Found Deceased Spain - Esther Dingley, from UK, missing in the Pyrenees, November 2020 #3

[The_Investigator]

Only one dog, George, is with her parents, from at least May 16, according to FB. But she does mentioning two dogs being later “reunited”...on Nov 7....could be a second one went to her parents.

On Nov 13, she mentions she is without all the dogs “for one reason or another” and writes poignantly of missing them and the healing they bring to her. There are so many dog posts, this is clearly very difficult for Esther.

I keep coming back to the date of Nov 22. Dan posts to their blog a thank you to BBC and a copy of the article, their big break through in PR. Two days earlier they had achieved another publicity article about the dog books in the Olive Press.ES.

How strange that Esther disappears on the VERY same day that they receive such important publicity for their books.

But what would it have achieved?

 

[IrisElizabeth]

One theory (not my own, someone else spelled it out to me) is that both members of this couple were facing a change in lifestyle, whether they wished it or not - post-Brexit.

No longer could they spend all the time they wished touring Europe. In fact, both France and Spain would soon be limiting them, legally, to 90 days every 180 days. So they would have had to return to UK every 90 days, and stay for 90 days, before being legally allowed back in the EU.

Nothing has been said in MSM about them applying for dual citizenship, probably because they didn't meet the qualifications (one needs to show employment in the new nation, etc).

Anyway, someone I work with put forward the theory that DC may have been preparing himself mentally to go back to UK and "settle down" while ED wanted to continue their van lifestyle. To do this, however, she would have to get very used to a new lifestyle wherein she was not in compliance with visa regulations. People apparently do plan to do this, there are even online forums about how to "live underground in Europe" in the new Brexit world.

I'm not sure how I feel about this theory, but at one level, it does make sense that if Esther was planning to be more adventurous than ever and disagreed with DC about going back to UK, that she'd leave the dogs (and even the van) to continue wandering. However, personally, I think this would denote some deeper unhappiness and issues with regular life. In my professional life, I've observed, met and interviewed several such people (longterm residents on national lands in the US, for example, who are not exactly within the rules of the national parks). This kind of very solitary life appeals to some people (John Muir is an historic example).

The fact that the dossier doesn't address this new citizenship issue is interesting to me and I'll watch with interest to see if we learn what DC (and the dogs) do next. Perhaps DC was in fact employed by someone to housesit for a long enough period of time that he could have applied for some kind of settled status - in France.

Esther's mother is Dutch and Esther herself was born in Amsterdam - therefore Esther could apply for a Dutch passport so she would still be free to legally roam Europe without having to adhere to any visa regulations.

 

[PeggyHenry]

I do not believe that Esther, as sensitive as she presents herself to be on social media, would disappear to create a new life and put her loved ones thru this agony.

But IMO I do believe a seriously depressed person could plan a suicide that would present as an accident and spare her loved ones the knowledge of her despair. Leaving no note, no explanation, lots of loving words as the last contact...it would then be an act of mercy in a way. A fall, a drowning, puts the blame on a misstep, or icy path, and there’s no need to torture oneself with thoughts of what one might have said or done as a preventive.

Of course, we are far from knowing if this scenario plays a part in this disappearance. But the thought does cross my mind.

I don’t know why but I struggle with the idea of Esther and suicide. Lots of people suffer from depression, in many different formats and don’t go as far as committing suicide. It is possible to live with depression, being depressed, life’s toughest moments, without committing suicide. If she did end her life then might she have researched it first? i.e the different ways available to her..
Would she really have walked or jumped into a lake holding on to her poles and everything.
GPS tracing for her stopped shortly after 4 so she must have done it near the Pic de Sauvegarde. I look at her last selfie and see this fresh faced smile .. she doesn’t look like a female about to end her life. She looks like a female in her prime. I know she is struggling in some aspects of her life but it doesn’t mean she had given up on finding solutions. However, it is a possibility.

 

[stmarysmead]

But what would it have achieved?[/QUOTE

The publicity, the possibility of returning to a business of interviews, creating new books, all the stress they left behind...could have been a trigger IMO to a depressed woman who has already postponed leaving the mountains several times. She might have looked at Dan’s post on their FB, not as a reason for celebration...but more “the curse has come upon us.”

Winter was coming quickly. She couldn’t keep staying up on those mountains she loved. She had only been home three weeks and had to take off again. Between Covid lockdowns and a long winter ahead
...maybe it was all too much and in those last two days, she had to make a decision.

Just my imaginings of course.

 

[RedHaus]

Yes - and PR is just that ie Public Relations. They’ve made the lifestyle sound like it was carefree and ‘aspirational’ to a home-bound lockdown audience... when we know that reality couldn’t have been anything like that. Write down the facts of actually living like that in black and white, taking into consideration their finances and health issues... living nightmare.

BBM

Well FWIW, here is DC's black and white description - with color photos - of what it was like to live in a motorhome with ED and their five dogs. To me, it sounds structured, a bit limiting on activities, and lots of cleaning, but perhaps a much happier time for them all. It is just so sad that phase of their lives has now evaporated.
Living In A Motorhome With 5 Dogs – What It’s Really Like | Esther & Dan - Adventuring Together - Life, Love, Health & Travel

 

[RedHaus]

I do not believe that Esther, as sensitive as she presents herself to be on social media, would disappear to create a new life and put her loved ones thru this agony.

snipped by me

stmarysmead, this is the one reason why I have a hard time accepting a voluntary disappearance (other than suicide) for ED. But she could have weighed her ongoing dark agony at the time vs. what perhaps was planned to be a brief period of silence before resurfacing to announce her new life plan, to minimize her family's suffering.

Is it possible that ED planned a voluntary disappearance with a short interval of silence to make sure she was safe and secure, but then something went terribly wrong such as an accident or a third party 'friend' with mal-intent? In other words, could two of our theories have been compounded - one on top of the other to explain the odd data?

I also wonder if our sleuthing experts here have any data on the range of and average time intervals that people who voluntarily disappear notify LE or loved ones they're safe?

 

[JerseyGirl]

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Spain - Esther Dingley, from UK, missing in the Pyrenees, November 2020 #4