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People Who Just Disappear (Go Missing)

There's a fair number of people in those statistics who disappear for a reason. How many abusive men and women are reporting their partner as 'missing, no idea where they could have gone, please please find them for me!' when the partner has gone for very good reasons, leaving no forwarding address and not wanting to be found (for those very good reasons).
 
Druk said:
There was a case recently in the UK,Nigerian guy dead in a hedge in a street,he had vanished three years before,he had lain in a street without being noticed for three whole years.
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Same thing happened in Dublin, body found in undergrowth near a suburban rail station. There are some disturbing details in the full report.

Wed 31 May 2006 at 00:11

A JURY called for better garda co-ordination in searches for missing persons after an inquest yesterday heard a man's body lay undiscovered near a busy DART line for more than two-and-a-half years.

The dismembered skeleton of Michael Murphy (31) was found in thick undergrowth beside Killiney DART station in south Dublin on February 1 last year. Mr Murphy was reported missing in June 2002. He lived at Thomastown Court, Sallynoggin, County Dublin and was originally from nearby Dalkey.

Cynthia Owen, a sister of the missing man, yesterday strongly criticised the Garda search as totally inadequate at the inquest in Tallaght....

His skeleton, dismembered by foxes and other animals, was finally found when a high wall was knocked by construction workers. There were insufficient remains to determine a cause of death. ...

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/corpse-lay-hidden-near-rail-track-for-2-years/26387319.html

 
catseye said:
There's a fair number of people in those statistics who disappear for a reason. How many abusive men and women are reporting their partner as 'missing, no idea where they could have gone, please please find them for me!' when the partner has gone for very good reasons, leaving no forwarding address and not wanting to be found (for those very good reasons).
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There's the idea that thanks to our surveillance society, you can't just 'drop off the radar'. Which is why many people discount this situation.
 
ChrisBoardman said:
But any access to any of your bank accounts would be spotted by police if they were involved.
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If you really want to disappear what access to bank accounts?Thats already been taken care of long in advance,there are individuals in society who don’t even appear on the radar.
 
I was surprised by a recent TV report that approximately 1,200 people a year just disappear in America’s National Parks governed by the U.S. Park Rangers.

I do know every now and then we hear about people committing suicide by jumping into the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park and people falling when mountain climbing.

Then there are stupid people getting killed by trying to pet wild bears, buffalo, and deer in these parks.
 

A British man who went missing in Kent more than three months ago has been found dead in the Netherlands.​


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-67358953

The disappearance of 22-year-old Liam Graham on 22 July from Lower Stoke in Medway prompted extensive searches over several weeks.
Kent Police said it was contacted by the Dutch authorities on Monday stating they had recovered the body of a man.
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Claudia Lawrence's case could still be solved as ex police inspector reveals 3 key details


Now a former police inspector has told why he believes the case could be solved as he revealed key details.

Martin Holleran told Vanished: The Search For Britain’s Missing on Channel 5 how Claudia's last sighting on March 18, 2009, could be premature.

He said: "Because there was no damage in the house, because the backpack was taken with her normal working clothes, I think the reality is, it's happened on the Thursday morning as opposed to the Wednesday night.

"My hypothesis, having looked at what's available, would suggest that somebody has picked her up on the Thursday morning."

Etc.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24679857/claudia-lawrence-case-solved-police-inspector-clues/

maximus otter
 
Druk said:
People vanish every day and are never seen or heard from again,I heard a statistic the other day that there’s over 4000 Jane & John doe’s found every year in the states and over half a million go missing (the vast majority eventually turn up alive and well).
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The number of unidentified corpses has fallen dramatically as technology and data sharing gathers pace, in the UK it was quite rare and now it's very rare (yes some turn up occasionally) and just basic electronic records
 
Druk said:
You can totally drop off the radar if your 100% committed to doing so and have the funds.
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And also if you have assistance. If you are trying to leave an abusive partner (which I realise is slightly different to completely vanishing, but from the point of view of the partner, you HAVE vanished) there are organisations which will help.
 
maximus otter said:
Claudia Lawrence's case could still be solved as ex police inspector reveals 3 key details


Now a former police inspector has told why he believes the case could be solved as he revealed key details.

Martin Holleran told Vanished: The Search For Britain’s Missing on Channel 5 how Claudia's last sighting on March 18, 2009, could be premature.

He said: "Because there was no damage in the house, because the backpack was taken with her normal working clothes, I think the reality is, it's happened on the Thursday morning as opposed to the Wednesday night.

"My hypothesis, having looked at what's available, would suggest that somebody has picked her up on the Thursday morning."

Etc.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24679857/claudia-lawrence-case-solved-police-inspector-clues/

maximus otter
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All this information is in a documentary called "missing or murdered? Claudia Lawrence" made about 4 years ago.
 
maximus otter said:
Claudia Lawrence's case could still be solved as ex police inspector reveals 3 key details


Now a former police inspector has told why he believes the case could be solved as he revealed key details.

Martin Holleran told Vanished: The Search For Britain’s Missing on Channel 5 how Claudia's last sighting on March 18, 2009, could be premature.

He said: "Because there was no damage in the house, because the backpack was taken with her normal working clothes, I think the reality is, it's happened on the Thursday morning as opposed to the Wednesday night.

"My hypothesis, having looked at what's available, would suggest that somebody has picked her up on the Thursday morning."

Etc.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24679857/claudia-lawrence-case-solved-police-inspector-clues/

maximus otter
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I thought the York coppers had always assumed she'd been taken on the way to work - it was said at the time, her chef's whites and mobile phone and backpack were missing, which implied she vanished on her way to work. Also, one of their suspects was a man who worked on campus who had sometimes given her lifts to work, (presumably at that early hour, too). The fact he was questioned means they were always looking at people who might have abducted her on the Thurs morning?

As for the couple seen arguing - hasn't that since been debunked, as the woman had blonde hair (like in all the missing posters) yet she had brunette hair at the time she disappeared..? If it's the people arguing near the park gate, that's about a good 5 - 10 min walk from her house and not on her street or the street with The Nag's Head on. But a way round the corner - would be not the most obvious place to pick her up if it was someone who's previously given her lifts - surely they'd stop on her street (and they didn't, as one of those new houses opposite had a camera, IIRC?) or outside the pub or where the shops are before the turn up towards the park, as there's a carpark at the shops there. Also, not a great place to publicly argue with a person you're about to kill as it's overlooked by houses and people park on that street so anyone else about to start an early shift, would be out and about, where those gates are.

FWIW, I think the police have a suspect - possibly the ex boyfriend they knew about. (He was alibi'd out by the wife, I think?) Sounds from that like they didn't have enough for the CPS?
 
Ghost In The Machine said:
I thought the York coppers had always assumed she'd been taken on the way to work - it was said at the time, her chef's whites and mobile phone and backpack were missing, which implied she vanished on her way to work. Also, one of their suspects was a man who worked on campus who had sometimes given her lifts to work, (presumably at that early hour, too). The fact he was questioned means they were always looking at people who might have abducted her on the Thurs morning?

As for the couple seen arguing - hasn't that since been debunked, as the woman had blonde hair (like in all the missing posters) yet she had brunette hair at the time she disappeared..? If it's the people arguing near the park gate, that's about a good 5 - 10 min walk from her house and not on her street or the street with The Nag's Head on. But a way round the corner - would be not the most obvious place to pick her up if it was someone who's previously given her lifts - surely they'd stop on her street (and they didn't, as one of those new houses opposite had a camera, IIRC?) or outside the pub or where the shops are before the turn up towards the park, as there's a carpark at the shops there. Also, not a great place to publicly argue with a person you're about to kill as it's overlooked by houses and people park on that street so anyone else about to start an early shift, would be out and about, where those gates are.

FWIW, I think the police have a suspect - possibly the ex boyfriend they knew about. (He was alibi'd out by the wife, I think?) Sounds from that like they didn't have enough for the CPS?
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Is it just me or wasn't there a CCTV sighting of her in the morning? Or is my memory faulty? Did they make an image of her on a different morning available to try to boost the chance of eyewitnesses coming forward with Sightings?
 
Earthly oddity said:
Is it just me or wasn't there a CCTV sighting of her in the morning? Or is my memory faulty? Did they make an image of her on a different morning available to try to boost the chance of eyewitnesses coming forward with Sightings?
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As far as I remember, there were no sightings at all of her in the morning. But her missing backpack and the fact that she spoke to her mother the night before would seem to indicate she disappeared in the morning. And I also think that the police have a very good idea who did it, but without proof or a body or a confession, they are a bit stuck.
 
catseye said:
As far as I remember, there were no sightings at all of her in the morning. But her missing backpack and the fact that she spoke to her mother the night before would seem to indicate she disappeared in the morning. And I also think that the police have a very good idea who did it, but without proof or a body or a confession, they are a bit stuck.
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The CCTV images were made publicly available by police (I did a google) but are believed to be of the day before she disappeared.

I agree with you, the police probably can't prove or get a confession yet but I am sure they know who they have as a prime suspect/suspects.

I imagine whoever that is, lives with the pressure of that. Maybe if more than one person knows something, one of them will eventually give the police what they need to prove/solve the case.

Poor Claudia. Her poor family living with this.
 
Earthly oddity said:
Is it just me or wasn't there a CCTV sighting of her in the morning? Or is my memory faulty? Did they make an image of her on a different morning available to try to boost the chance of eyewitnesses coming forward with Sightings?
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Yes, the CCTV IIRC was from day before - one from a parade of shops and another of her crossing the uni car park. I walked across the same car park to get to the uni the following (Thurs) morning, maybe around 9 or later, going to the library to do some research, so found that footage eerie. Earlier that morning I'd been in Acomb, and that was where another suspect was, at some point, IIRC. Although I don't think I saw the CCTV when it was released but some time after. Just drove past her house again tonight as it's on one of our regular routes, and there are flats and houses near the park gates, and cars parked almost upto the gates from the houses opposite - never been there before 6AM but would imagine it would be a risky place to have a stand up row with someone you were thinking of offing. It's not a quiet backstreet but a fairly major busy road, lined with houses and some shops. Was dark when we drove down it this evening and it is a very well lit route.
 
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Erinaceus said:

A British man who went missing in Kent more than three months ago has been found dead in the Netherlands.​


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-67358953
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The remains of a British man who went missing in Kent almost four months ago were found in the North Sea, police have confirmed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-67415630

Last week, Kent Police said it was contacted by authorities in the Netherlands after his remains were found.
Dutch authorities have since confirmed they were found in the North Sea.
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I wonder whether he fell into the Medway and the river and tides did the rest?
 

Cheryl Grimmer case: New witness in Fairy Meadow disappearance​


A potential new eyewitness has told the BBC he saw a teenage boy carrying away a small child from an Australian beach on the day a three-year-old vanished.

Police believe Cheryl Grimmer was abducted but the 53-year-old mystery has never been solved. Her family had recently migrated to Fairy Meadow in New South Wales from the UK.

The witness was seven in 1970 but said the moment was "etched in my mind".

Police have now contacted the man, the BBC understands.

In a new episode of the BBC's true crime podcast Fairy Meadow, the potential new witness gave a detailed description of seeing an adolescent male leaving the female changing rooms at the beach on the outskirts of Wollongong, about 50 miles (80km) south of Sydney.

Cheryl disappeared from the changing rooms on 12 January 1970 when her brother, who had been taking care of her, turned away for a few seconds. The British toddler and her family had only recently migrated to Australia from Bristol as so-called Ten Pound Poms.

The possible eyewitness, who asked to keep his identity private, said: "When I glanced back at the toilet block, the profile of the guy was sort of full-stride with this baby in his arm, just kind of screaming and yelling at his hip, like low on his hip."

He said the teenage boy had medium-dark hair, short back and sides and was of average build.

The witness said he believes he can pinpoint this memory to the afternoon of 12 January 1970 because he recalls that the wind suddenly strengthened and changed direction, causing people to leave the beach in panic.

Story Continues
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-67450740
 
A grisly find.

A headless, armless body was discovered at Breezy Point Beach, in Queens, New York, on Friday afternoon. Police say the body may belong to Ross McDonnell, an Irish Emmy-winning filmmaker who is missing in New York.

On Friday, November 17, a body was discovered on Breezy Point Beach, in Queens. Police believe the body, found without arms or a head, could be that of Ross McDonnell (44), a Dublin filmmaker who was last seen at Fort Tilden Beach near Roxbury, on November 4. Authorities suspect the body was dismembered in the ocean over the last two weeks by the sharp rocks, waves and local marine life.

Friends and family have been searching for McDonnell since his disappearance when his bicycle was discovered by Fort Tilden Beach. Police believe the body found just three miles away at Breezy Point is that of the Irish filmmaker.

Police officers responded at 12.30 pm, on Friday, when the body was discovered in the sand on Breezy Point Beach. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/ross-mcdonnell-torso-breezy-point
 
Floyd1 said:
The witness said he believes he can pinpoint this memory to the afternoon of 12 January 1970 because he recalls that the wind suddenly strengthened and changed direction, causing people to leave the beach in panic.

A rare "southerly buster" is known to have blown through Fairy Meadow in the moments before Cheryl Grimmer vanished.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-67450740
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I'm sorry but him being able to 'pinpoint his memory to that day' because the wind changed doesn't mean that it actually happened on that day. He could have two conflated memories. People underestimate the human memory's power to change and alter circumstances, it is not reliable.

Although if this is all they've got to go on, I don't blame the police for following it up.
 
Floyd1 said:
He said that he did not tell police at the time what he had seen because he did not realise that a child had been abducted. The man said he and his family did not speak English in 1970 because they had only just arrived in Australia from eastern Europe.

"We had only been in the country for three or four weeks. We didn't have a TV and we never read the newspapers at that time. We were oblivious to what was really going on," he said. "It wasn't even on my radar that it was such an important thing that I saw."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-67450740
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53 years is leaving it a bit late.
 
This new witness described a teenage boy carrying a screaming toddler away from the changing area.
Does this description sound like anyone known to be at the scene?
 
catseye said:
I'm sorry but him being able to 'pinpoint his memory to that day' because the wind changed doesn't mean that it actually happened on that day. He could have two conflated memories. People underestimate the human memory's power to change and alter circumstances, it is not reliable.

Although if this is all they've got to go on, I don't blame the police for following it up.
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I'm actually surprised that the Police are following it up. A small child's (as the witness was then) recollection of what happened 53 years ago is hardly anything to go on. Unless of course the Police are not revealing everything they know at this stage,
 
Also, according to the accounts the wind was changing, indicating a squall.
The witness said he believes he can pinpoint this memory to the afternoon of 12 January 1970 because he recalls that the wind suddenly strengthened and changed direction, causing people to leave the beach in panic.
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So, if you were making it back quickly to your car or whatever, seeing someone carrying a crying child might be interpreted as a parent/sibling carrying a protesting kiddie away from their fun.
 
Surely someone else at that busy resort would have spotted a teenage boy carrying a screaming toddler. However,
Stormkhan said:
seeing someone carrying a crying child might be interpreted as a parent/sibling carrying a protesting kiddie away from their fun.
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But even if it seemed harmless at the time, you'd recall it later.
 
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