Missing Blogger Esther Dingley #2

[petitspois]

Okay, so let's look at this list.



If you hike regularly, you will see SAR in action sooner or later. It happens. People go missing and have accidents in the mountains a lot.



It is ABSOLUTELY INSANE that people think she meant this literally. She was looking towards France. He was in France. It's not unusual or mysterious, it's normal to say, "teehee I can see you from here!" I've sent similar messages to friends in Mallorca when hiking. This did not lead them to swim to the peninsula and murder me.

This is particularly clear when she did this TWICE - once on social media, once in a Whatsapp message. We can be certain that the first time she was NOT literally able to see him, which indicates that using "I can see you" to mean looking from a distance in your general direction was something she did.



Irrelevant.

In fact, if you were going to hatch a cunning plan to acquire transport from...somewhere, sneak across France under lockdown, speedwalk up a mountain, murder your partner, speedwalk back down and sneak back to your previous location, you'd probably NOT want to draw the attention of the media in advance, right?



Because he thought she was on a 3-day hike.



This is not the smoking gun people think it is. Innocent people fearing the worst also use the past tense.



This is an oxymoron - either he was searching alone or he was leading SAR on a wild goose chase, but both cannot be true.



a) They're a charity, not a PR firm. They're not "controlling the narrative" (this thread's favourite phrase).

b) The claim that they were on a break comes from a single source, Laura Adomaityte. It could be true - or it could have been lost in translation; between English and Spanish, it is easy to mistake "we're [physically] apart, and I don't know when I'm [physically] going back to him" (true at the time) and "we're [emotionally] apart, and I don't know when I'm [emotionally] going back to him".

In contrast to Laura Adomaityte's statement, we have the words of Esther's aunt, speaking on behalf of her father, who said Esther had phoned her dad to tell him she would soon be going home to Dan; we have the words of Esther's long-term close friend Phil Ash, who said she told him the same; we have Esther's own social media posts, thanking Dan for helping her become more confident and imagining him alongside her; we have a selection of Esther's Whatsapp messages to Dan, full of "love you" and "xx". Notably, these were all AFTER her conversation with Laura Adomaityte.

NO OTHER WITNESS has said they had broken up. All witnesses report that she was happy and in good spirits.



Deliberately placed...by an animal or snowmelt. Not remotely unusual in the mountains.



Dan found her body because he was looking for it. The SAR operation happened in winter; realistically, it was not going to involve combing every centimetre of the area, due to weather conditions and the sad fact that if you have an accident alone in the Pyrenees in winter, you will die quickly. SAR focus their efforts on the living.

Dan continued to search the mountains for months. Nobody else was searching at that time.



Maybe she stashed them somewhere, deciding she didn't need them and wanted to lighten her load. Maybe they were dislodged when she fell or after she died. Those tents fold up very small. Could be wedged down the side of a rock, in a crevasse, etc.



...for a charity. In memory of Esther. A charity she had previously raised funds for. How the fuck is this considered a red flag?

Finally, as for the much-discussed quote about hatred and loathing...it was in the context of telling a story that ran, essentially, "we were stressed and miserable, and then we bought a camper van and became happy and fell in love with each other again."

I get that this thread is just endless searching for examples of confirmation bias to support your pet theory, but come on.

I just wanted to say how impressed I am by the way you copied and broke up the previous post. Skills

 

[SummerSky]

To me it sounds like he was going back and forth to where she was to get a kick out of it. They say murderers love to relive the moment over and over.

Psychiatry is beginning to understand killers much more than they used to.

These people are basically dead inside. But when they are triggered into rage they feel alive. Their neurotransmitters receive a feast of chemicals.

This is addictive to them.

A breakthrough study in about 2010 showed for the 1st time that some children are born with very low endorphins. Researchers tracked their lives for decades. Endorphins stayed very low.

That means they don't get natural highs of happiness like we do. They have to do extreme things to get kicks. And they get addicted to those.

This is part of the meaning to "dead inside".

 

[BestWishes]

I'm new here, but perhaps I just plunge in? I've been reading some of the posts from above.

To me, the most likely possibility is he pushed her off the mountain. It doesn't seem as though she would take a lot of risks (but it depends how you look at what's risky), but he was always on at her to go "beyond her comfort zone". I guess that means "don't bother to feel the fear, but quick sharp, go ahead and do it anyway". I felt so sorry for her.
So I think he persuaded her to overcome hesitation and go up the crazy mountain where she had an "accident". He met her up there or came with her. He simply shoved her, just like this woman did to her new husband: New Bride Pushes New Husband Off Cliff

 

[Witch25]

Just to go back to the theory that she died elsewhere & her bones were transported to the site, I really don’t think that is possible. Sorry if this is gruesome but I have often seen animals (lost sheep etc) that have decomposed after a period of months and there would be ligaments still on the bones. The smell would be gone but some ligaments take longer to decompose. Sorry again to mention this but the ligaments are nearly stringy and would be very tough. If vultures picked the bones clean and disordered them as has been suggested as a theory of why the forensics would not know the body was staged then this would be instantly clear. The bones would be extremely marked by their beaks. Also I have not noticed people discuss the weather conditions on the mountain. Colder temperatures play a part in decomposition rates.

 

[SummerSky]

I'm new here, but perhaps I just plunge in? I've been reading some of the posts from above.

To me, the most likely possibility is he pushed her off the mountain. It doesn't seem as though she would take a lot of risks (but it depends how you look at what's risky), but he was always on at her to go "beyond her comfort zone". I guess that means "don't bother to feel the fear, but quick sharp, go ahead and do it anyway". I felt so sorry for her.
So I think he persuaded her to overcome hesitation and go up the crazy mountain where she had an "accident". He met her up there or came with her. He simply shoved her, just like this woman did to her new husband: New Bride Pushes New Husband Off Cliff

Welcome and your theory is perfectly possible.

If he did that he had to do something to the body to mask the corpse scent. The vultures never circled.

Logistically he'd have to bundle her up & hide the body for 8.5 months. How, we can't be sure.

Hi everyone I'm new here. I was following along on WS, but you cannot discuss D's potential involvement on there, so I have come here. Something is definitely off about the whole thing. I don't think she fell either. I don't think she climbed that mountain. I don't think she committed suicide. I just can't figure out "how" he did it, IF he did it.

Hi. It's great to get perspectives from newcomers to this thread.

I agree with all that. While it's possible he pushed her off somewhere it wasn't that "horrific pile of rock" as an expert mountaineer referred to it. And pushing someone off a mountain leads to greater risk of chaos - easy for dogs & birds to scent her in the brush and very hard to clean up afterward to hide the scene for almost a year.

If he killed her while she was walking her tent would be in her back pack, free from death spatter. But it's missing - meaning too risky to return it.

She has 2 major fractures. He hit her with a rock or pole is my bet. Possibly while she was inside the tent. That would be a calculated murder... limiting blood spatter to the inside of a waterproof tent. Easy to manage and contain the forensics.

All we can do is follow the clues of missing items & zero scenting by animals. And ask why.

Of course he could also have persuaded her to get in a car nearby and killed her off the mountain too. But then I think it'd be easy to return the tent.... Why, why, why is the tent gone?

 

[PeggyHenry]

Great point made about the video call from pic de sauvegarde. Why the video call. She did the same climb the day before. It was shortly after this that she went off radar completely according to reports. Maybe Dc had asked her to .. I do feel a meet up was planned hence her late ascent. Something happened soon after that call. Something went horribly wrong. I feel the request for fresh fruit was to help freshen her mouth / breath.

 

[PeggyHenry]

I don’t think it was premeditated. If it happened I believe it was uncontrollable rage. Pent up anger… realisation that she was no longer willing to be part of their set up. The BBC publicity hade made it essential they were a partnership snd she wanted out. He felt humiliated and no longer in control. He had gone to find her to get her to see sense but she doesn’t say what he wants to hear and he snaps! but he hides the fact he travels to see her because of lockdown rules .. so maybe ensures phone at home etc maybe uses a very old phone. We don’t actually have any details about use of credit cards etc or what his alibi is. I think she’s gone by the end of 22 nd

 

[Agent Krycek]

I still don’t think DC murdered her, but I think she died via suicide and he knew or at least suspected where she would be, but kept it to himself for whatever reason, and then led the search and rescue people on a bit of a wild goose chase. I feel for him as it must have been hard to know someone had chosen to leave you in the most permanent way possible so this may explain his odd behaviour. I know previous posters have scoffed at the idea of him manically trying to ‘control the narrative’ but that’s exactly what he has been doing since she disappeared. However that doesn’t mean he is guilty of murdering her, more likely desperately trying to protect their brand and his future - I’m sure we will see another self published book and perhaps a collection of poetry about the tragedy, which people might not be interested in if it was known that the relationship was possibly on the rocks.

 

[AlanB]

You guys understand that it is not realistic that Mr. Colegate did this in a fit of rage, even though that's the most likely way such a thing would happen in real life ?

A fit of rage would mean that it would not be premeditated and so he would take his phone with him, which means it would inevitably ping a mast on the way to her and thus give the Police the evidence that he was not where he said he was. The hire car via cash without ID is out of the question too, those people virtually want blood !

I think it is logistically virtually impossible because his phone/credit card/laptop would alert the Police to where he was and the logistics of going in the night by bike to kill her, drag her body up and drop her over the edge without leaving any clues and getting there and then back unobserved in the very early morning doesn't sound credible to me. I also don't think he would be looking to go there to kill her anyway - it is clear that he likes to have a "disciple" to massage his ego...

A couple of other points :
(1) There is talk of her body being released and then the ashes scattered - I wouldn't think the Police would allow this if they thought the case was still unsolved.
(2) He'd have to be extremely dumb (I don't like the way he acts, but I don't think he's dumb) if he wanted to kill her to do it this way - far wiser to bide his time, propose another final hike together and then push her over a ledge whilst claiming she fell. Try and prove otherwise when him being there is not an indicator of guilt, there would be no witnesses and it would be virtually impossible to get a conviction.

I posted this a while back and the thoughts within it explain why I still think Mr. Colegate is not directly involved (I DO think their deteriorating relationship probably played a part one way or the other).

At the moment I still think an accident where she was in an emotional state and not taking proper care is the most probable cause, however, suicide sadly remains on the table of possibilities and something somebody else (I can't locate who for the life of me) said in this thread that I had not fully considered strengthens that possibility - the mystery of why she went up the same climb twice is solved if she was doing a reconnaissance of where and how to do it - I really hope she was not so desperate with her personal situation that this was the case but I certainly think it's possible.

 

[BestWishes]

No wonder Esther ran away from this toxic relationship.

 

[BestWishes]

Victims are perfect fuel for parasites. Victims keep going.

Snipped.
Paradoxically, narcissists think of themselves as victims and act accordingly.

I think that's a good example of what I'm describing. You're so wrapped up in one point of view that you're ready to believe that anyone who disagrees with you is being dishonest.

Hmmmm..... I haven't read that @SummerSky believes that everyone who disagrees with him/her is dishonest, just one or several posters. I haven't seen the word "dishonest" anywhere, actually. It seems to me it was more about aligning too perfectly with Dan's PR.

I had some more thoughts on stains, with reference to thingummyjig's poem, where Dan sees himself as stained by Esther's absence. It has a rich history of meanings.

1. there might very well be a literal reference here; guessing may be needed
2. staining has some ancient and universal associations:
a. the martyrdom of saints and Jesus on the cross; Dan thinks he's the ultimate victim
b. the mortification of saints/monks/nuns by flagellation, etc.: Dan has beaten himself up trying to find Esther, ain't he true perfection, unworldly almost; destined for a significant spot in heaven, commended by all and sundry 'til the end of time
c. blood is associated with rape and loss of virginity; this is a violent association
d. the risk of blood spatter is associated with women's menses; almost universally men overtly or covertly consider women offensive and defiling (to them); often they are isolated from families (sometimes into unsafe and brutal conditions) during this time lest they infect the household and their mates. Women are considered repellent. Cf. how Dan describes Esther as repellent.

 

[BestWishes]

i.e. you read it on a forum!

and one of your quoted sources thinks she read it on a forum!

Dan? Happy?

Take another look at his personal Instagram. Everyone missed the post where he says (paraphrasing): when you are gone I miss you. When you are near I can't wait for you to leave."

This is textbook narcissistic personality disorder. It is not about him being an ahole. People are very ignorant. NPD is severe abuse.

I no longer log into instagram so can't screenshot.

Agree. RAGE. Nothing to do with happiness.

Revealing video about what happens when you break up with a narcissist. What it's like to break up with a narcissist

Sometimes I get the feeling Dan is on this forum. Just a feeling.

It's VERY CLEAR to me he's at least one poster on this forum. All it takes is analyzing the writing style. Plus, the comments echo exactly Dan's branding and PR. No critical thinker would treat his statements as truth, since the police have made clear what he brands is not reality. There has been shade in almost every police statement from the beginning, from the lie about the status of the relationship, to the categorizing of Esther as "experienced", to the BS about the quality of the footwear, to the BS about his insistence that there was only one way Esther could have gone, despite her plan to the contrary. SAR indicated at the very beginning they didn't follow Dan's itinerary, since they search even up to the Maladeta Glacier.
Plus, everyone knows Dan contaminated the search site, correct? He stayed in the Refuge? He walked over and over the trails from the very beginning, depositing his detritus hither and yon. Volunteers are overtly disinvited from searches in the first rounds. There is an additional reason SAR is adamant family members not intervene in searches. Their close contact with the missing person means they carry that persons DNA and sprinkle it all over the search area. This makes dogs irrelevant.

Hi @SummerSky. Here are three poems written by DC and posted on his IG account at different dates (see reference). These were posted here on Tattle early on by Johara, if I recall correctly. They all scream NPD to me. And I think the poem you are referencing in your post is the 2nd one.

View attachment 730216

What's with the stains? Did they get in an argument in the Gite that resulted in Esther splattering blood? From something Dan caused? Was he cleaning up the site where the remains were found? She bloodied the tent?

Also, the script on the second piece looks very different from the first. Does anyone do handwriting analysis?

Dan is obsessed with craving and eating. The food metaphors creep me out; he consumed Esther and left her hollow. But he's making it all about himself eating. It brings to mind how many selfies he has of him eating brown gunk, and poor Esther having nothing to eat on her backpacking trips, but whatever it was, it was the opposite of gunk, crisp and colorful.

To tell you the truth, the first thing I did when I saw these ditties was to look them up to see if they'd been plagiarised. They're like Hallmark cards of aggressive self-pity. Blech. Even the rhymes and rhythms sound like Hallmark cards. But then, the contents are all twisted.

I'm just trying to be clear about what we know and what we don't know. We all have opinions about this subject, but calling them facts doesn't help make things clearer.

I'm new to this forum, and newish to WS, but one thing that strikes me here (more than there) is the degree to which there seems to be an echo chamber in operation: people repeating things that other people have said as if they were facts, rather than opinions. That can't be helpful when it comes to trying to understand what happened and why.

We shouldn't be afraid to say "we don't know".

You seem to be discrediting poster's observations—based on police statements, looking at SM, seeing what Dan does and says—by dubbing them productions of an "echo chamber". Yes, many posters—and media—are making the same observations. That doesn't mean they are echoing one another. It simply means the same red flags are obvious to many people. And they aren't allowing themselves to be swayed by testimonials in PR documents; it's called having critical thinking skills.

On the other hand, it seems to me, posts like yours appear to echo Dan's branding to the letter, when we know there are significant gaps with fact as well as lacuna in the timeline and communications. They even reproduce the style and vocabulary of the applicable PR statements. More red flags.

 

[SummerSky]

From mountain expert & logical thinker Otto on WS today:

I know this was discussed earlier, with questions about why she would say that she can see him. Today, I'm more curious about this comment.

Reaches the top of Pic de Sauvegarde.
“So happy….think I can see you”
“That’s bagneres and super bagneres”
https://42cc80b7-be3b-41e3-a85b-18b...d/4addd9_d8c55b489c6f445b96d6324dd882f5a1.pdf

And Rickshaw on WS today, responding to the idea someone placed Esther's skull bone with the animal bones on the running path:

As for the possibility someone assembled them there... Maybe. Interesting. I hadn't thought of that. The skull and animal bones definitely landed in an accessible spot! And LE said they weren't there until right before they were found, since that trail had been traveled, and they were very obvious.

 

[The_Investigator]

Well, even if I were to agree with you (which I definitely don’t) that doesn’t amount to no evidence, there is a ton of evidence of varying degrees of strength that you choose to discount, which is your prerogative but a very different thing.

Please provide a link to Laura Adomaityte’s statement that has been reported more ambiguously - it has never been reported differently here and I have never seen it so I am open to this if it in fact exists.
This is what I see everywhere :
———————————-
“Fellow hiker, Laura Adomaityte, who met Dingley in a shelter several days before her disappearance, told The Times that the 37-year-old British woman told her she was "taking a break" from Colegate and "didn't know if they were going to get back together again."
————————————
Let’s see what you have.

Edit: I forgot to staff the link for this - just one of many :

The story behind the disappearance and death of hiker Esther Dingley, who vanished on a solo mountain trek

Esther Dingley, an experienced hiker and blogger, went missing in November 2020 while on a solo trek in the Pyrenees mountains, on the French-Spain border.

www.google.com

Excellently put AlanB, was just going to post the same Times quote.

Ooh I like a challenge .
I've had a brief look and you're right her words are fairly consistent. Although different articles have different tones. Some have a longer version of her statement for instance and are more generalised whereas others seem to focus on the relationship difficulty aspect.

It's been ages since I read the articles I'm referring to though, it was at the time she first went missing, so it's entirely possible I've just blended various witness accounts and tones of articles.
This lady seems sure there were difficulties of some sort. Although it's hard to know for certain without having literally been there if that was exactly what was meant by it or if some was assumption on her part.
However, maybe Esther was having doubts that Dan didn't know about? Or perhaps he felt frustrated that people thinking she had run off would delay the search for her in some way and felt that denying there was a problem would be the best thing to do?

I still disagree that there is actual evidence of him doing things to control her though. The things he says and does can be interpreted in different ways. The way someone interprets his words and actions is opinion only. It's not discounting evidence, it's just a difference of opinion.

I'll give an example and include a reply to what somebody asked about bugging the phone.
Someone made reference to him setting her phone up and from that it was decided that he did that to control her and to be able to place a tracking app on there (this is what I meant by bugging her phone). Maybe she found setting up a phone boring and he was happy to do it? Why does it have to be a negative thing?

Similarly comments about him controlling what she ate because they ate bigger meals when he was with her. Couldn't it also be because maybe he enjoyed cooking more or he encouraged her to eat well? Why does it have to be assumed as something negative about him?

I just feel sad for him, as I would for anyone in the same situation. He has been cleared of any involvement, in fact I don't think he was ever an official suspect in the first place, yet his words and actions, some of which are years old, are being picked apart. It just seems unjust I suppose. He's a victim in all this too. I doubt he reads here but can you imagine if you were him and you read some of the things that have been said here? It could destroy a person completely.

That said, I do realise this is a gossip forum and people are here to debate stuff and give opinions. That's the whole point of the website obviously!

I think I'd feel differently if the circumstances were such that there was cause to believe he could be involved but there isn't in this case.

Oh come off it,… no sign of her for 8 months, bones with convenient dna attached turn up on a path,. Apparently life insurance won’t pay without evidence of death. police say they suspect murder if they don’t find the body now,.. he discovers the body, to get them off his back.. yeh,…loads of people get away with murder and evidence or facts are worked out years and years later,.. but with social media,. I.e. places like this site, tattle.life,.. hundreds of people can work together to figure it all out rather than just a few police with loads of other pressing cases to solve,.. we have the time and more resources.

 

[Estella]

I think anyone strong or otherwise could be made to feel suicidal if a high profile national media outfit (BBC in this case) published an article tying them pretty irrevocably to a coercive controller they really weren't happy with, and perhaps had only just fully come to terms with that realisation. Possibly (the article) without their full consent either (we don't know if Esther really wanted the article, although she was clearly involved - but perhaps DC kept her in the dark as to timing, and it caught her totally unawares.) The article coming out on the day she disappears has to be more than just an eerie coincidence.

That is a really interesting observation that I hadn't noticed... she disappears literally on THE SAME DAY that the BBC article gets published. Blimey.

 

[Pollyanna263]

Esther doesn't have the psychological profile of someone who would commit suicide.

Everything she did on the hike was about reclaiming independence. She tells us how much she loves her new self sufficiency. She has purpose. She befriends people en route. She celebrates achievements and shares them.

I do agree with you.

The only thought I have, though, is what if the prospect of having to face him again, to stand up to him, was too big, too terrifying?

In a situation where you feel so horribly trapped, there’s a possibility you don’t see another way out.

 

[Estella]

You wouldn't think he was with her, don't see her at all on his IG, not 1 picture, whereas plenty of him on hers.

In his instagram bio, he also says 'lives with a partner' which reads quite cold as in A partner rather than 'my partner' or her name, and considering he has tagged the @EstherandDan insta account, he hasn't tagged her own account @healthyadventureswithlove. Perhaps this is nothing out of the ordinary for him, or perhaps it was thought through. Why would he not want to say her name or post (obvious*) photos of her in his account? Although he did refer to the account estheranddan, so I suppose she isn't completely left out there.

*I say obvious, as in you can identify Esther from them. There are approx 3 photos of her in his account but they are all from quite a distance and she is facing away from the camera, so you can only see her back.

 

[SummerSky]

I do agree with you.

The only thought I have, though, is what if the prospect of having to face him again, to stand up to him, was too big, too terrifying?

In a situation where you feel so horribly trapped, there’s a possibility you don’t see another way out.

No. One's instinct is to fight and keep fighting for freedom.

The only example I have seen of what you describe is when a Thai girl was trafficked to another country. When she was faced with the prospect of gang r.. she jumped out the window of a 6 storey building.

She preferred the risk of death to life as a sex slave. She gambled.

She survived. This was a news article I'll never forget. Courage.

Esther was courageous. How many of us would go hiking solo in a very cold, lonely place?

Here's the latest from him.

Bear in mind he wrote this & posted it on FB.

"Saddened"?? How about distraught? Especially considering the circumstances. Saddened is for a pet rabbit.

Of course it is him first. His name first. And it's about their state.

"Their"?? How about OUR? This 3rd hand phrasing is called Distancing.

"Small" - unnecessary. Implying not many friends & relatives cared. So untrue.

Dan, Ria and Terry are saddened by the passing of their beloved Esther who, after nine painful months of uncertainty, has now been found among the mountains she loved so much. Once Esther is returned to the family, a small, private cremation will be held close to the Pyrenees before Esther's ashes are scattered in a number of places closest to her heart.

 

[SummerSky]

Phew. Some wild DC defenders on here suddenly.

Plenty fire. Little research.

 

[PeggyHenry]

I would leave searching to the rescue teams. I wouldn’t want to locate my partners body after that amount of time. I would want to remember them full of life. The thought of it is horrific for me. On the other hand I’d want them found of course. A difficult one…