Â鶹Éç

Chris Farmer and Peta Frampton were childhood sweethearts who first met while living across the road from each other in Chorlton, Greater Manchester.

After University, they decided to travel the world, starting in Australia and heading to Central America.

Tragically, the couple were killed while on a boat at the hands of Silas Duane Boston, their bodies washing up on shore several days later.

Family and friends of Chris and Peta have shared their memories of the couple, whose case has been revisited in the major new true crime podcast, Paradise. Click here to subscribe.

“What you saw with Chris is what you got. He had a huge amount of energy and dedication.”

That’s how Penny Farmer remembers her older brother, a talented young doctor and huge music fan.

“Everywhere he went he had his boombox with him. Pink Floyd, Genesis, David Bowie, that was the soundtrack of his life.”

Peta was quite the opposite. School friend Sue Dobson was fascinated by her calm character.

"She was very zen. I saw something in her that was lacking in me and that fascinated me. She was so beautiful and interesting."

Sue Feldman lived with them during their first year at the University of Birmingham during the 1970s and remembers the strongly bonded couple, particularly Chris's unique outfit choices.

"He used to wear these absolutely outrageous clothes. He had these silver boots and really amazing jackets that were like patchwork. He really stood out as an individual."

"They had ambitions for the future when they finished their studies, going off and travelling the world."

A few days before they left for Australia, they travelled up on Chris's motorbike to Derbyshire to see his brother Nigel. This would be the last time Nigel ever saw them.

"The strangest thing was that we would normally just slap each other on the shoulder. But when they were saying goodbyes, we embraced, which was weird looking back because we'd never done that before.

"They got on the bike and disappeared down the road in the dust. It left a profound feeling of emptiness in me. I had the sense I wouldn't see him for a very long time, if ever again."

While travelling the world, they both recorded details of their journey to send home. Chris recorded himself on cassette tapes. Peta on the other hand would write long descriptive letters.

"The water here is perfectly clear with some reefs in the distance. We caught a lobster and sardines last night.”

Peta's last letter home was dated the 29th June 1978.

Silas Duane Boston was arrested and charged in 2016 for murdering the couple, but died before the trial could take place.

Penny, who went on to write the book Dead in the Water about her brothers' murder, describes the anguish of finally finding out what happened to them.

“I don’t think in our wildest dreams, or nightmares should I say, we ever could have believed the circumstances they ended up in.”

Jenny, who married Peta's older brother Blaise, says she will never forget them.

"They were so clever, so talented, so much to offer. Chris would have been such an amazing doctor because he was one of life's caring people. And Peta's dark shining hair, I can still see it."