On December 23, 1996, Sophie Toscan du Plantier was beaten to death outside her holiday home in West Cork, Ireland.
The murder sent shockwaves through the close-knit coastal community.
More than 20 years later her murder remains unsolved and now West Cork, a new investigative podcast from Audible, is delving into the case.
The podcast is the result of three years of investigation, reporting, research and interviewing by its hosts Sam Bungey and Jennifer Forde. Bungey is a journalist and Forde is TV documentary producer and researcher.
LISTEN: Jessie Stephens recommends an episode of Casefile True Crime Podcast all about the Jonestown cult. Post continues after audio…
The pair joined forces to shed light on a case that has long been considered Ireland’s secret shame, a blemish on its otherwise stellar reputation as a welcoming, jolly country.
As Una Mullally from the Irish Times puts it, “There is the collective shame a small nation holds when a visitor is attacked or killed”.
And this humiliation has been hanging over Ireland for more than two decades.
Sophie, a French film producer, was holidaying alone in the small town at the time of her death.
Three years earlier the 39-year-old, along with her husband Daniel, had purchased a holiday home in Drinane near Schull, County Cork, a popular tourist destination that’s known for its choppy coastlines and steep cliff-faces.
The couple would often stay in the holiday home together, enjoying some much needed time away from their busy lives in France.
But this time Sophie had decided to travel to West Cork alone, leaving her husband and son behind in France.
Just days after she arrived in the small community, she was dead.