UK UK - Corrie McKeague, 23, Bury St Edmunds, 24 September 2016 #1

[MelmothTheLost]

What strikes me is how dark it would have been, we know Corrie didn't have his phone so, I'm guessing, no source of light, I wonder how he would have found his way across fields.

With difficulty, since there are very few public footpaths and bridleways between BSE and his base and none that would make a sensible route home. Therefore there would have been no fingerposts to guide him or stiles to get him from one field to another. He'd have been stumbling around in the dark trying to find gates or gaps in hedges or climbing over fences and barbed wire.

It's possible that RAF Honington had some powerful floodlights on during the night, so there may have been a very general glow to guide him in roughly the right direction but the fields would still have been dark.

 

[jslk]

Yet apparently he managed it numerous times before? I wouldn't be caught out in the fields at night without a light source... I have a tiny key ring torch - maybe he used something like that?

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[OrlandoJames]

Yet apparently he managed it numerous times before? I wouldn't be caught out in the fields at night without a light source... I have a tiny key ring torch - maybe he used something like that?

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It's unlikely he even got anywhere near the fields. Whatever happened to him very likely happened in the town centre.

 

[jslk]

Good point - but on previous occasions?

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[MelmothTheLost]

Yet apparently he managed it numerous times before? I wouldn't be caught out in the fields at night without a light source... I have a tiny key ring torch - maybe he used something like that?

I've seen it reported that had he walked back to base on a number of occasions, but not that he had walked across country. Where did you read that? Apart from anything else, without a public footpath or bridleway, and therefore a right of way, he would have been trespassing.

Actually under certain conditions it would be feasible to walk over the fields. Most of that area is arable and by late September the wheat or barley would have been harvested, leaving light coloured (reflective) short stubble. If it had been a full moon and a clear night there would probably have been enough light for him to find his way providing he was familiar with the route. However the moon was at last quarter (waning gibbous for Lovecraft fans) but I can't find any record of whether the sky was clear or overcast.

The police seem to think he might have walked up the A134. If so, I wonder if he tried to thumb a lift.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Maybe he usually just walked along the roads?

Seems police are sure he left BSE in a vehicle, I assume they know this because there is no CCTV showing him wandering around or being up near where his phone went. They must have a pretty good idea by process of elimination where he got into a car/taxi.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

For anyone interested in the countryside being discussed, there's a nifty little site called Where's The Path which uses a split screen to show you maps, including the OS 50,000 map, and Google's aerial views side by side. They are zoomable and move in laterally conjunction.

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

 

[jslk]

Even the roads are treacherous. They sent lit except at major junctions. The point about lack of light is true whether he walked on fields/footpaths or roads. I have no idea whether he chose roads or fields. I was springboarding off previous posts that he walked back to base from BSE previously.

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[jslk]

Arent* lit

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[OrlandoJames]

Good point - but on previous occasions?

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I don't know. Maybe his phone? A lot of phones have built-in torches these days.

But as I said, IF his mother is correctly reporting what the police currently think, it seems likely that something happened before he even left BSE. To my mind this would have to be one of two things:

1. He encountered some young lads who saw him, with his pink shirt and white jeans, as an easy target for a bit of a punch-up (you know, the kind of thing that happens in most town centres every weekend) and things got out of hand, he hit his head on the pavement and died. Then, in a very unusual move, the cuplrits don't just run away but decide to dispose of the body and take it away somewehere to a remote location to do so, possibly throwing the phone away in Barton Mills on the way.

2. He was deliberately targeted for abduction by an individual or group, who either forced him into a vehicle or persuaded him to get in of his own accord, possibly by offering a cheap taxi ride back to his base. Once he said where he wanted to go, he would have revealed himself as millitary personnel, if that's what they were after. They then drove him off to an undisclosed location, disposing of his phone along the way.

Both theories are flawed. People involved in casual street fights usually just run away, and if he was abducted for terrorist purposes, why haven't we heard anything yet? But if, as is now hinted, the police do suspect 3rd party involvement, what other theories are there?

 

[MelmothTheLost]

What I find puzzling is that if something happened to him in the town centre I'd have expected his body to have been found fairly quickly.

If he'd been injured or killed in a fight, young men tend to leave their victim and do a runner. They don't tend to think "Oh heck, we can't leave him here, we have to get rid of the body", and then go and get a vehicle, dump the body in it, drive out somewhere remote enough for the body to still be missing 2 weeks later despite an extensive search in an area which is not densely populated but not remote or inaccessible, and conceal it. It argues for either an element of premeditation or of very quick thinking.

And about the phone. If he'd simply lost it, the majority of people who found it would almost certainly hand it in to the police. It's inconceivable that he would have thrown it away. Therefore someone else must have thrown it away, which again makes me think of assailants deliberately discarding it before moving the body so it cannot be used to trace him or their movements. Again, either premeditation or quick thinking.

 

[OrlandoJames]

I agree everything you say. The first of my two theories above seems very unlikely, for the reasons you describe. Premeditation seems much more likely.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

What if he got hit by a car (drunk driver? hence not just calling 999) phone thrown in the bin, body put in boot?

 

[OrlandoJames]

What if he got hit by a car (drunk driver? hence not just calling 999) phone thrown in the bin, body put in boot?

Or accidentally hit / run over by a bin lorry on its morning round, then disposed of?

 

[MelmothTheLost]

What if he got hit by a car (drunk driver? hence not just calling 999) phone thrown in the bin, body put in boot?

Surely a hit and run in or near the town centre would have been seen, either by witnesses or caught by CCTV, especially as it's been reported that the town centre was surprisingly busy between 3am and 6am. There were clearly quite a few people about. Again, it would require very quick thinking for someone to hit a pedestrian and immediately put the body in his car.

However, I can see this happening if Corrie had been walking home, especially along the country lanes and the driver had a few minutes to pull himself together and work out a plan.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I agree everything you say. The first of my two theories above seems very unlikely, for the reasons you describe. Premeditation seems much more likely.

Yes, and the premeditation question seems to bring us back to the issue of a terrorist kidnapping.

Unless he was targeted over a love interest dispute (but I think we'd have heard something about this by now) or there's a nascent serial killer who plans to target young men.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Surely a hit and run in or near the town centre would have been seen, either by witnesses or caught by CCTV, especially as it's been reported that the town centre was surprisingly busy between 3am and 6am. There were clearly quite a few people about. Again, it would require very quick thinking for someone to hit a pedestrian and immediately put the body in his car.

However, I can see this happening if Corrie had been walking home, especially along the country lanes and the driver had a few minutes to pull himself together and work out a plan.

That's what I meant, IF he set off along the A134 something might have happened on a dark road. Where is the entrance to base? Is it further up the 134 or on one of the side lanes?

Getting massive Adrian Lynch deja vu.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

That's what I meant, IF he set off along the A134 something might have happened on a dark road. Where is the entrance to base? Is it further up the 134 or on one of the side lanes?

It's a walk of 7 or 8 miles up the A134 then a right turn onto a minor road, then about a mile walk along that unlit road to the base perimeter fence.

Yes, the roads are unlit but he was wearing light coloured clothing, and on the A134 I would expect him to be walking facing the oncoming traffic.

 

[OrlandoJames]

That's what I meant, IF he set off along the A134 something might have happened on a dark road. Where is the entrance to base? Is it further up the 134 or on one of the side lanes?

Getting massive Adrian Lynch deja vu.

The problem with this theory is that the phone signals show that Corrie's mobile went from BSE straight towards Barton Mills, which is not in the direction of the base. If he did make it onto the A134, he must have been separated from his phone earlier, and then his phone somehow made its way to Barton Mills. It would seem unlikely that the phone going missing and Corrie disappearing were completely unrelated incidents.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Where is the entrance to base?

Actually good question. It's not clear from Google. It looks as though the main gate is to the south, or that one nearest the A134 (the access for heavy vehicles?).