The disappearance of Renee and her three-year-old son Andrew MacRae was among one of Scotland’s most notorious unsolved crimes.
The 36-year-old went missing with her son after telling friends she was off to visit her sister in Kilmarnock in 1976.
After her burnt-out BMW was found, foul play was suspected and suspicion soon fell on her secret lover of four years William MacDowell.
MacDowell evaded justice for 45 years for his crimes, but what did he do to the mother-of-two and the child they shared? And what eventually happened to him?
William MacDowell with wife Rosemary at Inverness High Court before he was given a life sentence in September 2022
He was convicted for the murders of his lover Renee MacRae and their three-year-old lovechild Andrew MacCrae. Pictured: William MacDowell (left) and his wife Rosemary (right)
Doting Mum Renee MacRae with Andrew when he was about three months old and oldest son Gordon junior. Her sister, Morag Govan said Renee’s children were ‘her life’. Govan said: ‘They were both so precious to us and a day never passes without them both in our thoughts
What did William MacDowell do?
On September 29, 2022, William MacDowell – who was then 80 years old – was found guilty of the murders of Andrew and Christina Catherine MacRae, also known as Renee.
The pensioner dodged justice for nearly 46 years after murdering his lover Renee and their child Andrew in the Highlands in 1976.
One fateful weekend, on November 12, 1976, Renee left her home in Inverness and headed south on the A9 with her three-year-old son.
Later that evening, her BMW 1602 saloon was found ablaze near Dalmagarry, 14 miles south of Inverness. Renee and her toddler Andrew were never to be seen again.
The torched motor was found to be that of a major local building firm in Inverness called Hugh MacRae & Co. This company was owned by her estranged husband Gordon MacRae.
Gordon and Renee tied the knot in 1964, but only nine years later the couple had separated.
They shared one son, Gordon junior, who was aged nine at the time of his mother’s disappearance.
It was common knowledge that the BMW was often driven by Renee, despite the pair no longer being together.
While Gordon MacRae had struck up a romance with his receptionist, the mother-of-two, Renee, was living in a luxury bungalow in the Scottish city.
She was still financially supported by her husband, however, Renee was also having relations of her own.
She and William MacDowell had struck up a love affair that spanned the course of four years.
William MacDowell also known as ‘Bill’ was a company secretary at her former husband’s company – Hugh MacRae & Co.
He was also well-known in Inverness for being a quick-tempered badminton and squash player who ‘hated to lose face.’
MacDowell and Renee went to the same parties and also shared mutual friends. By New Years in 1973 their affair was well under way.
Their lovechild, Andrew was born around nine months later.
Her disappearance in November 1976 was one of most bizarre murder mysteries ever investigated by a Scottish police force. Pictured: Renee MacRae
William MacDowell was the biological father of three-year-old Andrew MacRae (pictured). Renee’s estranged husband Gordon MacRae suspected he wasn’t Andrew’s father
Renee Macrae and her son Andrew who have been missing since 1976. Despite investigators urging MacDowell to reveal where their bodies are and provide them ‘with the dignity they deserve,’ he never revealed where their bodies were
The two women in Bill MacDowell’s life – Renee MacRae (left) and Rosemary MacDowell (right) at a New Year party in 1973. By this time Renee and William’s affair was in full swing
Renee kept the identity of her lover tightly under wraps, even when she moved from the family home she and Gordon shared into the luxury bungalow.
Although her estranged husband Gordon was in the dark about the identity of her lover, he was well aware she had one for years, and that he was not Andrew’s biological father.
The only person Renee entrusted with the identity of Andrew’s true father was her best friend, Val Steventon.
Ms Steventon shared that Renee was enamoured with MacDowell, and that she was quickly gathering her things under the belief the pair, along with their three-year-old would be moving to the remote island of Shetland together.
Mrs Steventon recalled: ‘He really took Renee in completely. She even packed up everything.
‘Things were getting a bit hot for MacDowell because little Andrew was starting to point at him and call him Daddy.
‘I think he knew Renee was getting very involved with him, more than he was with her.’
Some suspected, as the affair reached breaking point, the petite blonde had threatened to reveal Andrew’s true parentage unless MacDowell left his wife, Rosemary.
Detectives on the case believe MacDowell’s motive to kill his son and lover was that he feared losing his comfortable lifestyle if the affair became common knowledge.
The pair had a turbulent relationship, as Mrs Stevenson remembered telling the mother-of-two before she met her lover the weekend she went missing: ‘Have a nice weekend Renee, no fighting.’
MacDowell had pressed Renee to bring little Andrew coming along so he could become better acquainted with his son.
Renee and her son remained missing, after the burning motor was found.
The fire brigade hoses are said to have flushed away any other evidence there may have been of the murder of the mother and child.
The only piece of hard evidence that remained was a bloodstain in the boot of the burnt out BMW. The blood recovered matched that of Renee’s.
Eva McQueen, a wife of a farmer on a nearby Dalmagarry farm, claimed she heard a ‘blood curdling’ scream between 7.30pm and 8pm near where the BMW was discovered.
Another witness also came forward alleging they saw a BMW and Volvo parked in a layby that night. MacDowell owned a Volvo 145 estate.
Suspicion soon began to fall on MacDowell but evidence was thin on the ground. A housebreaker named Dennis Tyronney also came forward with damning testimony against the Inverness man.
He told the Northern Constabulary by letter that a man had propositioned him to kill a ‘wife and a bairn’ with acid in 1976. He said this man was MacDowell.
A photofit image that was released by police to try and track down the killer of Renee MacRae and her three-year-old son Andrew
The High Court in Inverness has previously been told by Alex Prentice KC, prosecuting, that the now 80-year-old William MacDowell (pictured) was the only man with the motive to kill because of the risk of his more than four-year affair with Mrs MacRae being exposed and him losing everything
What happened to William MacDowell
MacDowell did not answer for his crimes for nearly 46 years, but after three seperate investigations, including Operation Abermule in 2018, he finally answered for his crimes at the age of 80.
In September 2022 he was handed a life sentence after he was found guilty of the murders of his son Andrew MacRae and his lover Renee MacCrae.
After he killed the two he put their bodies and his child’s pushchair into Renee’s BMW and burned them.
He also set alight the cargo floor of his car, which he used to transport the bodies of the mother and child.
The court heard Judge Lord Armstrong tell MacDowell: ‘On the evidence at your trial, these murders appear to have been premeditated, planned and carried out by you in the most calculated way – not a spontaneous event or on the spur of the moment.
‘These appear, in effect, to have been executions.’
On the day MacDowell’s was handed a life sentence at the High Court in Inverness, Renee’s sister, Morag Govan stated: ‘Today there is finally justice for them. It’s a day we feared would never come.
‘They were both so precious to us and a day never passes without them both in our thoughts.
MacDowell died at the age of 81 in 2023, less than a year into his life sentence for the murder of Andrew and Renee MacRae. Their bodies were never found. Govan said: ‘Not knowing where their remains lie only compounds the pain. Thinking of the terror they both must have felt before they died continues to haunt us’
Eva McQueen, a wife of a farmer on a nearby Dalmagarry farm claimed she heard a ‘blood curdling’ scream between 7.30pm and 8pm near where the BMW was discovered. Pictured: The hunt to bring Renee MacRae’s killer to justice began in November 1976 when her unoccupied BMW was found ablaze in a Highland lay-by
One witness also came forward alleging they saw a BMW and Volvo parked in a layby that night. MacDowell owned a Volvo 145 estate. Pictured: Debris taken from the emptied Leanach Quarry near Inverness which was searched as part of the investigation into the mother and son’s disappearance
‘Renee was a compassionate and caring mother. Both Andrew and his elder brother Gordon were her life. She adored them and was so proud of her boys.
‘Andrew would be 48 today, he was never given the chance to build his own life.
‘The passage of time has not eased the anguish we feel, we have never been able to lay Renee and Andrew to rest or properly mourn their loss.
‘Not knowing where their remains lie only compounds the pain. Thinking of the terror they both must have felt before they died continues to haunt us.
‘We will never comprehend why their lives had to be taken in such a calculated and callous manner by William MacDowell.
‘If he has a shred of decency in his body, he will now reveal where they both lie.
‘Almost 46 years on, the pain of losing Renee and Andrew in such a cruel and brutal fashion never fades.’
MacDowell died aged 81 on February, 15, 2023, less than a year into his life sentence.
Detectives urged MacDowell to reveal where the bodies of Renee and Andrew were so they could be ‘provide with the dignity they deserve.’
But, the killer never disclosed where their bodies where located.