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Snow must have mostly melted by now and conditions vastly improved for searching etc - but still no news or findings?
It was on BBC news the other day that the boyfriend has resumed his search at the base of the mountains, but the police/investigators are waiting for better weather before they resume the official search as they’ll be looking higher up the mountain. So essentially, the official search has not yet resumed.
So Dan is resuming the search for Esther when the police say she is clearly not on the mountains anymore. I feel more and more convinced now that Esther has fled from Dan, away from his control freakery and possessiveness. It is obvious now after these many months, that nothing was found that would suggest it was an accident, no debris or human remains or clothing, equipment. Esther was planning to leave Dan and quietly slipped away to Spain or France, unseen incognito. The lack of evidence or foul play suggests she voluntarily left of her own volition. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Surely if she was leaving her partner , she could’ve left word with the police to stop them spending thousands looking?
I also don’t really buy into the theory that she disappeared on her own accord.
I also have luckily never been in this situation. But I’m fairly certain that if I feared for my own life and felt that disappearing/faking my death was the only way to ensure my own safety, then I would probably also not alert the police. They would have to give some sort of explanation to the partner about why they were scaling back the search, and just the tiny sliver of a chance that he got wind of anything would be enough to make me keep my mouth shut.
Also when you’re fearing for your life, I’m pretty sure police time and money would seem fairly minor in comparison. I think the only people I’d want to inform would be my mother (but if it would jeopardise my chances of a safe escape then I probably wouldn’t even do that).
Also after typing all of that out, I’ve realised I unknowingly have a subconscious escape plan and daaaamn that speaks volumes on my last relationship (now over, definitely for the best!).
I think it's a bit far fetched that she is incognito somewhere. How to do you keep yourself a secret forever? It's impossible without papers, passport, driving licence, fake bank accounts already set up and from my limited knowledge from TV (
) you have to know some really dodgy people for that and she didn't look the type.
I think she was taken or has fallen and just hasn't been found yet. Eta - definitely something dodgy with the boyfriend.
) you have to know some really dodgy people for that and she didn't look the type.I think she was taken or has fallen and just hasn't been found yet. Eta - definitely something dodgy with the boyfriend.
I find it inconceivable that many people would stay hidden this long knowing their families will be besides themselves thinking they're dead. To let her parents go through this for so long is indefensible to me, if she'd fled, there would be nothing anyone could do to bring her back so she could've told them just days later. Him 'resuming his search' for some reason makes me think he's returning to the scene of his own crime, he seemed like he was obsessed previously and is just as obsessed now
I agree, I don’t think she’s gone of her own accord for that very reason. She would know how much her parents were hurting due to the internet and world press. I don’t think anyone would do that on purpose. I think he was a bit of a control freak but I don’t think he was so bad that she feared for her life?
Maybe as lockdown relaxes and more people go hiking over the summer months, someone may come across her if she has met her demise.
There's a piece on Esther in today's Sunday Times magazine where the journalist joins her partner Dan Colegate in his search for Esther. Behind a paywall, but there's a free trial available.
www.thetimes.co.uk
My search for Esther Dingley: the missing hiker’s boyfriend on his desperate quest
Almost two miles up, I am standing on a knife-edge, the last hurdle before the summit, uncertain if I should go on. The flanks of this snow-draped mountain spin
www.thetimes.co.uk
There's a piece on Esther in today's Sunday Times magazine where the journalist joins her partner Dan Colegate in his search for Esther. Behind a paywall, but there's a free trial available.
My search for Esther Dingley: the missing hiker’s boyfriend on his desperate quest
Almost two miles up, I am standing on a knife-edge, the last hurdle before the summit, uncertain if I should go on. The flanks of this snow-draped mountain spin
Archive link that's readable without paywall
My search for Esther Dingley: the missing hiker’s boyfriend on his de…
archived 4 Jul 2021 13:14:06 UTC
Just read the Sunday Times article, Dan looks heartbroken as he looks through the phone, he has aged years. Unless Esther has fallen into the lakes, I still believe she has voluntarily disappeared.
My fear is that someone,somewhere disappeared her....and is keeping her prisoner somewhere.
A fall is usually the case with hillwalkers. It's looking less likely here now. Why? Cops don't think it is and the partner's story has absurdly large gaps and inconsistencies in it. Although partner denies it, she had certainly left him, perhaps temporarily, and told a fellow walker as much. Suicide is possible. But the most likely thing, imho, is that her partner had access to a vehicle and drove down to see her excited at media coverage on the day she disappeared and hoping this may change her mind about staying away. Left his phone at the gite but had another. Rang her asking to meet at the campervan when he got to her area, most likely on 23 Nov. She acceded and met him there. She would not go home to him and they argued; he lost his head and strangled her. Drove home, burying the body somewhere shallow and near a road on the way home.
Cops will finish latest hill search then start to look for the car. They'll need to check thousands of local residences accessible by bike, and check with second homers residing all over Europe asking if the partner had an open agreement to use an old car at their location. Or if they have a car the partner may have known about which could be used in their absence without their noticing (plenty of second homers have an old banger, often with keys in, they wouldn't know had been moved). I don't doubt cops already have quite a bit to go on - possibly a radio silence on his main phone. They'll be tracing all cars caught on cameras en route; checking all cellphone numbers which pinged on location masts. It's massively manpower intensive and expensive, though. They'd likely prefer to let him hang himself, exploit his obvious psychological wobbliness, offer manslaughter and get him to fess up. French/Spanish cops usually happy play the very long game. UK cops less so - they've made no comment whatever, interestingly. Cops have kept the campervan as possible crime scene evidence. They'll have kept partner's devices too.
Re; my last. Missing detail. Fine line between being psycho enough to strangle your partner in a rage, and considering it in advance. I think, from details in public domain, that he thought he might kill her if she didn't agree to come home and so left his phone at gate. Would amount to top murder but prosecutors wouldn't get that through on basis of the phone alone. He has a history of mental illness and on that basis I think he'll be offered manslaughter if he fesses.
Cops will finish latest hill search then start to look for the car. They'll need to check thousands of local residences accessible by bike, and check with second homers residing all over Europe asking if the partner had an open agreement to use an old car at their location. Or if they have a car the partner may have known about which could be used in their absence without their noticing (plenty of second homers have an old banger, often with keys in, they wouldn't know had been moved). I don't doubt cops already have quite a bit to go on - possibly a radio silence on his main phone. They'll be tracing all cars caught on cameras en route; checking all cellphone numbers which pinged on location masts. It's massively manpower intensive and expensive, though. They'd likely prefer to let him hang himself, exploit his obvious psychological wobbliness, offer manslaughter and get him to fess up. French/Spanish cops usually happy play the very long game. UK cops less so - they've made no comment whatever, interestingly. Cops have kept the campervan as possible crime scene evidence. They'll have kept partner's devices too.
Re; my last. Missing detail. Fine line between being psycho enough to strangle your partner in a rage, and considering it in advance. I think, from details in public domain, that he thought he might kill her if she didn't agree to come home and so left his phone at gate. Would amount to top murder but prosecutors wouldn't get that through on basis of the phone alone. He has a history of mental illness and on that basis I think he'll be offered manslaughter if he fesses.
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I agree with you Shadwells, it is pure speculation too on my part of course but the partner has endless red flags and you have certainly mentioned a number of them. The fact that they haven't actually cleared him is interesting too - it almost certainly means that he doesn't have a cast iron alibi.
As you have said what his main phone was doing is critical of course, he will have known not to take it with him but if it is doing nothing at all during the critical period that would be pretty damning.
With the relationship she has/had(?) with her mother I really don't think that there is much chance that she is alive, I think she has probably met with foul play and for me there is one main candidate...
As you have said what his main phone was doing is critical of course, he will have known not to take it with him but if it is doing nothing at all during the critical period that would be pretty damning.
With the relationship she has/had(?) with her mother I really don't think that there is much chance that she is alive, I think she has probably met with foul play and for me there is one main candidate...
Police searching for missing hiker find bones near where she disappeared
A mountain runner raised the alarm after discovering what he believed could be the remains of a body
Just in from today
How sad if it is Esther.But amazing she was not found earlier as so many searches were carried out.Police searching for missing hiker find bones near where she disappeared
A mountain runner raised the alarm after discovering what he believed could be the remains of a bodywww.mirror.co.uk
Just in from today
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