What was claimed
A pictured couple is on the run in the UK after being charged with the death of an eight-month-old baby.
Our verdict
False. Both Greater Manchester Police and Surrey Police told us they were not investigating this. Gloucestershire Constabulary has not put out an appeal for the suspects, and the mugshots included in the Facebook posts were shared by police in the US in 2021.
Posts shared in at least three UK-based Facebook community groups have falsely claimed that a couple are “homicide suspects on the run” following the death of an eight-month-old baby.
A post in a group for Didsbury in Greater Manchester claims: “HOMICIDE SUSPECTS ON THE RUN in Didsbury. A 18-year-old mother and her 22-year-old boyfriend have been identified by the Homicide Bureau as suspects responsible for the death of 8-month-old Marquel Smith. The baby's death accured [sic] on 9 May, 2025, baby Smith was a victim of blunt force trauma.
“Tyler Chapman and Shaila Bradshaw, have both been charged with murder and are still at large. Anyone who knows the whereabouts of these suspects is asked to call the Police.”
People are then encouraged to “bump this post to help locate” the suspects. In other groups for Farnham in Surrey and Gloucester in Gloucestershire, the location of Didsbury has been substituted but the text is otherwise the same.
However, these posts are not genuine. Both Greater Manchester Police and Surrey Police confirmed that they did not have such a case under investigation.
The two mugshots included with all three posts—showing a blonde woman and a man with dark blonde hair and a beard—were posted in the US in 2021 by Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office in Charleston, West Virginia, where Mr Chapman was reportedly charged with breaking and entering and Ms Bradshaw was reportedly charged with accessory to breaking and entering.
Greater Manchester Police told us it was not aware of either named individual, while Surrey Police confirmed it was also not investigating such a case in its area. It also said that it didn’t use the term “Homicide Bureau”.
We’ve also contacted Gloucestershire Constabulary, and will update this article if we receive a response, but the force has not put out an appeal for information regarding suspects or a crime that matches this description on its website.
We’ve also seen examples of almost identical posts being shared in Facebook groups covering US communities and locations.
We’ve written previously about other posts we’ve seen that falsely claim supposed murder suspects are on the loose, and earlier this year we found examples of hoax posts like this shared in at least 20 Facebook community groups.
We’ve also written before about similar posts falsely raising the alarm for missing children, elderly people, abandoned infants and injured dogs in Facebook community groups.
Hoaxes can damage people’s trust in local community news, because groups can become overwhelmed with false information. As a result, genuine posts may be ignored or dismissed as false.
You can find out more by watching an episode of BBC One’s Rip Off Britain, which features our investigation into the problem of hoax posts on Facebook. Our guide also offers some tips on how to identify such hoaxes.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because Greater Manchester Police and Surrey Police have confirmed they are not investigating this, and the images used were shared by police in the US in 2021.
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