Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
In this disturbing true crime documentary, we cover the chilling case of Tina Satchwell. A wife who vanished in March 2017, only for her remains to be discovered over six years later buried beneath the stairs of her own home—while her husband made tearful TV appeals for her return.
How could someone live above such a horrific secret for years? This is one of the most manipulative and deceptive true crime cases we’ve ever covered. For six and a half years, he played the grieving husband. The trembling voice on television, the tears that came right on cue. He begged the cameras, “Please… just come home.
” The world believed him. The reporters comforted him. The neighbours prayed for him. But every time he walked down those stairs, his shoes clicked against the concrete that hid her. His missing wife wasn’t missing at all. She was right there, beneath his feet, and every desperate plea he made to “bring her home”… was said whilst he was standing on her grave.
Tina Satchwell was 45 years old when she disappeared in March 2017. Born Tina Dingivan on the 30th of November 1972 in Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland.
On May 30, 2025, Richard Satchwell was found guilty of murdering his wife, Tina Satchwell, who vanished from her home in Youghal, Ireland, in 2017. After reporting her missing, Richard Satchwell engaged in a prolonged deception campaign, including making public appeals for her to “come home”. Her body was discovered six and a half years later, in October 2023, buried in a concrete-covered grave beneath the stairs of their home.
Tina Satchwell, 45, was last seen alive in March 2017. Her husband, Richard Satchwell, reported her missing four days later, claiming she had left him and had taken €26,000 in savings with her. He told gardaí (Irish police) that he had come home to find her and two suitcases gone.
After reporting her disappearance, Richard Satchwell participated in several media interviews and made emotional appeals for his wife to return. All the while, Tina’s body was hidden in their house.
A search of the Satchwells’ home in June 2017 turned up no clues, though investigators did notice new plasterboard covering a wall by the stairs. Richard Satchwell’s laptop showed he had searched for “quicklime,” which can be used to speed up decomposition
The case was reviewed in 2021, leading to a new, more intensive search of the Satchwell home in October 2023,a cadaver dog named Fern indicated the presence of human remains under the stairs.
Builders were brought in to excavate the area, and they eventually uncovered Tina Satchwell’s remains in a grave dug almost three feet deep. She was found wrapped in a plastic sheet, wearing her pyjamas and dressing gown.
hen confronted with the evidence, Richard Satchwell changed his story. He claimed his wife had attacked him with a chisel and that he accidentally strangled her while defending himself. He said he hid her body in a freezer for days before burying it under the stairs.
The prosecution highlighted inconsistencies in his story, noting his strength compared to his wife’s stature. The cause of death could not be determined due to the body’s decomposition, but the jury ultimately rejected his self-defense claim.
After a month-long trial, Richard Satchwell was found guilty of murder. On June 4, 2025, he was sentenced to life in prison. Tina’s family spoke outside the court, remembering her as a “kind, loving, gentle soul”.