A 34-year-old woman from Chester has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
She remains in custody after 60-year-old Sadie Hartley was found dead with multiple stab wounds in Rossendale, Lancashire on Friday (January 15).
It is thought Sadie, a company director at Hartley Taylor medical communications, was last seen alive on Thursday at a conference with a colleague in Manchester.
She is the owner of the £500,000 home in Sunny Bank Road, Helmshore, where the body was found.
At about 8pm on that night CCTV shows an old-style Renault Clio car arriving at Sunny Bank Road and driving off about a minute later.
Officers also want to trace a man seen leaving the cul-de-sac as well as a man he passes walking in the opposite direction.
A jogger is also spotted on the footage entering the street moments later.
An employee of Sadie’s called police at 10.40pm on Friday after concerns had grown because she had not been in contact.
Her partner Ian Johnson, a member of the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team, was on a skiing holiday in the Alps at the time, our sister paper the Manchester Evening News reported.
A post mortem examination carried out on Saturday evening confirmed the cause of death as multiple stab wounds.
Lancashire Police have launched a murder investigation and a scene remains in place at the house.
Detective Superintendent Paul Withers of the Force Major Investigation Team (FMIT) said: “We are making steady progress with this complex investigation with an arrest being made overnight.
“I would continue to urge anyone with information who has not yet come forward to do so as soon as possible to help us build up a clear picture of Sadie’s final movements and any suspicious activity in the area.
“We now know there was a Renault Clio car and at least three people all on Sunny Bank Road at around 8pm on Thursday January 14.
“We believe this could be around the time that she was murdered and we want to trace these people as soon as possible.”
Anyone with information should call Lancashire Police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
