Missing Blogger Esther Dingley

[Lanie]

What if it was something like this:

They had a blazing row during the final WhatsApp call. He said unspeakable things to her in a fit of rage. Slammed the phone down. He's now boiling with rage and she's completely discombobulated, upset, flustered, crying, feeling like she's worth nothing, almost to the point of self harm (therefore not so careful with where she goes next). She goes off walking, westbound, in this state, and because she's not being careful or sensible. She climbs something she shouldn't have, almost reckless in her abandon, has a horrible accident and dies.

During all of this he is at home in France, boiling with rage, doesn't care if he hears from her or not. Could THIS be the reason he waited 3 days to call the police? Maybe he needed to calm down and for his rational brain to kick back in again before he saw sense?

Could this be the reason for his shifty behaviour with all the red flags, plus his need to control the narrative etc?

Doesn't explain the "loved" comment, the wrong search direction or him miraculously finding the body, mind you. Each one of these can be explained away, but all 3 together make it dubious imho.

We all know it doesn't add up, hence the massive interest in this case. We just don't know "why". Sadly I doubt we will ever know what truly happened.

This theory is completely possible, especially of the break/ breakup was on the cards perhaps she told him she needed more time/ decided to go on her own and he blew up. Hung up and then she in a fit of sadness, dispair and loneliness decided to carry on a bit longer, getting into difficulties and perhaps perishing.

Meanwhile he decided that he would ignore her for a few days and then try and make see" Sense" good theory i like it.

 

[BroccoliTreetops]

Organised Dan gave us the background to her disappearance (page 2 of the dossier)- I think it was jealous rage, he was sick of her after their long summer of hiking. They had a furious row and she went off in the motorhome to sleep in the layby. Then her popularity and extended hikes (while he is left at home with the dogs he doesn't like, feeling like a chump), rage building everytime she delays her return from a feeling of abandonment. Basically he took out his rage on her and regained control of her, leaving her "in the mountains", quite literally "in" a natural hiding spot which made him so happy.

 

[SvenS]

I keep forgetting France was in a very rigid lockdown, hence why she was hiking on the Spanish side, so yes you're absolutely correct, he wouldn't have been able to drive there.

I've just had a look at the lockdowns on wikipedia (not the best source, but probably correct) and there was an overnight curfew in force, where you were not allowed to leave your home between 9pm and 6am. The roads would have been utterly deserted. I think it would have been a very risky choice to drive there, being caught on the way back would be game up instantly. Also, he didn't have a car at the time, their only transport was the motorhome, so a further hurdle to overcome.

 

[sassmaster3000]

This theory is completely possible, especially of the break/ breakup was on the cards perhaps she told him she needed more time/ decided to go on her own and he blew up. Hung up and then she in a fit of sadness, dispair and loneliness decided to carry on a bit longer, getting into difficulties and perhaps perishing.

Meanwhile he decided that he would ignore her for a few days and then try and make see" Sense" good theory i like it.

This would make sense to me too. It also explains (to me, at least) why he was so adamant that she was abducted right from the start…if there is a third party to blame, he could convince himself that it wasn’t his fault that she was out hiking in dangerous conditions etc.
His behaviour has been bizarre throughout the whole saga but it seems to me more like he is trying to convince himself that their relationship issues had nothing to do with how she ended up, otherwise the guilt would be just too much to deal with.
It’s like how people say “never go to bed angry with someone you love just in case it’s the last time you see them”.
If I were in his position (and didn’t have anything to do with her disappearance), I can imagine that I would also be out there searching for her every day and trying to convince myself that there was another explanation instead of her taking risks on the mountain because of her not being in the right headspace.
The lockdown measures mentioned make it seem implausible that he somehow managed to jog up a mountain, kill her, hide her body, then get back home without being seen by anyone, just in time to get some cell phone activity, to as not arouse suspicion. I also don’t think he’s the type to hire a third party - definitely too paranoid/narcissistic for that.
I think he’s just a bellend, but I don’t think he’s a killer.

 

[Lanie]

Could it be possible that an accident was had and perhaps she rang "him" for help and he did nothing. Pure speculation.

 

[Mustard]

Did Esther leave their house before the lockdown and curfew started?

 

[SvenS]

My theory of her not realising the refuge was just a basic cabin prior to reaching the peak, is probably less likely. I've found a good photo that shows the refuge is clearly visible from the Pic du Salv. It does say in the dossier that she climbed this peak the day before. So I can't believe that she wouldn't have seen it and realised how small it was. It makes me think a bust up on the phone call a more likely reason to head west from the peak.

Alternatively, she may have made the refuge, but had a bad/cold night and decided to cut the loop short, by taking the westerly path from there. Maybe setting off very early, so not wanting to call/message at that time.

 

[sassmaster3000]

I don’t know much about tech - if they retrieve her phone, will they be able to see where she was when she phoned Dan? I know they have his phone so they should have access to how long/when their calls were.
No idea if it will make any difference to the case, but maybe it could give some insight as to her movements. (I understand these things are usually based off nearby satellites/cell towers, so maybe it’s impossible to get exact locations on a mountain).

 

[SvenS]

I don’t know much about tech - if they retrieve her phone, will they be able to see where she was when she phoned Dan? I know they have his phone so they should have access to how long/when their calls were.
No idea if it will make any difference to the case, but maybe it could give some insight as to her movements. (I understand these things are usually based off nearby satellites/cell towers, so maybe it’s impossible to get exact locations on a mountain).

The phone is likely to contain location information that is accurate (unless this has been explicitly disabled). Even in airplane mode, the GPS chip can log location, as it only needs to receive a signal.

(If you have an iphone, open the settings app, then Privacy>Location Services>(scroll right down)System Services>Significant Locations>Home - prepare to be horrified!!)

They will already have location data from the cell tower records - but this will be a very rough estimate in a rural area.

What is likely to be of interest too, is the movement data from the phone. Most phones will have an accelerometer to log your step count etc. If the phone was on, but in airplane mode, then this data will still have been captured. It could give them the exact time she stopped moving and provide strong evidence of her reaching the refuge if there is a period of no activity that would correlate with sleeping.

 

[BroccoliTreetops]

I think a lot of his journey would have been on motorway. Are the police likely to stop him on a motorway? And a considerable amount was though Spain, so I'm not sure if they were doing checks or under a lockdown. Different regions in France were under different Covid restrictions, not all were under the nighttime curfew. There's a list here

France extends curfew to cover half the country as Covid-19 situation worsens

France has extended its nighttime curfew to 54 départements - roughly half of the country - as the Prime Minister says the health situation 'continues to deteriorate'.

www.thelocal.fr

It does seem a long way to go and get back in a window of time. It really depends on the timings of his alibi to see if it was possible.

 

[LaurieLaurie]

Well unless DC was using his credit card and phone all day long on all of those days, then of course he could have driven to where she was, especially if she slept back at the Cabane de la Besurta the night of the 22nd, and maybe something happened the following morning. Then he went back and started using his phone and credit card again. It was only 100 miles away. Maybe they arranged to meet at that Cabane during the phonecall on the 22nd as he could drive right up to that spot that night. If her phone was off there would be no more pinging & he could easily have left his back home. Now personally I don't think this happened, but my point is, it's ridiculous to say he can't have had access to her because he used his phone and credit card those days. He would have had to have been on them every hour of every day to ascertain that. 100 miles is only a 1.5 hour drive. He's controlling this narrative way too much and is making himself look as guilty as sin. I don't know why he is doing this. Look at Caroline Crouch's husband. Everyone thought he was innocent too. He was there at her funeral all snivelling and it was only then they arrested him. I wouldn't be surprised there's some suicide note on her phone, written by him, and the whole thing gets passed off as suicide.

Ahhh. He could have traveled to her late at night and been back by morning.

 

[PineappleQueen19]

I, myself, me, my…

He’s totally centred himself there. Extraordinary.

 

[PineappleQueen19]

Even if it was a tragic accident, it seems Esther was trying to gently extricate herself from the relationship over time - probably extending her hiking trips to gather her courage, build her confidence (self esteem at rock bottom no doubt) to finally do it and hoping at the same time it would get him used to her not being around. Working out the steps to unpick their intertwined finances, livelihoods etc in the face of resistance from the other person without triggering their temper. And however it happened - that plan of action has one way or another led to her death. That bright, beautiful woman. And now that guy gets to speak for her memory and tell everyone who she was. Honestly my heart breaks for her.

In these situations you just have to pack a bag and bleeping run. Don’t worry if he threatens to hurt himself, or says he’ll track you down and you’ll regret it. Just run. There but for the grace of god go so many of us.

 

[Agent Krycek]

I, myself, me, my…

He’s totally centred himself there. Extraordinary.

It reads like an Oscars acceptance speech!

 

[PineappleQueen19]

It reads like an Oscars acceptance speech!

How long until the book is published? Or he joins LB Trust as an consultant/agent (as someone with first hand experience + hiking/search skills) ? He’s planning something.

 

[PineappleQueen19]

With some paltry donation to a mountain rescue group in her name so he can claim he’s honouring her memory for a worthy cause

 

[SummerSky]

It reads like an Oscars acceptance speech!

You nailed it.

And we are to believe he is grieving?

 

[SummerSky]

There's a new Daily Mail article saying "100% an accident". They have a better map of her entire journey in here:

https://www.archive.is/oldest/https...l-100ft-death-losing-footing-rocky-ledge.html

Just because DM says it doesn't make it true.

They have budgeted for 1 month forensic investigation.

At this point that is the only fact.

It is impossible to determine any cause of death until scientific investigation states what it is.

 

[judgejohndeed]

Just because DM says it doesn't make it true.

I’m also not wholly convinced that if the police say this then it’s true. Mistakes are made all the time. I imagine where it’s a cross country issue as well they’re probably keen to close the case quickly and might be quicker to say it was an accident if they can ‘get away’ with doing so.

 

[SummerSky]

Very chilling isn't it?

Yes.

On the face of things it all looks like a fall. But let's wait a month and see.

I’m also not wholly convinced that if the police say this then it’s true. Mistakes are made all the time. I imagine where it’s a cross country issue as well they’re probably keen to close the case quickly and might be quicker to say it was an accident if they can ‘get away’ with doing so.

Perhaps? The article wasn't very clear ito translating the prosecutor's words.

I just know the laws in 1st world countries require forensic investigation of odd deaths and they sent an expensive team to De Glere...

Putting ourselves in their shoes:

Why announce the day prior (article on DM) that your Criminal Investigations Technicians will take 1 month to decide the cause...

If you were planning to wrap it up faster?