Horrific case of a woman who joked that there was a joke skeleton in her garden that was actually her husband

When the neighbors of the recently deceased Leigh Ann Sabine retrieved what they thought was a plastic skeleton from their yard, they had no idea of ​​the gruesome murder case that would unfold there.

For years, Leigh had told her neighbors in the Welsh village of Beddau in Pontypridd that there was an old medical skeleton in her apartment, a reference to her previous work as a nurse.

After her death in 2015, the “skeleton” was dumped along with the Leigh family's belongings in a community garden near her home. Her neighbor Michelle James decided to retrieve the object and use it to play a prank on another neighbor.

What happened next is a true crime story that sounds like it came straight from the pages of a horror story.

Leigh Ann Sabine has long joked that she has a medical skeleton in her apartment. (Juliet Eden)

After Michelle and another neighbor found the skeleton, which they thought was wrapped in plastic, they began to open it – only to discover that the skeleton was actually a corpse.

Currently the subject of a three-part Sky documentary series. The corpse next door uncovers the true story of Leigh and the disappearance of her husband John Sabine, who was last seen alive in 1997.

After the discovery, Michelle would initially be arrested as a murder suspect unless DNA testing proved that the remains belonged to John.

Confirmation that the body belonged to John prompted police to dig deeper into Leigh's life.

As the police later discovered, John and Leigh had previously lived in Australia and raised five children together before leaving the brood in an orphanage in New Zealand.

After her death, a gruesome murder case was uncovered. (Juliet Eden)

After further examination of the pajamas found on John's body and the shopping bags used to pack him, police concluded that he had died in the late 1990s. There were also signs of blunt force trauma to the head. However, they still could not determine an exact date or cause of death.

Until a former friend of the Sabines showed up with incriminating evidence.

The woman recalled a disturbing phone call between her and Leigh in 1997, saying the former nurse claimed she “hit” John with a stone frog because he was “getting on her nerves.”

Until the body was discovered, the woman had not thought much about the conversation, because the call was enough to link Leigh to her husband's murder.

The police later confiscated the ornament and found Leigh's fingerprints as well as traces of John's blood.

Leigh would claim that John died of illness. (Juliet Eden)

Now officers were finally able to piece together a case and a motive for John's death. They suspected that Leigh had murdered her husband in his sleep and hidden his remains in her apartment until her death.

As for the motive, authorities believe that Leigh developed a grudge against John because he regretted abandoning their children.

Regarding her children's reactions, her daughter Jane Sabine later said: “I have no doubt that my mother was capable of murder.”

Juliet Eden interviewed and photographed Leigh Ann Sabine a year before her death. The author also wrote a book about the case, The Frog Killerwhich you can find here.

You can watch The corpse next door on Sky Documentaries and NOW.