Missing Blogger Esther Dingley #2

[LaurieLaurie]

Remember when Vincent Tabak went to Asda for his alibi and told the police they would see him on cctv?

I suppose they would check Dan’s bank account to see if it was unusual for him to be out making multiple purchases on a credit card since they were living so remotely. You’re not going to be popping to Nike in a pandemic and buying new trainers are you when you live a modest outdoor life.

 

[BestWishes]

I agree.



Yes, it seems a bit insulting to the French investigators to me all these suggestions about moving bones and staging it, like they'd be too stupid to be able to detect that.

I think you have to read between the lines in their statements. They were quite forward in emphasizing how the bones just kinda magically appeared when they weren't there before. And the cops were absolutely categorical that they weren't there before. The cops are making clear they won't be deceived.

Yes, it can’t be ignored that the hiker reported to the authorities that days before she disappeared’Esther said they were taking a break and didn't know if they were going to get back together again.

'When you're not 100 per cent okay with your partner, you're not going to be totally balanced emotionally.’
This was in media reports and there is no reason to believe the witness made it up.

Later DC is stated as referring to this as salacious nonsense. So we have a clear discrepancy between a witness report and DC’s account.
The authorities will have taken this into account.

If authorities haven't had access to thingummybob's transcripts and texts (he never revealed his half of conversations with Esther in the dossier, either), they almost certainly know how many times he called Esther, how many messages he left, how often she picked up, etc. I would guess he left tens or hundreds of messages she didn't want to answer. She said on the Sauvegarde that she hadn't listened to them all.

Well is there a source for it being reported he had credit card payments as an alibi? Where and when exactly did this get reported? Not disputing it but have never read this anywhere.
we don’t know what transport was at his disposal…
He may be perfectly innocent. He may be guilty but there will not be evidence available.
Where is the tent and any other missing items? I can’t help but feel that this was not a straightforward accident.

He could have walked from where he was staying.... No biggie.

 

[AlanB]

Did Mr. Colegate have a life insurance policy out on Ms. Dingley, I didn’t know that, can anybody confirm that ?

I still don’t see how Mr. Colegate could logistically do this without the Police being aware (mainly due to his mobile phone) and I strongly lean towards accident at this point but if there is a life insurance policy that would in my opinion be at least the first possible motive for him to do something premeditated - again, I am just speculating here.

Note: I think suicide is still a possibility too, Ms. Dingley dreaded going back to the U.K. (especially, I suspect, with Mr. Colegate) but would not have wanted to put her mother through the agony of a suicide and so maybe made it look like an accident?
It is rather a coincidence(?) that this happened right at the very end of the last trip of a six year journey when everything was going to change for the worse as far as she was concerned…

 

[BestWishes]

I've seen her statement reported in various different ways by various different media outlets. That's why I take it with a pinch of salt. When it was first printed it was more a comment that they were hoping to reunite soon but were not sure when. It then appeared to be embellished with extra details added on. Therefore I personally have never been sure exactly which part was factual and which was embroidered by media.

The police comments about their relationship not being what it seemed or something were interesting but they were never really elaborated on so it makes it easy to fill in the blanks, potentially erroneously (or not, of course).

I'm not sure if their actual relationship was dysfunctional. From the posts I read at the time (their blog and her Facebook) I thought it seemed more that they had both been through a lot and were struggling to find happiness in themselves rather than within the relationship itself. I got the impression that whilst being in each other's company 24/7 could be challenging (it would be for anyone), that they enjoyed individual pursuits to give them the space needed. I view that as being a sensible and mature thing to do, not something that's a red flag. I feel a lot of things he says/does could be percieved in two ways, one negative, one more positive.

However even if they were likely to separate, I find the leap from him talking over her in a video meaning he's absolutely being controlling in their relationship and had bugged her phone and controlled what she ate, a stretch too far. There is no solid evidence for that at all.

There's a lot of assumptions and judgements being made about someone from what is realistically a very limited amount of knowledge (although to be fair the same could be said for the majority of cases similar to this). He's spent the best part of a year not knowing what happened to his long term partner but realising she was probably dead. Even if things had been difficult between them it's still an enormous loss for someone to cope with. I think some of the way he has conducted himself could be considered unusual but he's likely to not really be thinking straight.

It is of course only my opinion

If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's, um, almost certainly a duck.

It sounds like you're asking people to not trust their eyes and ears. When they look at thingummjig's behavior, read his stuff, listen to his videos, and hear police statements, you are arguing their senses are misleading them?

The police indicated we should not trust what thingummybob says. They indicated several times, not just once. I haven't seen any fact-based disagreement with that. Police don't normally go around pointing to red flags in someone they are trying to assist. It is VERY significant that they did this several times.
I buy what the police say; unlike thingummybob, they have no agenda in this. They're not into branding, making a name for themselves, TV appearances and PR agencies. They do have an obligation to protect people from cons, however. I won't be conned by someone they indicate isn't telling the truth. They confirm what I can see with my eyes and hear with my ears.

 

[LaurieLaurie]

I googled his alibi and it just says he was 100 miles away with only access to a bike, apparently the police were satisfied with that.

Esther Dingley’s lover denies having anything to do with her disappearance

MISSING hiker Esther Dingley’s boyfriend has vowed to look for her for as long as it takes – as he hit out at suggestions he was involved in her disappearance. Dan Colegate, 38, last he…

www.thesun.co.uk

 

[TwooTwooTwitTwitTwoo]

If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's, um, almost certainly a duck.

It sounds like you're asking people to not trust their eyes and ears. When they look at thingummjig's behavior, read his stuff, listen to his videos, and hear police statements, you are arguing their senses are misleading them?

The police indicated we should not trust what thingummybob says. They indicated several times, not just once. I haven't seen any fact-based disagreement with that. Police don't normally go around pointing to red flags in someone they are trying to assist. It is VERY significant that they did this several times.
I buy what the police say; unlike thingummybob, they have no agenda in this. They're not into branding, making a name for themselves, TV appearances and PR agencies. They do have an obligation to protect people from cons, however. I won't be conned by someone they indicate isn't telling the truth. They confirm what I can see with my eyes and hear with my ears.

If the police had reasonable suspicion they would have arrested him. He has never been arrested.

I'm not asking people to do anything. I just think there are different interpretations of behaviour. He's just awkward and a bit fixed minded and not very personable in my opinion. None of which make him a murderer.

I don't doubt his behaviour has irritated people. He appears to be quite head strong.
He does seem relatively media savvy, maybe he will write a book. I'm not sure who would buy it but it is his life experience to talk about should be wish.

Also science. And Logic and just general logistics and a vague sense of any sort of reality.

The last couple have days have passed the time whist I'm housebound with Covid but I'll probably retreat to not bothering with this thread anymore once life is back to normal. As I've said before some of these theories are ridiculous. Why is it so difficult for people to accept this poor lady had an accident?

 

[LaurieLaurie]

If the police had reasonable suspicion they would have arrested him. He has never been arrested.

I'm not asking people to do anything. I just think there are different interpretations of behaviour. He's just awkward and a bit fixed minded and not very personable in my opinion. None of which make him a murderer.

I don't doubt his behaviour has irritated people. He appears to be quite head strong.
He does seem relatively media savvy, maybe he will write a book. I'm not sure who would buy it but it is his life experience to talk about should be wish.

Also science. And Logic and just general logistics and a vague sense of any sort of reality.

The last couple have days have passed the time whist I'm housebound with Covid but I'll probably retreat to not bothering with this thread anymore once life is back to normal. As I've said before some of these theories are ridiculous. Why is it so difficult for people to accept this poor lady had an accident?

Well.. Even Dan was adamant it wasn’t an accident.

 

[BestWishes]

I googled his alibi and it just says he was 100 miles away with only access to a bike, apparently the police were satisfied with that.

Esther Dingley’s lover denies having anything to do with her disappearance

MISSING hiker Esther Dingley’s boyfriend has vowed to look for her for as long as it takes – as he hit out at suggestions he was involved in her disappearance. Dan Colegate, 38, last he…

www.thesun.co.uk

He doesn't seem to have a problem walking 700 miles, so 100 is a piece of cake. Besides, he has a history of hitching.

If the police had reasonable suspicion they would have arrested him. He has never been arrested.

I'm not asking people to do anything. I just think there are different interpretations of behaviour. He's just awkward and a bit fixed minded and not very personable in my opinion. None of which make him a murderer.

I don't doubt his behaviour has irritated people. He appears to be quite head strong.
He does seem relatively media savvy, maybe he will write a book. I'm not sure who would buy it but it is his life experience to talk about should be wish.

Also science. And Logic and just general logistics and a vague sense of any sort of reality.

The last couple have days have passed the time whist I'm housebound with Covid but I'll probably retreat to not bothering with this thread anymore once life is back to normal. As I've said before some of these theories are ridiculous. Why is it so difficult for people to accept this poor lady had an accident?

Whether or not thingummyjig has been arrested has no bearing on whether police are suspicious. "He has never been arrested" means nothing in this context.

 

[Superdude]

There was a lockdown, and no unnecessary travel - so a strong likelihood of being stopped by police. So I can't see him hitching. On the way to murder his girlfriend? Not much of a plan.

 

[PeggyHenry]

Dan was sending her lots of messages. He was clearly not getting the communications back from Esther that he needed. He is just getting messages that are pretty vaguely worded. It appears she is trying to keep him happy whilst at a distance. We have no idea of what the gist of his messages are as he doesn’t reveal their content. Would the investigating team be able to access their content even if they’ve been deleted?
I can imagine a situation in which he gets so frustrated and worried that he goes to find her in order to sort things out. I can imagine him hinting at this to Esther. I think this leads to her ‘ I think I can see you’ messages. The key thing is this 4 pm WhatsApp talk they have from the top of the Pic de Sauvegarde. Is DC at home or in the mountains at that time? Is he very close to her and let’s her know that? Can this information be accessed by police or do they only have DC’ s word?

 

[PineappleQueen19]

If the police had reasonable suspicion they would have arrested him. He has never been arrested.

They really wouldn’t. They wouldn’t arrest unless they were confident to be able to charge him. And they wouldn’t charge him unless they were confident of meeting the threshold for conviction - not least because that determines the specific charge and if you get that wrong it’s all for nothing.

The superb tv show ‘The Investigation’ about journalist Kim Wall is a good example of how this works. It’s a drama but meticulously researched and faithfully & sensitively presented according to those portrayed.

 

[The_Investigator]

He has an alibi. He didn't do it.
Convenient DNA? What the heck. I think I'm just going to laugh and shake my head at this point.
The majority of life insurance policies have clauses in for 'risky sporting activities'. I'd argue it might not pay out in this case anyway.

Caroline Crouches husband had an alibi.

New to Tattle.life but have been following discussions on this thread for a couple of months now. Among many other things, since it's just come up, I have long queried the credit card use alibi for DC. These guys were staying (I think?) in a rural location, presumably with fairly limited amenities (I could well be wrong there though) in a lockdown, and appeared to have limited funds. I just question how realistic several credit card transactions would be in such a combination of conditions, unless perhaps they were remote payments, in which case how useful are they as an alibi? Of course we don't know everything the police know, but it seems just a little flimsy, or convenient, or manufactured, to me...

Yeh it was in lockdown, how many times did he cycle to the nearest village for food? Did that really happen on the 22 nd, 23rd, 24th, 25 th,.. as we don’t know which day she died,.. it was anytime after the skier and his girlfriend saw her,.. and we can also assume the phone calls at 4pm the same day,.. if records can confirm those.

 

[SummerSky]

Caroline Crouches husband had an alibi.


Yeh it was in lockdown, how many times did he cycle to the nearest village for food? Did that really happen on the 22 nd, 23rd, 24th, 25 th,.. as we don’t know which day she died,.. it was anytime after the skier and his girlfriend saw her,.. and we can also assume the phone calls at 4pm the same day,.. if records can confirm those.

How did the police break Crouch's alibi?

Reading more about the Crouch case.... Textbook:

"She could no longer bear how manipulative he was. She lived under his complete control 24 hours a day...

...the pilot had put a device on his cellphone to check on the whereabouts of his wife, whom he had cut off from her friends."

Caroline Crouch reportedly suspected killer husband of having an affair

Caroline Crouch, the young UK mom whose Greek helicopter pilot husband has confessed to killing her, reportedly suspected him of having an affair with an ex before he strangled her.

nypost.com

Caroline Crouches husband had an alibi.


Yeh it was in lockdown, how many times did he cycle to the nearest village for food? Did that really happen on the 22 nd, 23rd, 24th, 25 th,.. as we don’t know which day she died,.. it was anytime after the skier and his girlfriend saw her,.. and we can also assume the phone calls at 4pm the same day,.. if records can confirm those.

Just found out how police cracked his alibi. What a psychopath. He killed the dog, murdered her next to the baby and made her parents pay for the coffin.

Husband of Brit woman killed in Athens had alibi 'destroyed by fitness tracker'

Charalambos (Babis) Anagnostopoulos' story allegedly fell apart after a fitness tracker on Caroline Crouch's wrist showed her heart had stopped beating hours before the alleged break in

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[AlanB]

Dan was sending her lots of messages. He was clearly not getting the communications back from Esther that he needed. He is just getting messages that are pretty vaguely worded. It appears she is trying to keep him happy whilst at a distance. We have no idea of what the gist of his messages are as he doesn’t reveal their content. Would the investigating team be able to access their content even if they’ve been deleted?
I can imagine a situation in which he gets so frustrated and worried that he goes to find her in order to sort things out. I can imagine him hinting at this to Esther. I think this leads to her ‘ I think I can see you’ messages. The key thing is this 4 pm WhatsApp talk they have from the top of the Pic de Sauvegarde. Is DC at home or in the mountains at that time? Is he very close to her and let’s her know that? Can this information be accessed by police or do they only have DC’ s word?

Again, if he were involved I don’t see how this could work for him without giving the game away. The Police would know about this 4 p.m. call, so all they have to do is check which telephone mast he was pinging - if it is not the one nearest to his house-sit then he’s in deep trouble. If he uses a burner phone instead that would be even more suspicious.

I have little doubt that he was pressurising her continually to come back and she was fobbing him off but that’s another matter.

EDIT: Wow, just read that article on Anagnostopoulos - thanks SummerSky.
He should never ever be let out of jail, in fact when he dies I’d insist that he be buried within the confines of the prison just to make sure…

 

[Giggling Squid]

Caroline Crouches husband had an alibi.


Yeh it was in lockdown, how many times did he cycle to the nearest village for food? Did that really happen on the 22 nd, 23rd, 24th, 25 th,.. as we don’t know which day she died,.. it was anytime after the skier and his girlfriend saw her,.. and we can also assume the phone calls at 4pm the same day,.. if records can confirm those.

I spent time in France, the family I stayed with bought fresh bread from the baker every single day, so perhaps not unusual in France

 

[The_Investigator]

I spent time in France, the family I stayed with bought fresh bread from the baker every single day, so perhaps not unusual in France

On a credit card though? It’s convenient he was using one EVERY day, for the 4-5 period, cycling into the village IN LOCKDOWN. In the uk we were all limited to supermarket deliveries once a week, if you could get it. Otherwise once a week in person with a mask,.. or in my case my friend dropped stuff off once a fortnight on the doorstep as I have a dicky ticker.

 

[Giggling Squid]

On a credit card though? It’s convenient he was using one EVERY day, for the 4-5 period, cycling into the village IN LOCKDOWN. In the uk we were all limited to supermarket deliveries once a week, if you could get it. Otherwise once a week in person with a mask,.. or in my case my friend dropped stuff off once a fortnight on the doorstep as I have a dicky ticker.

I’ve not used cash for anything since before lockdown, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable.

I don’t think that’s accurate, we were not limited to once a week food deliveries. You could go to the shop as often as you needed? Not recommended but you could, and I know people who did.

I’ve no idea if DC did it or not, and to be honest with the limited facts available, I don’t think anyone can know for sure. There’s sone dodgy stuff, but he could just be dodgy. If Esther was still alive would his movements be questioned in the way they are? No.

 

[SummerSky]

The Sun's headline August 9.

Hiker Esther Dingley WAS murdered fear cops after failure to find her clothes

• Nick Parker

• 21:00, 9 Aug 2021
• Updated: 19:37, 9 Aug

Look at the list of missing items. All her clothes?

Police probing Esther Dingley's death admit she may have been murdered

POLICE probing the death of hiker Esther Dingley have admitted for the first time that she may have been murdered. A piece of Esther’s skull was discovered in the area of the Pyrenees mountains whe…

www.thesun.co.uk

If you study the list of items missing it is CLEAR this was no accident. So say the cops.

 

[PineappleQueen19]

I’m not convinced he killed her. I’m not convinced it was an accident either. There’s a lot of unanswered questions. It’s early days but my instinct says it will be recorded as an accident and Dan will go on to financially gain from her life & death in opaque ways under the guise of keeping her memory alive for as long as it suits him.

If it was an accident I do think he indirectly contributed to some (not all) of the circumstances that led to it happening. No that does not make him a murderer.

It is such a tragic loss. In that video of them talking about the volunteer mountain rescue crew, not only is the subject matter eerily prescient, I find her presence on screen captivating. And she seems so weighed down.

I realise there is an element of hindsight combined with projection there as I can’t unknow the context. We can only guess at what was going on with Esther. I wish she had been able to confide in someone.

 

[AlanB]

The Sun's headline August 9.

Hiker Esther Dingley WAS murdered fear cops after failure to find her clothes

• Nick Parker
• 21:00, 9 Aug 2021
• Updated: 19:37, 9 Aug

Look at the list of missing items. All her clothes?

Police probing Esther Dingley's death admit she may have been murdered

POLICE probing the death of hiker Esther Dingley have admitted for the first time that she may have been murdered. A piece of Esther’s skull was discovered in the area of the Pyrenees mountains whe…

www.thesun.co.uk

If you study the list of items missing it is CLEAR this was no accident. So say the cops.

I believe this was before her body was found.