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

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RedHaus said:
Good questions @Grouse and @Neal Issagum. As I considered up thread, what if ED was not at the Cabane La Besurta the night if 21/11 as she told DC the next day? Especially, IMO, if she needed internet to finalize any plans she was making for 22/11 and possibly with another person, perhaps she went back to her van or stayed at the Hotel Hospital de Banasque at a trail head?. The latter would only make sense if she stayed under someone else's name and presumably was not on CCTVs...

ETA a missing IMO
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If she was to stay at the Hotel undet someone else's name, she would also need to have identification documents in that name.
 
RedHaus said:
Thanks RickshawFan! Of course, a tragic accident still remains on the table. And sadly we could have a combo theory here. For example, ED may have been on her way to Luchon for an escape hatch from her life, and had a fatal accident on her way.
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Or, she could have made up her mind, rushed down from the Pic to connect with someone in the valley, and had an accident on the way down.
From your mapping, SAR would have had to look at 2 separate trails going down to the valley.
IMO—my theory—they should also have looked at the trail going up to the glacier and below the glacier.
However, they might not have been able to cover that area. That's a huge area. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. I would not expect SAR to cover it all, and they seem to have a kind of algorithm about how much territory to cover versus high success of getting the person help Then they'd have to move on to the next accident/missing person.
 
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PeggyHenry said:
I don’t think an accident has been ruled out by any means, in fact I don’t think anything has been ruled out yet. I tend to agree with SMM’ s interpretation of Esthers texts to Dan.. I think she’s trying to keep him happy. It’s very plausible and I think we all do it when we have to! I think the idea of her meeting someone on 22nd is very likely.. it does account for the timing of her ascent. The fruit or something fresh that she requested might have been to give her fresh breath.
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I actually think the breath thing is a great point! Maybe an apple would do it? Of course, with equipment for the night, you'd expect at least a micro-bit of toothpaste or some baking soda.
 
RedHaus said:
Good questions @Grouse and @Neal Issagum. As I considered up thread, what if ED was not at the Cabane La Besurta the night if 21/11 as she told DC the next day? Especially, IMO, if she needed internet to finalize any plans she was making for 22/11 and possibly with another person, perhaps she went back to her van or stayed at the Hotel Hospital de Banasque at a trail head?. The latter would only make sense if she stayed under someone else's name and presumably was not on CCTVs...

ETA a missing IMO
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She could've just camped near the Hotel within range of the wifi :D Around here, there are so many communities without good internet, you'll see people sitting in their cars next to the library. At -10F, with their heat on! I've done that myself outside certain stores when I'm on the road.
 
Liz40 said:
Dan has updated on their page. I see that he very much indicates that he doesn't believe Esther's disappearance to be due to an accident. It's worth a read.
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IME We'd have to hear a statement directly from LE eliminating an accident in order to take that possibility out of consideration. AFAIK we haven't heard such a statement.

IMO so many details about ED (just about EVERYTHING, really) makes me almost certain she had an accident.
 
Very
Liz40 said:
Dan has updated on their page. I see that he very much indicates that he doesn't believe Esther's disappearance to be due to an accident. It's worth a read.
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RickshawFan said:
IME We'd have to hear a statement directly from LE eliminating an accident in order to take that possibility out of consideration. AFAIK we haven't heard such a statement.

IMO so many details about ED (just about EVERYTHING, really) makes me almost certain she had an accident.
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Dan is suffering. What a nightmare for him. It’s hard to post anything after reading that.

If it’s a criminal matter, as he believes, there are just so many frightening scenarios where IMO, she would never be found. If it were a crime of opportunity...the opportunities are endless: isolated refuges, lonely mountain paths, a whole wilderness made even more devoid of witnesses by a pandemic. And a trusting young woman who made a habit of jumping in cars with strangers.
 
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Dan has updated on their page. I see that he very much indicates that he doesn't believe Esther's disappearance to be due to an accident. It's worth a read.
stmarysmead said:
Very




Dan is suffering. What a nightmare for him. It’s hard to post anything after reading that.

If it’s a criminal matter, as he believes, there are just so many frightening scenarios where IMO, she would never be found. If it were a crime of opportunity...the opportunities are endless: isolated refuges, lonely mountain paths, a whole wilderness made even more devoid of witnesses by a pandemic. And a trusting young woman who made a habit of jumping in cars with strangers.
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I think he also hints that he's privy to other information which isn't in the public domain re what the police are working on.
 
Interesting that ED says that they were taking a break according to an article in the Mail where they have interviewed someone who met ED.
She said: 'Esther said they were taking a break and didn't know if they were going to get back together again.

'When you're not 100 per cent okay with your partner, you're not going to be totally balanced emotionally.

'She didn't seem desperate to me but the last time we spoke was about a week before she went missing and in that space of time a person can have a lot of highs and lows.'
 
Grouse said:
Some good points, though personally I don't go so far as tying it to the voluntary disappearance angle.

Bu So, from a security point of view, I'm wondering now would it be wise for ED to continue posting her whereabouts in so much detail from that point on?

And maybe from a PR angle, keep em waiting and save it all for when she gets back and use it as part of a follow up article with the BBC? A "What she did next" kind of thing.
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Good points, especially vis a vis security. Who could have known where ED was on 21/22? She chose a moment when nobody was supposed to be on that mountain.
 
Looking at their blog for the first time. Immediate impression: this was their business rather than a lifestyle - or rather, a lifestyle that became a business. It's all very carefully managed. The dogs, for example, clearly serve an important PR function, as did ED's charity cycle that immediately got her into the papers. They seem to court publicity however they can and I suspect that DC manages all that side of the business. That is obviously going to take a good deal of drive and therefore some stress - especially with regard to how long they can keep it up. (Personally, I don't know how they do it. I like Alpine hiking as much as anyone, but a 3-day/2-night camping trek seems like quite enough. After that it gets repetitive and frankly boring.)

I don't know if the November trip was to 'keep up the business' or for ED to take some personal time to think about things. Both motives may have psychological consequences.

Keeping up the business also relies on the strength of their relationship. If there were problems with that, as suggested, then the BBC feature might have provided additional pressure, by 'locking her in' in just at a time when she might have been getting fed up of being managed by DC.

As to the disappearance, there are a hundred possible scenarios and it all comes down to probabilities based on intuition seeing as there is no solid evidence for anything. The key indicator, for me, is the bizarre double ascent of Sauvegarde. It's hard to imagine why anyone would climb the same mountain twice on successive days when the reasons for climbing a mountain are a) achievement, b) the view (if you're lucky) - both of which she satisfied the previous day. Maybe it's a good spot for lammergeiers, but as far as I know she's not a birdwatcher. And I can't believe she arranged to meet someone at the top. For one thing, they would be visible to each other as they hiked up. She must have had some personal motive for going up again.
I'd like to get away from the suicide theory but more and more things seems to be pointing towards it.
 
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Yes, maybe they have something they are not saying on the criminal investigation but its certainly not enough not to continue looking for Esther. If Dan thought it was hunters then why did he not question them when he saw them in the distance when he stayed 2 nights looking for Esther, a point previously made here. I dont see voluntary disappearance here, they had plans. Esther had only recently agreed to be a guest blogger on a Camino page which is run by some friends. It seams Dan has more to say on disappearing into thin air, which could mean that Dan thinks the mysterious 411 is also an option of what happened to Esther.
 
DC writes off the quotations regarding problems in the relationship as salacious nonsense. I wonder whether Laura had motive to create a story out of nothing to seek publicity or whether media took the remark out of context. It was reported in MSM weeks after she actually reported it to the police.

I suppose it is possible that Esther spoke her truth and DC speaks his truth .. in other words both believe that what they are saying is the truth.
But I was thinking this morning, before I read DC’ s latest post, that if Esther really did believe they had separated and may not get back together, then the BBC publicity on 22nd would be quite horrific ( to Esther). It presents them as a couple having adventures which is no longer the truth in her eyes. She may have found that overwhelming in two aspects: she was now living a very public lie; suddenly an enormous pressure to reunite with DC.
If the relationship problems were nonsense as DC says, then of course this does not apply.

DC tells us that Esther wears her heart on her sleeve and her emotions pass through quickly. Also that we shouldn’t over analyse her words in previous posts and find meaning that isn’t there. I understand what he means and agree to some extent ... but I also feel bound to respect Esther’s emotions and written words too. They were posted publicly to be read, presumably.
 
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PeggyHenry said:
DC tells us that Esther wears her heart on her sleeve and her emotions pass through quickly. Also that we shouldn’t over analyse her words in previous posts and find meaning that isn’t there. I understand what he means and agree to some extent ... but I also feel bound to respect Esther’s emotions and written words too. They were posted publicly to be read, presumably.
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Snipped BM for focus:
We know from EDs account that she was struggling with negative feelings when she left for this recent month away. However I think Laura's account of ED/DC having a break, and uncertainty about getting back together can be taken either way. When repeated they imply a relationship separation. Equally they simply describe the situation during ED's month away and could be as simple as that. The words as reported are ambiguous to me. Would ED be sending love and kisses, looking forward to seeing you, on a daily basis otherwise? A deception of the highest order.

We've been led to believe that EDs character was more honest and open and therefore DC would have at least an inkling if she wanted to separate from him permanently. We know they have been emotionally (not physically) estranged in the past and it was put openly on DCs social media. ED clearly seems to have her 'demons' but I'm not convinced they related entirely to DC.
 
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