True Crime with Rachel Shannon
DISTURBING: She Murdered Her Parents Then Lived With Their Dead bodies for YEARS
06 Nov 2025
Chapter 1: What shocking crime did Virginia McCullough commit?
She's an intelligent manipulator who chose to kill her parents callously.
Today's case is one that is going wild in the media. A woman lives with two dead bodies in her home for four years before ultimately admitting to what she did and even making jokes with investigators. Cheer up. At least you caught the bad guy. This case is one that sounds stranger than fiction, but I assure you it's real.
And once you hear the context and the details for this case, you'll be even more stunned at what this woman was capable of. With that being said, let's get into the case. Lois and John McCulloch were living in Great Battle, Essex, England, and were the proud parents to five daughters. 70-year-old John had worked as a business studies lecturer at the Anglia Ruskin University.
He was described as being hardworking, caring, and passionate about education and writing. He worked tirelessly in his career at the university where he worked for several years. In his free time, John enjoyed golf and snooker, which is a game similar to pool or billiards. His children went on to say that he was always telling jokes, making those around him laugh.
John's wife, 71-year-old Lois, was described as kind, careful, and thoughtful.
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Chapter 2: Who were John and Lois McCullough, and what was their family life like?
She was very curious about the world, making friends all around the world through her hobby as a pen pal. For those of you who don't know, a pen pal is someone from another part of the world who you write letters back and forth with. It's actually really cool. I've done that before when I was younger, and you really get to learn a lot about another person and their culture.
This was something that Lois loved doing and kept up with for many years. Lois also had a passion for history, making sure to keep up with the workings of the royal family. John and Lois were both such hardworking people throughout their lives, raising their children in a relatively old-fashioned, strict household.
Their children described that the couple were functional rather than affectionate, but in their household, it seemed to work. John was known as being very structured and routine-oriented, while Lois was said to have OCD about cleanliness, needing things to always be in tip-top shape to avoid spreading germs. They loved vacationing to the coastal areas in the United Kingdom.
They loved being seaside, going on long walks, and visiting any seaside attractions they could. They were hoping to eventually move to the coast at some point in their retirement. Both John and Lois adored their grandchildren and overall really valued spending time with their family. Family was their pride and joy.
Chapter 3: How did Virginia manage to live with her parents' bodies for years?
At the time, John and Lois were living in a home in Great Battle Essex, as I said, where they had lived for 20 years. Neighbors described John and Lois as being quiet and keeping to themselves, never really making efforts to talk to their neighbors or really anybody in their community. When John would come out, he always looked like he was in a hurry or made himself busy with something.
Meanwhile, if Lois was walking down the street, she would look down at the pavement and avoid eye contact with neighbors. According to reports, the couple's youngest daughter, then 36-year-old Virginia, had been living with her parents for around five years. Back in 2017, Virginia had worked as a bartender at a local pub. After that, she told her parents that she was working as a web designer.
Neighbors described that they also occasionally saw Virginia, saying that she was always pretty nice, but a little bit odd. She was friendly enough, not making too much of a stir in the neighborhood. She could be a bit chatty with the neighbors at times, not really responding much to social cues or understanding maybe when a conversation should be over.
But overall, nothing about Virginia stood out too much to neighbors and she was generally described as nice. Now, even though Lois and John mostly kept themselves and didn't socialize too much with neighbors, they did have their close-knit friends who they kept up with. John specifically, he would always meet up with this one friend most Fridays for a drink at the local White Horse pub.
Like I said, John was a man of routine, so this was something he kept up with. So this friend was a bit surprised to learn that by June of 2019, John and Lois decided to up and leave the area and move to the coast without really any warning. Those around Lois and John started to see less and less of them around this time until months started passing and no one heard from either of them.
Again, neighbors only saw them a few times a week to begin with, but now they noticed that John and Lois were never coming out of their home. the curtains were always drawn so no one could ever see what was going on inside either.
However, when questions started to arise about Lois and John's whereabouts, Virginia told neighbors that she was actually staying at the house to oversee repairs being made to a retaining wall. She told these neighbors, as well as other friends of the couple, that they moved to Clacton, an adorable coastal area northeast of London. At that time, no one thought to question this.
As I stated, John and Lois had always dreamed of moving to a coastal town upon retirement. Plus, some friends had received postcards from Clacton signed by Lois. They were still receiving communication from her, which assured everyone in their lives that they were out there happily living their lives and soaking up their retirement.
Meanwhile, other family members, including their own siblings and children, started asking questions as well. Virginia's siblings would always ask her to see Lois or John, but there was always a reason for them not to. Virginia would say that they're out of town in Clacton. Either that or they weren't feeling well and didn't want company.
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Chapter 4: What led to the discovery of the McCulloughs' bodies?
not their children grandchildren or their own siblings all who they loved dearly based on the fact that no one had seen them in so long and just seeing how dodgy virginia was acting officers were able to obtain a warrant to raid the home and search for any sign of john and lois now this raid was captured on police body cam footage which has been released to the public
It's been viewed many, many times and shared all across social media. So if you haven't seen it, I would be surprised. But for those who haven't, or you've seen it, but you want to see the full footage with context, I will be sharing that in just a moment. In the video, we see that immediately upon entering the home, they cuffed Virginia, detaining her on suspicion of murdering her parents.
She is very calm and collected, allowing police to cuff her without any struggle. Right as they cuff her, she confesses to murdering her parents and wants to show them where their bodies are located. She had placed her father's body in his study, surrounded by a homemade mausoleum built out of masonry blocks.
Meanwhile, she wrapped her mother's body in a sleeping bag and then stashed her in a wardrobe upstairs.
No one in here at the moment. Hold it. Deplete. Got it.
Stay where you are.
Stay where you are. Stay where you are. Show me your hands. You there? The time is 12.12. You're under arrest for suspicion of murder against Jonathan McCulloch and Lars McCulloch. Okay? You don't have to say anything, but in my common defence, if you don't mention or question, it's not a matter for anything to do with your business. Okay? All right, your arrest is necessary. I'll call it right.
Is there anything in the pocket we should know about?
Yes, there is. Can I take you to it?
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Chapter 5: What were the circumstances surrounding Virginia's arrest?
um a little bit more complicated okay um can i that's why i said can i go upstairs and show you can you explain it to us please because we're trying to preserve this it's now going to be seen so we need to preserve this the best we can so i don't want you have you walking up there all right because it's that that's for your well-being as well as ours oh no okay so what where will we find your mum where will we find your mum okay so upstairs there are about five wardrobes
It's behind the bed, but back next to the sink. That's the second one.
She then talks about how she killed her parents. She admitted that she killed her dad by putting his prescription medication into his alcoholic drinks to overdose him. She gave it to him in the evening and then found him the next morning dead. She said that she also tried to kill her mom the same way, giving her medications and her drink as well, but it didn't kill her. It only sedated her. So,
she then decided to beat her mother with a hammer over and over and over again. Then to finish her off, she stabbed her multiple more times in the chest with a kitchen knife. She said that she didn't originally plan to kill both parents, but ended up killing her mom as well because she was afraid she would find out what she did to her dad. When speaking with police,
She said that when she was hitting her mother with the hammer, it felt like someone badly playing the xylophone all willy-nilly. This is her mother she's talking about. Then, after the murders, Virginia went to the local Chelmsford City Center where she purchased plastic gloves and those sleeping bags using her dad's bank card.
As she was explaining all of this, she was talking in a very matter-of-fact, calm manner. She didn't seem too upset or remorseful for what she did, though she did say that she knew this was coming, meaning her arrest. She said that she deserves whatever time she gets. Then she joked to the officers, who were obviously in a very somber mood after making this heinous discovery.
She said, With a very subtle grin on her face. She clearly isn't too torn up about what she did to her own parents.
I've slipped a pile of those into his drink. There were about two or three drinks that I bought downstairs. Yeah, they were basically... He didn't drink all of them. He only drank probably about half of two. But...
Yeah, when I went in in the morning, this was before my mother, when I went in the morning, early hours, I got up about half an hour early, about 6 o'clock in the morning, came in and he was gone. He was gone.
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Chapter 6: What was Virginia's confession about the murders?
The thing is, the purpose of your arrest is for a prompt, effective investigation as well, by questioning you. We can't do that here. It needs to be done at a police station, all right?
I did know that this would kind of come eventually and it's proper that I serve my punishment. So yeah.
Okay, so, Virginia, I'm just going to ask you this. This is what I've written down based on the information you just told us, because what we regard as a significant comment, because you've made it up on the caution up after your arrest.
Okay, right.
So I've written this, please. I, Virginia McCulloch, have informed Police Constable 77329 Brown... and 79387 Bowers after entering my house on Friday the 15th September 2023 that I murdered my father, John McCulloch, who was stated was under a bed in the rear ground floor of the house and my mother upstairs in a cupboard next to the sink.
Wardrobe. It's a double wardrobe.
Right, OK, I'll bring cupboard.
It's like four wardrobes, but it's the one nearest the sink. Double wardrobe. Pick up then.
What significance is all written down here now, or I've just read out to you? Are you happy to sign that, to say that it's a true account?
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Chapter 7: What motives did Virginia give for killing her parents?
Now, like I said, Lois had a hobby of writing back and forth with pen pals, one of which she had been writing for years. In one of these letters, she started telling a penpal that she was concerned over possible fraudulent bank transactions and scams. Turns out, Lois's concerns were valid because someone was scamming her.
Like I said, Virginia told her parents that she was working as a web designer. She was making money. However, that was not true. Virginia had been unemployed since 2017 and was continuously stealing from her parents to fund her lifestyle. She lied to everyone around her, making up lie after lie.
tricking her parents and the rest of her family into thinking she was a completely different person from who she really was. In total, Virginia had racked up about 60,000 pounds of debt during the two years she spent unemployed while they were still alive.
Officers have stated that they found evidence that showed Virginia was desperately trying to hide this debt from her parents while continuing to put them in more and more debt. She maintained a quote, elaborate, extensive, and enduring web of deceit over the course of months and years while living with her parents.
They called her an intelligent manipulator who was able to keep up with these lies for years. But, Once that all came crashing down and she could no longer hide what she was doing, she killed her parents to keep them from finding out. Then, after their deaths, she continued using their bank cards to dig them into a deeper and deeper hole. In total, she had spent £150,000 of their money.
According to police, she didn't use this money to buy herself lavish or expensive items. £21,000 of it was gambling debt acquired between 2019 and 2023. Basically, she tried telling officers that she felt trapped in her parents' home, and that apparently is why she killed them.
But in reality, she was trapped in her own web of deception and lies, and she clearly valued money over the lives of those who loved her most. Then, after killing her parents, she continued this charade, manipulating even more people around her into believing they were still alive. And this lasted years.
After being arrested, Virginia did ultimately plead guilty to her charges of the first-degree murder of 70-year-old Lois and 71-year-old John. At the sentencing hearing, friends and family members spoke out about just how badly these murders have affected them. John's brother Richard is appalled at the level of evil it takes to do what Virginia did.
He called her a very dangerous person, saying that she has undermined his faith in humanity. Virginia's siblings are also completely shocked about what she did. They couldn't believe their own sister could be so cruel, so uncaring, so calculated to kill their parents, then manipulate everyone around them for so many years. And let's not forget how brutal the murder of her mother was.
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Chapter 8: What was the outcome of Virginia's trial and sentencing?
It therefore follows that the wider family of John and Lois understandably could never have guessed or anticipated that McCulloch would be capable of undertaking these murders before committing herself to this level of deceit. They have been left utterly devastated by the circumstances of this case and they continue to feel the loss of John and Lois each and every day.
With this sentence and with all that we have uncovered throughout our investigation, we hope they can now start to find a way forward with their lives.
At this point, that is all of the information we have on today's case. As I said earlier, this case has been going wild in the media and I can definitely see why. It's hard to believe that anyone could live with two bodies decomposing in their own home, let alone those bodies being your own parents. Then to be so cold and callous about it, it's just unbelievable.
I do see how and why this case took so long to come to fruition and Again, I think it was a combination of the fact that John and Lois were pretty introverted, plus COVID really worked in Virginia's favor. No one was leaving their homes, even for holidays and family events, for a year or two or some people even longer, especially with their age.
It probably wasn't a surprise that they weren't leaving their home for a couple years during COVID. At the end of the day though, I am happy that someone in their lives noticed their absence and decided to take action. Had she not been stupid enough to hide their bodies in that home, who knows how long it would have been to bring justice to these two victims.
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