On 28 February 2021, Couzens booked a white car from a vehicle hire company in. At 07:00 GMT on 3 March, he completed a 12-hour shift before traveling to Kent to collect the hire car. He then drove back to London where he was recorded as being in and on. After arriving in, he again drove to Earl's Court before returning to Clapham at 21:23.
At around 21:00, Everard had left a friend's house on Leathwaite Road near, west of. She walked along the A205 across the common en route to her home. She spoke to her boyfriend on her phone for about fifteen minutes and agreed to meet him the next day. At 21:28, she was seen on footage and four minutes later on in a passing police car.
At 21:34, Couzens – who had parked the Vauxhall on the pavement outside Poynders Court – stopped Everard and showed her his police before handcuffing her, claiming that he was arresting her for having breached. Couzens and Everard were twice captured by bus; the first instance at 21:35 showed them beside the hired Vauxhall and the second, at 21:38, showed the Vauxhalls. Around this time, Couzens and Everard entered the car and Couzens drove to Kent; the route of the car was retrospectively tracked using CCTV.
By 23:43, Couzens and Everard were in Dover and had transferred to Couzens's car. Between 23:53 and 00:57 on 4 March, Couzens's mobile phone was connected to the area, and it is believed that this is when he raped Everard. At 02:34, Couzens purchased drinks from a Dover petrol station; it is believed that Everard used his at some point before this. Couzens then drove to near, where his car was captured on CCTV in the area between 03:22 and 06:32 before driving back to Dover to switch back into his rental car before returning it at 08:26. After Couzens returned the hire car, he drove his car to, Kent, disposing of Everard's mobile phone in one of the town's watercourses at 09:21. Later that day, Everard's boyfriend contacted the police after Everard did not meet him.
In the days after the murder, Couzens told senior colleagues that he was suffering from stress and no longer wanted to carry a gun. On 5 March, shortly after 11:00, Couzens bought and filled a petrol container at a service station in. He then drove to Hoad's Wood, where his car was captured on CCTV at 12:37, and burned Everard's body inside a refrigerator. At 13:47 he bought two large builder's bags before returning to Hoad's Wood on 7 March, where he used one of the bags to dispose of Everard's remains in a pond. On 8 March he reported himself ill from work, handing in his equipment including his police belt and handcuffs.
At 16:20 on 10 March, police searching Hoad's Wood found human remains in a large builder's bag, approximately 100 meters (110 yds) from a plot of land that Couzens owned. Police in Dover also searched the site of a former, previously owned by Couzens's family, at the top of the. On 12 March, Everard's body was identified. Two days later, police focused a search operation around The Rope Walk in Sandwich, and cordoned off approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2) of the town. On 16 March, police continued to comb woodland in Kent and Sandwich searched underwater for Everard's mobile phone.
Everard's funeral took place on 22 May, near York.
The results of a held in Ashford were released on 1 June. The investigation concluded that she had died from compression of the neck.
