I’m inclined to agree with @Superdude - he might not have been a great partner but there are far more indicators that it was an accident (she hardly had any food, she was using a phone rather than map to navigate, she didn’t have a personal locator beacon, didn’t have a clear idea of the route she was taking, was in the Pyrenees at a very dodgy time of year where it would be sub zero temps at night with no winter tent). I think unless you’ve spent a lot of time in the mountains it’s perhaps difficult to grasp just how dangerous it can be, and how quickly you can get into trouble if you’re alone.
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It really rubs me the wrong way when people who are in the news because of tragedy hire PR companies and act like celebrities.
The first time I saw this happen was with the McCann case, and what I think of them is probably something I should not print.
I know we all respond to grief and attention in different ways but I find it downright bizarre and it instantly makes me lose sympathy for people. Just seems so narcissists.
The location she was found in is described as "inaccessible".
That alone tells us it is most likely murder.
I noticed the French police or the journalist used the word murder for the 1st time in today's article.
"Inaccessible" kind of cancels out accidental.
Inaccessible = hard to enter naturally.
No - if someone falls, accidentally, into a crevasse, then the place they land could well be inaccessible. And if it's inaccessible, how would a murderer have taken the body there?
Anyway, I truly don't know, but an accident seems a lot more likely to me.
I would say the complete opposite is true for the reasons @Superdude has already mentioned.
He does seem like a jerk but I'm leaning slightly towards accident unless we learn any more information.
Hard as it is to stomach the French cop used the word murder.
That's a first.
The police have been very careful to cagily say they were open to all possibilities ever since this occurred.
But only now do we see this word murder pop up from their discussion.
It's all too staged from my view.
Scripted.
Bones suddenly arrive in sight of Spanish hikers when that area was scoured by experts after snow cleared - and they found nothing.
Do you think Dan has superior skills to mountain rescue/search teams?
I don't.
I think a lot of us think things about the McCanns that are probably unprintable.
So how could he have concealed her body, and hidden it? 
The bones could have been moved by an animal. And a much closer search in the area, including inaccessible places, revealed her body.
I don't like the sound of Dan, but that doesn't make him a murderer.
The bones could have been moved by an animal. And a much closer search in the area, including inaccessible places, revealed her body.
I don't like the sound of Dan, but that doesn't make him a murderer.
At the and of this article..https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/esther-dingley-missing-hiker-boyfriend-search-q7dfx3l95
Ok so I saw the news that her boyfriend found her body and I was like that’s a bit strange. So glad to find this wee thread!
As I've said previously I think Mr. Colegate comes over as a person with a lot of red flags, that doesn't make him a murderer but the couple's personal circumstances that we know about and the circumstances of the case certainly don't rule him out either. One article I have read though does rule out Mr. Colegate saying that the Police have checked his whereabouts via his phone and other sources - is that true ? I thought that others have said that the Police have not investigated him or cleared him at this point ?
The first thing I would ask is how is it that the body is found near the partial skull bone and yet the police couldn't find it before one man does ? They have all the technology and canines and yet are beaten by one man. If she is not in an extremely difficult to see spot it suggests Police incompetence but otherwise it begs the question how Mr. Colegate found her ?
If I was the murderer (I'm not, honest !) I would want to find the body, it contaminates the scene so that any evidence that one was present at any point can be claimed to have occurred during the discovery.
It seems to me that accident/suicide/murder by persons known/unknown are all still on the table but I highly doubt they will come up with anything other than 'accident' unless Ms. Dingley left a note.
The first thing I would ask is how is it that the body is found near the partial skull bone and yet the police couldn't find it before one man does ? They have all the technology and canines and yet are beaten by one man. If she is not in an extremely difficult to see spot it suggests Police incompetence but otherwise it begs the question how Mr. Colegate found her ?
If I was the murderer (I'm not, honest !) I would want to find the body, it contaminates the scene so that any evidence that one was present at any point can be claimed to have occurred during the discovery.
It seems to me that accident/suicide/murder by persons known/unknown are all still on the table but I highly doubt they will come up with anything other than 'accident' unless Ms. Dingley left a note.
Search & Rescue stopped looking for Esther a long time ago. They have limited resources and their aim is to find people alive which there is no way she would have been after a few days in those conditions.
True. Yet statistically he's the most likely suspect.So how could he have concealed her body, and hidden it?
The bones could have been moved by an animal. And a much closer search in the area, including inaccessible places, revealed her body.
I don't like the sound of Dan, but that doesn't make him a murderer.
His behaviour seems to have made her flee & keep fleeing (extended her hike three or four times).
She didn't want to come home.
She was evasive & appeasing & troubled about the relationship (Laura told the cops).
He wrote a book stating they loathed each other.
He was close by.
He's been busy in the area for weeks.
Etc.
They restarted their search when snow cleared about a month ago.
He might have been visiting it and got caught. I’m sorry if this is offensive.
Too many red flags here I'm afraid. He reminds me of that recent case in Greece where the husband had murdered the wife but pretended it was burglars - it was so obvious from the beginning that the husband had done it, and the same is true (for me) with this case. From the very get go Dan said he "loved" her (past tense). And then it was just one red flag after another. They will nail him for it. Will just take them some time. They already know it was murder as they have said it publicly now. He has totally messed up here by "finding" the body, so they will get him. Here's the recent photo of him. It was behind the subscribe thingy in The Times, but available on google if you search the full title of the article & then look in images. StMarysMead on Websleuths worked it all out ages ago but they kept shutting her up over there. Can't stand Websleuths!
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Same for me. It’s not a case of ‘not liking the sound of him’ or anything like that. I find it utterly bizarre given everything we know about him and how he’s behaving that anyone can be totally convinced he’s had nothing to do with it. I wish it weren’t so, but I have no doubt unfortunately.
I agree. My worry is it's such a complex case, involving a foreign citizen and seems to straddle two countries that neither of the police forces will investigate as thoroughly as they need to. In my opinion, that's why he chose that spot too.
Oh, I'm not totally convinced, but an accident is more likely. Also, I assume the police will have confirmed where he was at the time, and whether he could have travelled to Esther.
There are so many bodies in the mountains, many undiscovered, where a simple fall becomes a death - especially in cold weather with insufficient supplies.
There are so many bodies in the mountains, many undiscovered, where a simple fall becomes a death - especially in cold weather with insufficient supplies.
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