Dean Lowe | I’m Related To A Killer | Forensic Files

in a remote coastal town in Cornwall in the southwest of England 32-year-old Kirby noden
vanished she was never found her boyfriend Dean low had killed her Dean had smashed kby around the head
with the rock with such force that it had shattered into pieces they were together such a long time she must have
loved him she must have in some weird way how on Earth do you do what Dean did which was to dismember that body and
dispose of it and then to carry on living as if nothing had happened Dean and Kirby although they had a chaotic
relationship I always believed that they loved each other and that they were made
for each other you don't do that to somebody and expect people to still see you as human you're a monster Dean was
perceived as the nightmare of the family I still care about him family is important and we were all close as kids
and family's family isn't it [Music] [Music] on April 23rd 2018 Dean low was put on
trial at Truro Crown Court for the murder of his long-term girlfriend Kirby noden I'm Lucy Clark Billings and I'm a
journalist I covered this case at the time the atmosphere in court was incredibly sad I thought I was going to
report on a case that would be very gruesome and very Grizzly but I had absolutely no idea I was going to be
listening to this Kirby had been murdered using blunt trauma her body had laay there for a
couple of days and then he'd made a decision that he had to get rid of her body and he made the decision that the
easiest way to dispose of Kirby would be for him to dismember her despite confessing to the murder
both to Rebecca and other family members and to the police off officer at the scene of the crime Dean shocked Everyone
by pleading not guilty his defense in court was that k and a gentleman that she was seeing had come and filled
colostomy bags full of Kirby's blood and spray these colostomy bags all around the room and then they had raped
him and then moved to South Africa together I have absolutely no idea where where it's come from
that was one of the strangest things I've ever reported on it wasn't just the murder itself which was awful to witness
and awful to report on but it was this fantasy thread that went through the whole trial him claiming it was all a
big setup and that Kirby was at fault it's probably just a drug induced fantasy that he's had maybe to try and
help himself deal with what he's done perhaps his mental health was so poor and his drug use had been so prolific
for so long that he wasn't in touch with reality anymore and he had no idea what
he was doing didn't think that anything like that would ever happen within my family it's a bizarre situation to be
in Dean low was born in 19 1985 and grew up in the county of chesher just 45 minutes outside of
Manchester my name is Raa Tilford and I'm Dean Lo's cousin he's my older cousin by 3
years Dean and I grew up about an hour and a half away from each other but we were together quite
regularly I'd go and stay with my nana during school holidays and he'd come and stay with our Nana as well
my biggest memories of Dean is in being a big character protective loud he always into Mischief he wasn't the best
behaved but he had a good heart down below we were quite a close-nit family we always made the effort to uh all get
together these photos are from one of my Fondest Memories that I've actually got
with Dean and the called old man used to come and deliver call for the fires so Dean being The Cheeky little lad he was
was like come on should we get in there managed to break into the cold Scuttle and uh we were just absolutely covered
in cold dust and Manana was looking after us at the time so she wasn't very happy with the cleaning that needed
doing [Music] afterwards Dean had quite a troubled start in life and he was taken into
foster care when he was just a few months old as a child Dean was actually quite funny outgoing the class
clown as a child he was the naughty one I can remember he took me swimming once and he was like hold your breath
under the water for as long as you can so I held my breath under the water for as long as I can and then when I started
to come back up he pushed me back under the water and like held me there it's one of the memories that I'll
always have growing up that just didn't sit right really but [Music] another person close to Dean was Kirby
noden she actually knew Dean from when she was very young their parents were friends so they grew up in the same sort
of crowds went to the same sort of schools when they were 14 that's when they started dating for the first
time they did spend the of the time together on the park that we used to hang around on she she absolutely
idolized him she really did he was a world like even back then when we were young she just yeah she just loved
him you could tell that straight away it's that first real serious relationship as teenagers where Kirby's
really infatuated there's this real first flush of first love that means so much to both
of them at this point Kirby was a lovely young girl you could go to Kirby and tell her anything and she wouldn't judge
her she wouldn't tell anybody I was close friends with her yeah I thought the world of her she's been described as
funny quite quiet artistic and fun to be around Dean on the other hand was more of a wild child child he had more of a
outgoing personality and this is something that I think Kirby was attracted to [Music]
Kirby was nothing like Dean Kirby was just so innocent and kind and lovely around the age of 14 Dean started
to experiment with drugs smoking cannabis he was making cangs so he like got a can and poked holes in it and he
was doing that under a bridge and I'm thinking wow like what the hell Dean's Behavior also started to
become more aggressive to others my uncle gave me a call and said look is there any chance Dean can come and stay
with you for a couple of weeks I need him to get out of the way he's had a fight with somebody and he's bit
somebody's nose off I was absolutely shocked and mortified yes cuz that's not the kind of
behavior that I'd used to be around there's a component of real aggression and violence and a way of of
of expelling that level of energy onto something or someone in order for him to feel to feel better to feel a
sense of relief Dean and Kirby from about 14 to 20 this was a very onag again off again
relationship sometimes they were together and things were great sometimes they were apart and not in contact as
much they did spit up for a while and then Kirby got with somebody else [Music] with Kirby out of his life Dean felt
lost and at the age of 25 he committed another violent act this time much closer to
home there was an incident with a close female family member getting cheated on by her partner and she expressed
feelings of hurt to Dean and Dean in his eyes whether he thought he was protecting this family member or not he
he went to the extreme of going round to this guy's house and he stabbed him with
a screwdriver and then when this guy was passed out on the floor from the screwdriver Dean put a Telly on his head
and walked out of the situation he seems to show little to no remorse empathy he finds a way to
justify his very aggressive very violent Behavior I think in Dean's man he thought he was using violence to protect
people yes very very extreme violence for the scenario but I think in his mind he he thought he was doing the right
[Music] thing Kirby had had a child with another partner while away from Dean but things
had not worked out in 2010 Dean and Kirby got back together they referred to one another as
their soulmates this was a couple who were incredibly invested in each other she
knew he had his troubles but they really really were in it together and they felt
as though it was them against the world although they had a chaotic relationship I always believed that they
loved each other and that they were made for each other they were happy they had a child
together after that child was born there was a few issues and the baby got taken
away by Social Services by this time Dean's drug taking had sped out of control it was something he started
doubling in when he was a teenager and then it escalated as he reached his 20s Kirby was concerned with the level
of heroin use on Dean's part it wasn't long before Kirby was also taking hard drugs I know Dean would experiment with
anything I think Kirby was more led by Dean in that respect though [Music] Dean and Kirby were leading a nomadic
lifestyle they were already involved in drugs heroin they enjoyed it and no matter where they went the people around
them they always knew where to get drugs from so their lifestyle suited them they were living together but they
were living on the streets this is someone who she really trusted she really believed that he'd
look after her she was willing to sort of leave everything behind to follow this man because she loved and cared
about him so deeply in 2011 Dean low and Kirby noden were homeless and addicted to
drugs they decided to leave their home county of chesher and move 250 M away to Devon I have absolutely no idea why they
picked Devon I mean it's not somewhere that he ever went a lot as a child um nor Kirby as far as I'm aware I just
think it was probably the furthest place they could go to to get away from everything Dean's Foster mother had died
Dean's dad had died and an Anna had died at that point as well so there was nobody else for Dean in
cheser though they were hundreds of miles apart Rebecca stayed in touch with her cousin and close friend
Kirby often chatting with her online it was the most consistent way of being able to keep in contact with them
they didn't have the mobile phones for very long they never really had a fixed address it was just sofas and doorways
and wherever they were I do believe that Kirby could have gone home whenever she
wanted but Kirby didn't want to leave Dean they seem quite happy with their little life that they had going on there
there were these brief glimmers of hope maybe what their life could be like if they were to get clean and be happy
together and that can keep you with the wrong person for a very long time their drug addiction became their
daily fixation there were three people in that relationship because it was Dean Kirby
and the drugs that the drugs were always were ever present in their relationship
and it's what sort of kept them together as well that struggle the sort of the highs and the
lows Kirby had messaged me quite a few times saying that she tried to get clean of the heroine but that she was
struggling because Dean was still so far into it I was worried about them and the way
that they were living but I knew there's nothing that I could have done to to have changed that so just just tried to
check in on them as much as I could in 2012 the couple got help from a drug addiction charity and managed to wean
themselves off heroin for a while before relapsing and starting on other drugs synthetic drugs cause your mind to
lose reality and you can't separate the reality from what is happening in your mind your
hallucinations are as real as if it was happening they had a very erratic chaotic way of living so one day they
could be out walking the dogs the next day they could be high on drugs and and causing
trouble in 2013 Dean and Kirby made their way to the neighboring County of Cornwall where
they moved around different towns sometimes living off the streets or in a shelter
my name is Ellie Jared Hart and I was an old neighbor of Kirby and Dean in Lone Ellie aged 19 moved into the
apartment beneath them and remembers meeting Kirby she was very bubbly very Northern
big smile kindhearted I thought I didn't understand why she was with Dean he didn't see seemed like he was
all there at all the whole time I lived there I hardly spoke to him Ellie soon became friends with Kirby
who now seemed to want a more normal life but Dean had other ideas Kirby wanted her daughter back um
and she wanted to go to work and earn some money and she get off the drugs essentially within 3 weeks of me sort of
moving in in I would hear him beating her at night Kirby would be screaming crying and one thing that Dean used to
say quite a lot was I end you I will end you I struggled with that quite a lot and I did go up there and confront him a
couple of times things now with Kirby and Dean seem to have taken a very dark turn
fueled by by the increasing amounts of drugs and alcohol that they are both taking when someone's got that level of
control over you scared of what they're going to do the repercussions what if you you do leave
you know what if you try to leave and something happens in one instance Dean's violent
Behavior was brought into Ellie's home I hair the door upstairs and I hear them screaming and Kirby come down the
stairs and it just sounded like a rumble down the stairs I came out and she had picked
herself up off the floor and I just said come in here for a minute and then I hear Dean come down
the stairs and then he's bringing on the door and I went to the door and I held it open a little bit and I said what do
you want and he was like can you get Kirby please and I was like no I'm calling the police I've had enough and
then I tried to close the door and that's when he put his foot in the door and tried to shove the door
open and then she went back [Music] upstairs taking drugs heroin creates imbalances within the people tempers
become short and any small point of friction can suddenly become a main focus and
huge arguments develop and even sometimes steps over into violence [Music] knowing that she'd reported Dean to the
police Kirby stopped speaking to her friend I do think Kirby would have spoken to me if she felt safe enough I
think he told Kirby not to come down to mine anymore no abuser wants people talking to who they're
abusing things came to a head when Ellie noticed water dripping down her walls for like 2 days it just kept going
and going it's starting to smell there's mold like what do I do and that's when I
said to the letting agent you need to get me out of here I think he just left the Taps running I think Dean was I'm
going to get rid of her and the best thing I can do is flut out Ellie never saw or heard from Kirby
or Dean again their behavior started to become more erratic and the couple began to distance
themselves from Rebecca sometimes they'd go months and months without speaking to people
sometimes the images that they posted onto their Pages were quite alarming showing drug use or showing grainy dark
images where it was unclear what exactly was in the picture kby was unhappy she felt like
Dean was leaving her alone a lot more and cheating on her Kirby becomes increasingly cut off from her other
family members and is now isolated from them and is fully with Dean in 2015 Dean and Kirby moved again this
time they settled in an apartment in the small coastal town of Mary Zion Mar Zion is a really lovely little
community in Corall it's actually a bit of a tourist hotspot loads of art galleries famous for its paintings and
pottery so a lovely place to visit by the Sea maybe this would be a symbol for a
new start for the both of [Music] them soon after they moved in Rebecca started receiving troubling messages
from Dean he said that he'd got a video of somebody coming in in the middle of the
night and attacking them and then he sent me a photo of his face and it was all swollen and he said that he believed
that Kirby had done it but that she'd been mind controlled into doing it just very bizarre
messages I did kind of take it with a pincha I believe it was probably the drugs talking
yeah in November 2016 Kirby stopped replying to Rebecca's Facebook messages she hadn't been active
for a while and that was really out of character for Kirby I thought maybe they had lost their accommodation so I wasn't
too worried at first because it's not completely out of the norm for them to not be in contact for a few
[Music] weeks 3 months later after no contact Dean suddenly messaged Rebecca in the January of
2017 I got an unexpected message of Dean saying I'm here cuz if you want to vent
at me call me on this number but I was at work at the time by the time I got to call the
number the line was dead didn't even ring I wasn't overly concerned but I did find it really strange it was really out
of the blue and it wasn't in keeping like with the normal messages that Dean would send I didn't say anything to
anybody at that point just thought maybe he was just off his head months went by without Rebecca
hearing from either Dean or Kirby I kept checking Kirby's Facebook to see whether she'd been active there
was absolutely nothing I messaged Kirby where are you what's going on please can
you get in touch absolutely nothing in May Rebecca was sitting at home one evening when her phone
pinged so on the 17th of May in 2017 I received a message off DEA about 10:00 at night I had a blackout hazy argument
woke up with a body on the floor put body in the bin down the road I remember cutting it up and putting it in the bin
for defo I heard the bin men find all the meat they didn't know what it was the carpet had to be lifted in the
bedroom because of all the body matter it was in my flap for a week either way Kirby's gone I hope for
her sake the body I chopped up was fake and a setup must have been hated for someone to go to so much and all that
blood splatter up the wall ain't a joke something going [Music] on he then sent me two photos of the
room there was blood splatter everywhere I was shocked sad it's bizarre it's it's not something
you you'd ever expect to to happen ever [Music] Rebecca had received a shocking message
from her cousin Dean low apparently confessing to the murder of his lover Kirby I think when she first received
these messages she wondered whether this was some sort of mental health episode I
don't think her mind immediately went to Kirby's died it was the fact that no one
had heard from Kirby since November was this him in a delusional State doesn't know what's real what's
not real because of all the drug taking what on Earth is going [Applause] on my name is Brian hook I'm a former
homicide detective I spent 30 years in the metropolitan police my impression was the person
writing this is actually not in touch with reality here when a person like Dean has a heavy addiction the line
between reality is so blurred that in himself he probably didn't know how to separate what was reality and what was
happening in his head it's almost as if they're telling us about a nightmare about something they think has
happened but is not sure although I'd seen the the scene in that room I still didn't believe at that point that Kirby
was dead and or that he' killed her I found my mom and and I asked my mom what we should do one of the family members
found the police a police officer was sent to Dean in Kirby's apartment Dean answered the door he had
no top on he had a necklace on and on this necklace was some teeth and he claimed that they were Kirby's teeth
he was met with what Canan be described as absolutely horrific scenes he is very
aware of the scene that greets him which is blood spattering blood staining and a smell of
decomposition they discovered a smashed up Rock and like a big rock that had broken into pieces that they believed to
be from force of hitting something they found a metal bar they found a Blood Stained mattress that had been flipped
over and slept in and then obviously the the scenes of the the blood there was blood
everywhere one of the things the officer would have done almost immediately would
be to arrest de on suspicion of murdering Kirby a forensic examin mination of the
flat found life-ending amounts of blood it was quickly determined it was Kirby's
blood Dean had been taken to the police station for questioning but despite the blood there was no sign of
Kirby knowing Kirby as long as I have and knowing Dean as long as I have it's hard for me to accept that
that she is definitely gone because all of the messages from Dean say I think I've killed Kirby and they've got no
body once Dean was in custody the investigation to determine what exactly had happened in the apartment could
begin homicides are difficult enough to investigate when you actually don't have
a body that's just another layer of complexity in this case when the forensic examination of the flat is
completed the blood spatter tells a story the other remain that are there because the bodily fluids get onto all
sorts of other things and to try and dispose of all that is virtually impossible so when you
go through all the successive examination of that crime scene you build up a picture posters went up around the
Cornish Coastal Community to ask the locals for help in the investigation when I heard that Kirby
was missing my skin just cwed I got goose bumps I had this horrible horrible feeling I knew that she wasn't alive
when I saw that she was missing I knew then I didn't know what happened but I knew then that she wasn't here
anymore from the evidence in the apartment the police built up a picture of what Dean had done to
Kirby in January 2017 at some point police believe in the middle of the month Dean murdered Kirby with a metal pole
and a rock he then dismembered her body flushed some parts down the toilet and stuffed others into wheelie bins he then
continued to live in the flat with blood soaked carpets and blood soaked walls for
months until around May when he reached out to family members and told them what
he'd done [Music] homicides that involve dis Amendment are very very unusual I've been involved in
four in the 18 years that I was a homicide detective if you think of the time when
this happened in the January it's fair to say that the heating will probably have been on
decomposition starts and you are going to get an odor the ability to stay in the same house
that at this point must absolutely be smelling of a dead body that most human beings would find absolutely horrifying
there's something about his thought process which is very dehumanizing objectifying of this thing
that was in the way that he's got rid of the police have seen the messages that Dean sent to me and within the
messages he tells me that he's chopped her up he's watched the bin men taking away her
body nobody has ever ever been found now there's no going back from it is there from what you've seen and what
you've been told the motive for the murder remained unclear I cried I sobbed what person can beat somebody
like that you know and still walk about and think it's fine I think the more drugs they took
and the harder their situation became Dean probably took it out on her I I imagine it was probably a beating
that went too [Music] far I don't think there was a world in which he thought he would get away with
this murder there was so much blood at this crime scene there was no chance Rebecca was the closest person to
him and he must have known that by contacting her and sharing this information she was going to go to the
police it was game over for him at that point I think it's a question I ask myself all
the time what do you think it was that finally made him tell everybody I think he did trust me the
most yeah [Music] 32-year-old Kirby noden was missing but all the evidence strongly indicated that
she had been murdered by her long-term boyfriend Dean low the reaction of the family was obviously worry working out
whether it was true because it was so chaotic and wasn't completely out of character for Dean to say ridiculous
stuff didn't realize the gravity of the situation back then I realize it now and
I say you know hindsight's 2020 I wish I um had called the police more you know I
I wish just wish I could have done more for her I I couldn't Dean Lo's trial began at Truro
Crown Court almost a year later on April 23rd 2018 he was now aged 33 because Dean had confessed both to
his cousin and also verbally to the police officer who attended the address they had a confession they had the crime
scene and they had the murderer I remember at the time when I was covering the case this seemed very open and shut
but it wasn't he pleaded not guilty it's not unheard of people homicide cases to make
at the time and then by the time it comes to trial 9 10 12 months later to have had a change of mind and plead not
guilty it's their right it's the legal system his addiction would have been addressed whilst he was in custody in
prison and therefore he will probably have more touch on reality and perhaps the impact of what he had actually done
had started to hit home to him I didn't attend cor mall where the majority of the Witnesses were I was
just at Preston Crown Court bya a video link I just gave the [Music] evidence I know it sounds silly but you
kind of feel like you're betraying them a little bit don't [Music] you when Dean stood on the witness box
and took the o both what he said surprised everyone in court Dean's story was that he had been attacked in his
flat raped by two men and that Kirby had fled to South Africa he said the whole thing was set
up by Kirby and the two men if they were all involved in it together and it was all just a ploy to get Kirby out of the
relationship and to South Africa where she could start a new life he also said that Kirby in the flat
had taken off her colostomy bag and started spreading blood spatters around the flat to implicate him in the murder to
frame him if you like Dean even went as far as to claim that while he was incarcerated in hmp
exor that he received a phone call from Kirby from South Africa in which he said
you're now you're stuck inside and I'm enjoying my new life he said that she was in South Africa and
I just thought she's not she's absolutely not she's got a daughter drug addiction no money probably no passport
so farfetched that she would be somewhere so far away from Cornwall it gave a lot of false hope to
Kirby's family members it's very very damaging to tell people who are in the process of grief oh no she's still alive
but it's completely false he murdered her In Cold Blood in the home they shared together the trial lasted for over 2
weeks the whole time he sat there with a completely straight face he showed no remorse the jury then went away to
deliberate for 9 and 1/2 hours the verdict was guilty the judge decided that Dean must
spend a minimum 28 years in prison the judge said the defense was utterly cruel lies and that Kirby had
suffered a pitiless attack and Kirby had done nothing but love him devotedly some of the jurors were so
upset visibly upset crying that a court Usher had to hand them tissues so it was
a very emotional time [Music] when he got put in prison I thought to myself good I'm glad that he can't hurt
anyone else you know especially not another woman it was confusing because there was
no body they didn't know for definite that he'd done what he said he did but he's got his sentence that's
what they think is right that's what Kirby's Mom feels is right I know that she's
died and that Dean's done it I do know that but I think it's just I don't want to accept
[Music] it I think he killed her because he took too many drugs his head was messed
[Music] [Applause] up the dean I knew growing up would never have done that to kby or
anybody they must be a part of Rebecca that still loves him that's her cousin and she hates who he's become but that's
not who he always was she remembers him as this really fun little kid playing with her in their
Nan's Back Garden to know that you have to turn on him and give a statement in court which she did must have been
incredibly hard [Music] it's a photo from my Nana's house so it just brings back nice childhood memories
Dean at that age he was still quite a young innocent child cheeky little face coming to terms with Dean's crime
has been difficult for Rebecca and her family I wonder all the time what he thinks about it
all what he thinks about me me and whether he blames me for the police and for him being in
[Music] prison but I guess now in prison you know he's being fed he can't access all
these hard drugs he can't do any harm to himself or to anyone else so I kind of don't need to worry about him as much as
I used to not only did she lose Kirby who was a really good friend of hers but she also
lost her cousin she's lost that closeness she's lost that family member those memories are tainted forever
because of what he's done this is a double tragedy and the impact that it's had on the wider family members is
massive if she fully accepts that this is what Dean has done then at some level she will have to rewrite the history
that she had with him and revisit that and recalibrate that person she knew but at the same time she knows what he's
done what makes a monster you know what makes somebody do this atrocious act it's not
just one thing it's not just one flick of the switch it's years in the making years of drug use a difficult childhood
all of those things matter and make a massive impact on a person and their actions if he'd remained outside
he would have been and continued to be a danger to the public so he's in the best place for him
and he's in the best place for us Dean needed help much much earlier and had help been provided and accepted
because there is a level of responsibility on his end things could have turned out very
differently the memory of Kirby stays with the ones whose lives she touched she was just
brilliant so welcome him you you you could just not know her and you just feel like You' known her forever she's
just one of them people she was really lovely she had um a really big heart she cared a
lot I do think that she tried to protect me and that spoke volumes I wish you were still here I
wish you were a to have your daughter and [Music] have it's unfair about Kobe's family
it's hard for our family as well Kobe's family we're friends of the family and it's hard there's a lot of
guilt for us as well to know what they're going through obviously I love him as a cousin and
I'll always care about him but I don't think that I'd ever be able to be in a room with him or even have a
conversation with him again it is hard to get what he's possibly done out of my mind
[Music] [Music] now [Music] [Music] [Applause]

In 2017, Rebecca went to police after he cousin Dean Lowe confessed to murdering his girlfriend.

Relatives of murderers tell their stories, discussing how the crimes affected their families and whether there were any signs on murderous intentions beforehand.

Brief Summary

Kirby Noden was murdered by her boyfriend Dean Low, who dismembered her body and was later convicted of the crime.

Key points

The Murder of Kirby Noden. Kirby Noden vanished, and her boyfriend Dean Low was later found guilty of her murder.
Dean's Trial. Dean Low's trial revealed shocking details about Kirby's murder and his bizarre defense.
A Troubled Relationship. Dean and Kirby's chaotic relationship was marked by love, drugs, and violence.
Dean's Confession. Dean confessed to Kirby's murder in a shocking message to his cousin.
The Horrific Discovery. A police officer discovers a gruesome crime scene in Dean's apartment, leading to his arrest.
Dean's Confession. Dean confesses to his cousin and police, but pleads not guilty at trial.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

How on Earth do you do what Dean did?

Reflecting on Dean's actions after Kirby's murder.

0:35WatchDec 15, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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