In 2023, a British doctor in Essex became concerned that he had neither seen nor heard from two of his patients, Lois and John McCullough, in years. And when he contacted police, prompting them to do a welfare check at the family’s home in the Pump Hill section of Chelmsford, they uncovered the ghastly truth: the McCulloughs had been dead for years.
To make matters worse, it was their own daughter, Virginia McCullough, who had killed them, stashed their bodies in the house, and lived alongside them since the murders in 2019.
How Virginia McCullough Hid Her Parents’ Deaths For Four Years
Essex PoliceJohn and Lois McCullough, whose bodies sat inside the family home for four years before they were discovered.
As the Essex Police reported, Virginia McCullough, 36, appeared in court via prison video-link on July 4 to plead guilty to murdering her parents and living in their home with the bodies for four years afterward. McCullough indeed admitted to killing her parents, both of whom were in their 70s, between June 17 and June 20, 2019, then concealing their bodies within the property.
Over the next four years, when asked about her parents, McCullough would tell a variety of lies to cover her tracks. She would tell doctors and relatives that her parents had fallen ill or that they had gone out of town on holiday or long trips. It wasn’t until 2023, when her parents’ doctor raised concerns, that police launched an official investigation into the matter.
They then searched the McCullough home on September 13, 2023 and found the bodies. Virginia McCullough quickly confessed to poisoning her father with prescription medication and stabbing her mother.
Neighbors Described Virginia McCullough As A “Little Bit Odd”
Essex PoliceOfficials outside the McCullough house in Chelmsford upon the discovery of John and Lois’ bodies in September 2023.
Local residents and workers were also concerned about the McCulloughs after having not seen them for several years. In an interview with The Guardian, a local shop worker said they used to see the McCulloughs “two or three times per week,” but that changed shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.
After that, Virginia McCullough moved into her parents’ home and was seen more frequently. She was described as “quite chatty” and “a little bit odd sometimes.”
“If anything she was just like a pest,” the unnamed worker said of McCullough. “She would be talking about the problem she had in the street… She would come in and go ‘do you want a coffee’ then five minutes later, there would be a coffee sitting there.”
One neighbor, Dave Oldershaw, said McCullough “wasn’t trouble” and that he “thought she lived on her own” at the house, but noted that he didn’t know her other than to say hello. Another neighbor, Phil Sargent, described how McCullough “would always come and descend on you. It would be a fair comment to say she was slightly irrational with her thinking. She didn’t appear to be a threat of any kind.”
“We’re all shocked,” the unnamed worker said, “we didn’t think she was capable of this.”
McCullough’s motive for killing her parents has not been made clear.
At the court hearing, Judge Christopher Morgan told McCullough, “You will understand that there is a single sentence that can be passed upon you in these circumstances. Consideration, however, has to be given to the minimum term.” Judge Morgan added that McCullough is to be sentenced on October 10.