Unsolved Murder?

Damien Nettles went missing after going to a party on the 2nd of November in 1996, on the Isle of Wight, when he was just 16 years old. This case has never been solved to this date and I have watched multiple videos on this and read a lot about the case and it really frustrates me that there is still no answer as to what happened.

Damien was on a night out with his friends on the Isle of Wight when he was 16, he looked a lot older for his age and he was quite tall. He was last seen in a fish and chip shop where he apparently looked quite intoxicated and confused. Since that night he has never been seen again.

There are many theories about this case, one of which is that he fell into the water whilst he was drunk. I don’t think this is the case personally because his body has still never been washed up and it has been over 20 years! His family also are convinced that he did not run away and would have had no reason to.

The biggest theory in the case is that he allegedly owed a local drug dealer money or got into some altercation with this particular drug dealer called Nicky McNamara and that he was murdered as a result of this. Witness accounts include recollections of McNamara holding a boy up against a wall who looked like Damien and associates of McNamara were arrested but released. Someone (whose name is unknown) told the police he knew what happened to Damien. He said that after Damien and McNamara had gotten into a row, McNamara threw a punch in anger which killed Damien and that he did not mean to kill him. He also said that apparently, his body was hidden and then later buried but to this day no one has ever found a body regardless of many searches and McNamara died in 2002.

I feel like this is the most likely theory, although anything could have happened to Damien that night. This case frustrates me so much and I really hope for the sake of his family that this case gets solved because it must be awful not knowing what happened to your loved one. This case really sticks with me every time I think about missing or unsolved murder cases and I feel like this could be solved at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later! I also feel like this case needs more coverage as I personally didn’t know about it until last year and I really want to bring this to other peoples attention!

Thank you for reading.