2021
Karen Milsom, 52, left her home in the Charente region of South of France with 5,400 euros. Her best friend her best friend Claire McDermott has spoken to The Missing Podcast.
www.dailymail.co.uk
''Karen Milsom, 52, left her home in the Charente region of South of France with some clothes and 5,400 euros after an outburst in the house she shared with electrician husband Steven.
However, a mysterious text message sent a month later and the reappearance of her car long after she disappeared has resulted in a series of different theories about what happened next: Has Karen come to harm? Or is she living a new life, and perhaps too embarrassed to return to her old one? ''
''Karen was down, and in a rut, before she vanished - and an argument with her husband led to her wanting a few days to herself.
'Before she left, she was very bored with her life,' explained Claire. 'I think really she was going through the menopause and that was tough for her. She'd had two or three.
She was also looking after an old lady - that was her job. And this old lady was really quite rude to her at times. There were times when she would just think, what am I doing? Why am I doing this?'
On the weekend before she vanished, Karen and her husband Steve had argued.
Steve explained she'd been angling for a fall out - over not very much. However, when Karen left, she didn't go empty-handed.
'I can't remember the exact amount, but it was something like 4,000 euros from Steve that he'd given her and she had 2000 euros in cash herself,' explained Claire. 'My theory then when I was told how much it was, was that she's not just gone for a couple of days.'
But Claire did send the occasional message on the off-chance that Karen would see it and reply - and on 14th September, four weeks after going missing, that's exactly what happened.
'I just sent her a message to say, "I know you want to be left alone but just a quick message to tell you we love and miss you very much. Obviously we would love to hear back from you, but if you can't or don't want to for now, that's fine. I just hope you will one day soon.'
Claire continued: 'She replied saying, "Hi, Claire, missing you too. We'll be back in December to explain things.'''
'''The car turns up at the local train station and she'd sent a message to Steve saying you can come and get the car - and so he did,' explained Claire. 'So we were thinking well, check CCTV then and see where she went.'
'But there's no CCTV at that train station or no trace of anywhere that she's been.'
Investigators learned that in the first few weeks, Karen hadn't travelled far. Her phone, when it had pinged mobile masts, had been in the same region. But exactly how close - isn't reported. ''
