On December 29th, 1969, Muriel McKay disappeared from her home in London's affluent suburb of Wimbledon. Her husband, the newspaper executive Alick McKay, was convinced she'd been abducted. When the call came demanding one million pounds in ransom for her safe return, he was proved right. The problem was, the kidnappers had taken the wrong woman. They had meant to abduct Anna Murdoch, wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who was McKay's boss at the time. In fact, the first-time kidnappers bungled every step of their ridiculous plan, and yet managed to evade the clutches of Scotland Yard for nearly two months. The investigation, dogged by a media frenzy, was the largest of its kind, taking over 250 officers some 40 days to solve.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices