late 90s, Dad divorced his second wife and married Loretta, his childhood sweetheart, who had looked him up online after her first husband died.
I liked Loretta. She was a good step-mum to Danny and me – and would often invite us over to their house.
After a few years, cracks began to show. Dad wanted to move to Florida, where Danny and I live, and retire here.
Loretta refused to leave New Jersey but Dad was adamant and put his house up for sale.
But we had no idea how bad things really were.
Uncle Ray became suspicious when Loretta told him Dad had left her for a younger woman and moved to Florida without her.
He told us: “Daniel hasn’t taken any clothes or personal belongings. He left his car, his trophies, his boat – even his tooth-brush. I reckon Loretta knows something.”
Concerned, I called Loretta – who was hysterical. After that, she began to distance herself from us.
I liked Loretta. She was a good step-mum to Danny and me – and would often invite us over to their house
Carolyn Burrough
Meanwhile, we filed a missing person’s report with the police.
We called everyone we knew, to ask if they’d seen Dad. We knocked on doors, made missing person’s posters and set up a Facebook page called Find Danny Burroughs.
Deep down, I knew something terrible had happened – but for six years we refused to give up hope.
Dad was always in our minds. We asked the police to investigate Loretta several times, but with no body they couldn’t even justify searching her house.
Eventually, Loretta moved away – then she cut us out completely.
I moved back to New Jersey with my then-boyfriend Marco and we tried to get on with our lives, while still praying for a breakthrough in the case.
One day, in May 2013, I was sorting through my stuff to take to a car boot sale – when I found two green stones from my dad.
One had “forever” written on it and the other “Dad”. Looking back, I think they were a sign the truth was about to come out.
Just an hour later, my mum called. “What are you doing?” she asked. “They’ve found your dad.”
My heart was beating so fast I could barely breathe. “He was in Loretta’s closet,” she said, but I didn’t understand what she was telling me.
I immediately drove to my mum’s house, which was surrounded by local news crews.
We learned the police had been investigating Loretta for embezzlement charges at work.
They got a warrant to search her house and were immediately drawn to a horrific smell coming from the cupboard in the spare bedroom.
There they found two plastic containers. In one, they found my dad’s severed head, wrapped in duct tape, plastic bags and stuffed in a woman’s handbag.
In the other, they found my dad’s decomposing body, which had been chopped into pieces and wrapped in more plastic bags.
Loretta had used dryer sheets, smelly balls and air fresheners to try and mask the smell – but it did nothing to conceal it from the police
Carolyn Burrough
By now, everything was mush and bones. Loretta had used dryer sheets, smelly balls and air fresheners to try and mask the smell – but it did nothing to conceal it from the police.
Loretta was arrested and her case finally came to trial in March 2015, at Atlanta County Criminal Court in New Jersey.
The details were horrific. Loretta confessed to stabbing my dad in the back with a butcher’s knife during an argument.
She then stabbed him in the chest and pushed his dying body into the bathtub, where she left him for four days while she went on holiday with her daughter Nicole.
When she got home, the blood had drained from his body and Loretta buried it in the back garden.
She later dug Dad up, chopped up his body and put it in the plastic containers.
After murdering my dad, Loretta forged his signature to take possession of and sell his house, which had two acres of land, for £140,000.
She went on to move twice, always taking Dad’s remains with her, and pocketed a further £77,500 ($100,000) by selling off his possessions.
When she was arrested, she was in the process of moving for a third time.
I was so angry, no one deserves to die in that way.
Loretta never confessed her motive, but I believe the row was about Dad’s plan to move to Florida. He was punished for putting his kids before his wife.
Loretta moved twice, always taking Dad’s remains with her, and pocketed a further £77k by selling off his possessions
Carolyn Burrough
A year after Dad’s remains were found, we finally had his funeral.
We cremated what was left of him and shared his ashes – I have some in an urn and a necklace.
In March 2015, Loretta was found guilty of murder and was jailed for 55 years. She will die there.
At her sentencing, Assistant Atlantic County Prosecutor Kathleen Bond said: “Her actions are unimaginable, the stuff of nightmares and horror movies.”
I am glad justice has been done, she can never harm anyone else again.
For me, it felt like closure – but it cannot erase the horror of losing my dad.
I’m back in Florida now. I feel like I owe it to my dad to get on with life and be happy. I’m with a marvellous man called Mike who proposed in September 2017.
Inspired by what happened to my dad, I’ve quit working as a waitress and in a factory – and am studying for a degree in criminal science/justice. I’d love to work in forensics afterwards.
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And Amanda is having my first grandchild in January, a little girl she’s planning to call Caroline after me.
I wish more than anything Dad was still with us, but I believe he’s watching over us – and think he’d very proud.
We previously spoke to a woman whose best friend’s body was left rotting in her controlling ex’s airing cupboard for 15 months – she’d begged for help to escape him.