SOPHIE

Two days before Christmas in 1996, the battered body of 39-year-old French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier was discovered outside her isolated vacation home in Ireland. As du Plantier's husband, parents and son mourned her, an Englishman who lived in the area, Ian Bailey, became the prime suspect in her murder. However, Bailey always officially denied any involvement in the death, and no forensic evidence has tied him to the crime. He never faced charges in Ireland, but was convicted in absentia at a 2019 trial in France. He was not extradited from Ireland following this conviction.

Opinions are divided about whether Bailey is the killer, or if someone else got away with murder. The mystery surrounding du Plantier's death has been the subject of a podcast, 2018's West Cork, as well as documentaries that include 2021's Murder At the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie and Sophie: A Murder in West Cork.