Missing sister - help me find her car?
Discussion
I have seen this thread pop up on occasion over the last year and can't imagine how tough it has been for you guys. You have my sympathies.
You have all clearly exhausted many different avenues. One thing that I haven't seen mentioned (and please forgive me if I've missed it or forgotten about it), is whether cadaver dogs have been used? I don't know too much about it (only high level) other than to say that I think they have pretty high success rates both on land and in water. It occurred to me that they could be helpful in the undergrowth you describe.
You have all clearly exhausted many different avenues. One thing that I haven't seen mentioned (and please forgive me if I've missed it or forgotten about it), is whether cadaver dogs have been used? I don't know too much about it (only high level) other than to say that I think they have pretty high success rates both on land and in water. It occurred to me that they could be helpful in the undergrowth you describe.
NRG1976 said:
Sad to read this. I wonder if a drone, equipped with a metal detector, could pick up any car keys etc. should they be lurking in the undergrowth?
That’s a lovely idea. I did idly look up “long range metal detectors” a few months ago; all I found were scammers selling divining rods for prospecting.Is there genuinely a long range metal detector tech that’s drone flyable?
OP, thoughts of your situation have come back to me several times over the course of the last year and I was hoping this update would have given you closure.
Having undertaken many aerial searches for missing persons in the terrain you describe, it is indescribably difficult to locate someone from the air without extensive search times and as you say vegetation at this time of year makes it even harder. From previous experience, phone data varies depending on carrier and phones connecting to other masts within the cell site seems fairly common, I've had searches where the phone has switched between masts several times within a minute and the subject hardly moved. You'd be surprised to hear that as far as im aware, there is little training (if any) given to police on cell site analysis. The data would often give vectors to search and these sometimes yielded highly accurate results but not always. I found that using cellmapper it could help to interpret the data within a given area although you're still at the mercy of a device being active. What time was the phone ping? Were there multiple prior to it going dead?
LIDAR as mentioned above may be your best hope. If you don't get any results from a search organisation on use of the equipment, I'd contact universities and see if an Earth Sciences team could assist.
Having undertaken many aerial searches for missing persons in the terrain you describe, it is indescribably difficult to locate someone from the air without extensive search times and as you say vegetation at this time of year makes it even harder. From previous experience, phone data varies depending on carrier and phones connecting to other masts within the cell site seems fairly common, I've had searches where the phone has switched between masts several times within a minute and the subject hardly moved. You'd be surprised to hear that as far as im aware, there is little training (if any) given to police on cell site analysis. The data would often give vectors to search and these sometimes yielded highly accurate results but not always. I found that using cellmapper it could help to interpret the data within a given area although you're still at the mercy of a device being active. What time was the phone ping? Were there multiple prior to it going dead?
LIDAR as mentioned above may be your best hope. If you don't get any results from a search organisation on use of the equipment, I'd contact universities and see if an Earth Sciences team could assist.
skwdenyer said:
PurpleTurtle said:
I don't wish to pry OP, but were there any pointers in your sister's personal life as to why she might disappear?
Reading online reports it seems she is/was a successful small entrepreneur with a thriving business. She went for a drive to "sort her head out" (quoting one of the online articles) and seemingly disappeared into thin air afterwards with (my assumption) zero digital footprint after the last sighting of her.
All of that rather sadly points to a sad finality; was there anything in her life in the build up that could have prompted this? I had a seemingly successful, popular, outgoing friend who 7 years ago just locked up his employer's business, went home and took his life in a planned and detailed way. Hundreds of people came to his funeral, but nobody who knows him has any idea why he went down that particular path of choice. It's heartbreaking, I miss him incredibly, someone I've known for over 40 yrs gone, just like that.
I'm afraid I'm not going to get into her private life; I'm sorry. When you look at somebody who has vanished, there are almost always things that could be a trigger. Having had experience with suicide of other people, the process just isn't necessarily rational.Reading online reports it seems she is/was a successful small entrepreneur with a thriving business. She went for a drive to "sort her head out" (quoting one of the online articles) and seemingly disappeared into thin air afterwards with (my assumption) zero digital footprint after the last sighting of her.
All of that rather sadly points to a sad finality; was there anything in her life in the build up that could have prompted this? I had a seemingly successful, popular, outgoing friend who 7 years ago just locked up his employer's business, went home and took his life in a planned and detailed way. Hundreds of people came to his funeral, but nobody who knows him has any idea why he went down that particular path of choice. It's heartbreaking, I miss him incredibly, someone I've known for over 40 yrs gone, just like that.
At this stage, it doesn't really matter. We just want to find her final resting place to bring closure to the family. If she's found alive then hurrah, but I don't think that's the primary focus right now.
Is this the spot where her car was located? I've cross-referenced your shared search diagrams to Google maps and think it is the same location.
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.2370593,-4.3725468...
What jumps out at me is why would somebody drive from Cumbria and stop at this specific point on the side of a loch in Scotland?
Is the junction of the road into a pathway into the hills on the left significant?
Did she have prior knowledge of this area, from previous holidays etc? Is it significant in any way?
If you 'drive' that route along the west coast of the loch on Google street view then there are a number of passing places and a couple of other car parking places where one could park the car and access the water.
This area pictured is the first location where there is a more substantial car parking area, and a formal pathway up into the hills.
I know I'm totally clutching at straws here/armchair detective etc, but I wonder if there is any significance to that, in terms of focussing the search on land or water?
Does it suggest a walk into the forest from there?
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.2370593,-4.3725468...
What jumps out at me is why would somebody drive from Cumbria and stop at this specific point on the side of a loch in Scotland?
Is the junction of the road into a pathway into the hills on the left significant?
Did she have prior knowledge of this area, from previous holidays etc? Is it significant in any way?
If you 'drive' that route along the west coast of the loch on Google street view then there are a number of passing places and a couple of other car parking places where one could park the car and access the water.
This area pictured is the first location where there is a more substantial car parking area, and a formal pathway up into the hills.
I know I'm totally clutching at straws here/armchair detective etc, but I wonder if there is any significance to that, in terms of focussing the search on land or water?
Does it suggest a walk into the forest from there?
Edited by PurpleTurtle on Wednesday 19th June 12:19
Edited by PurpleTurtle on Wednesday 19th June 12:20
I thought of this thread the other week when that TV Doctor went missing in Greece. They took nearly a week to find him when he was in an area with zero vegetation and close enough to a property to have his final moments caught on CCTV.
I hope the OP and his family get some closure eventually.
I hope the OP and his family get some closure eventually.
PurpleTurtle said:
Is this the spot where her car was located? I've cross-referenced your shared search diagrams to Google maps and think it is the same location.
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.2370593,-4.3725468...
What jumps out at me is why would somebody drive from Cumbria and stop at this specific point on the side of a loch in Scotland?
Is the junction of the road into a pathway into the hills on the left significant?
Did she have prior knowledge of this area, from previous holidays etc? Is it significant in any way?
If you 'drive' that route along the west coast of the loch on Google street view then there are a number of passing places and a couple of other car parking places where one could park the car and access the water.
This area pictured is the first location where there is a more substantial car parking area, and a formal pathway up into the hills.
I know I'm totally clutching at straws here/armchair detective etc, but I wonder if there is any significance to that, in terms of focussing the search on land or water?
Does it suggest a walk into the forest from there?
There's no linkage to Scotland in general, or this area in particular, that we know about.https://www.google.com/maps/@55.2370593,-4.3725468...
What jumps out at me is why would somebody drive from Cumbria and stop at this specific point on the side of a loch in Scotland?
Is the junction of the road into a pathway into the hills on the left significant?
Did she have prior knowledge of this area, from previous holidays etc? Is it significant in any way?
If you 'drive' that route along the west coast of the loch on Google street view then there are a number of passing places and a couple of other car parking places where one could park the car and access the water.
This area pictured is the first location where there is a more substantial car parking area, and a formal pathway up into the hills.
I know I'm totally clutching at straws here/armchair detective etc, but I wonder if there is any significance to that, in terms of focussing the search on land or water?
Does it suggest a walk into the forest from there?
Edited by PurpleTurtle on Wednesday 19th June 12:19
Edited by PurpleTurtle on Wednesday 19th June 12:20
That's the place, yes. And yes your thoughts are the same as ours. There have been very extensive searches up into the hills along those tracks, covering many many miles (on foot, bicycles, quad bikes, drones, etc.). Closer to the location, the undergrowth was searched back to (IIRC) 10 metres from the track, which in many cases is as far as you can safely get. Further out, it hasn't been fully searched - we need Star Wars style "floating orbs" to search that woodland at scale.
I'm sure you've considered this yourself, but if I were looking to go missing from that 'X' location of where her car was found then it would be in that (very) dense forest of fir trees to the north west of where the car was left.
Scotland in June stays very light in the evenings, it is not inconceivable for her to have gone beyond the 900m 'outer circle' of the original search.
This image just shows the problem you are up against though, some of that terrain is almost completely inaccessible due to the density of the tree canopy. Very frustrating, I can imagine.
Scotland in June stays very light in the evenings, it is not inconceivable for her to have gone beyond the 900m 'outer circle' of the original search.
This image just shows the problem you are up against though, some of that terrain is almost completely inaccessible due to the density of the tree canopy. Very frustrating, I can imagine.
PurpleTurtle said:
I'm sure you've considered this yourself, but if I were looking to go missing from that 'X' location of where her car was found then it would be in that (very) dense forest of fir trees to the north west of where the car was left.
Scotland in June stays very light in the evenings, it is not inconceivable for her to have gone beyond the 900m 'outer circle' of the original search.
This image just shows the problem you are up against though, some of that terrain is almost completely inaccessible due to the density of the tree canopy. Very frustrating, I can imagine.
Thanks. Agreed. We let the Police search in their area, and we (family and volunteers) covered a wider area. That area is terrible to search on foot. Where there are clearings, there is bracken waist high (or higher); trees are so close together as to be impassable; there are endless streams and bogs hidden by undergrowth to catch out the unwary, and the ground underfoot is so uneven (and so covered) as to be ankle-breaking within minutes if not very careful.Scotland in June stays very light in the evenings, it is not inconceivable for her to have gone beyond the 900m 'outer circle' of the original search.
This image just shows the problem you are up against though, some of that terrain is almost completely inaccessible due to the density of the tree canopy. Very frustrating, I can imagine.
Hence my comment about "Star Wars" style floating orbs to search the forested areas. A drone (even one with currently-advanced obstacle avoidance) would last minutes in that environment.
I'm so sorry this lady hasn't been found.
One thing that strikes me as odd is the amount of Police secrecy surrounding giving information to the family.
I'm sure they have their reasons, but the search isn't part of a criminal trial, why are the so coy...??
One thing that strikes me as odd is the amount of Police secrecy surrounding giving information to the family.
I'm sure they have their reasons, but the search isn't part of a criminal trial, why are the so coy...??
Edited by Nige321 on Thursday 20th June 18:26
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff