Found Deceased UK - Jesus Moreno, 41, Spanish co-founder of Piglove Brewing Co in Leeds, W Yorks, last seen getting bus to Harrogate at 6.17am, 1 Aug 2022

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

SeaPriestess said:
Hi all, first post for me here but I have followed Jesus's story extensively and I know the area very well. I wild-swim in the Wharfe at Netherby regularly and had seen Jesus swimming there with his friends a few weeks before he went missing.

I might be able to clarify a few things about the local area and also I swam in the river the exact day Jesus went missing, August 1st.

The Wharfe is very unpredictable and it's generally only accessible around this point from the north bank - on the footpath along to Netherby there are lots of good access points as the ground slopes down to the river gently and there are sandy deposits creating little beaches - Netherby deep has sand brought from Bridlington in the 1930s. On the south bank of the river from Harewood Bridge to around Carthick Wood the bank is very steep and crumbling, you cannot access or exit the river safely or easily until a pebbly beach opposite Bank Hill where there used to be a ford across the river.

The swimming at Netherby deep is generally safe although the water there is very deep, 9 metres in places and two children drowned there in the 60s. There is a large noticeboard put up by the children's grandparents warning of the danger which killed the popularity of it as tourist spot, although during lockdown it became pretty popular with locals again after being generally somewhere you only saw other dedicated wild swimmers. When I saw Jesus and his friends there none of them looked like very strong swimmers, they were mostly hanging out on the little beach and having short swims although obviously this is conjecture!

From what I can tell they drove to the spot. You can park up near the Maustin holiday park and it's a five minute walk to the swim spot. I don't think many people are aware you can walk there from Harewood bridge, I don't have a car and bus/walk most places and I rarely see any other people walking to the swim spot, only anglers and dogwalkers who don't go on the path to Netherby.

Where Jesus first got off the 36 bus bus is near the turning off Harrogate road onto Swindon Lane, which is where you drive to Netherby deep if you go by car. However there are a few turnings to reach it and I suspect he might have got lost without a phone and not knowing the area well. There are usually other swimmers there on nice days and his info has been shared on the group so I'm not sure he made it to the spot. He seems to have backtracked to the bridge after wandering around for a while too.

From what I can tell about the police info about CCTV Jesus was last picked up on the camera from the harewood bridge sawmill/shed place going onto a footpath on the south side of the river, the wrong side to access it safely. I'm not sure he made it onto the footpath along the north side at all as it's not well signposted - can anyone confirm he was definitely picked up on the Bridge Court CCTV? That place is a very posh flat complex and there are several cameras around the little car park outside, I'm sure they would have more images of him walking past if so.

My thinking is that he tried to go to the usual swim spot, got lost, went back to the bridge where you can see the river and saw the well signposted footpath on the wrong side of the bridge. He walked down a way and tried to access the river from a steep bank, slipped and fell in the deep side of the river and was unable to exit.

As I mentioned earlier, I went swimming in the wharfe in between Harewood Bridge and Netherby deep the same day Jesus went missing at around 4pm with several friends. The river was much, much stronger that day than we expected, I got in at a shallow point and am a strong swimmer who regularly swims in the Wharfe but we all got out after 15 minutes of trying to find place we could safely swim without being dragged off by the currents if we took out feet off the bottom. I got swept along some 20 ft at one point which shook me up a bit! We had no idea that anyone had gone missing there that day and didn't see anyone else at that particular swim spot.

I have spent quite a lot of time walking up and down the river since he went missing. We saw divers at Harewood Bridge and Netherby deep and I've heard the police have done a surface search between Wetherby and Harewood bridge. There is a section of the river just north of East Keswick that is difficult to access, there are no public footpaths along there and the bank on the south side is more like a cliff. There are a few marshy areas with little islands and trees growing and it would be difficult to search there, I suspect his body might be caught up in the marshy bits and without any really heavy rain over the last few months I don't know if it could be washed down further.

I have been thinking about how the area could be more thoroughly searched - I would hope the police would do it but I think they have pretty much given up, there's been no activity from them for months now. You would need a boat to search that particular area of the river - if we have some heavy rain he would possibly get washed down to wetherby weir but until that happens I think he's likely to be around this area -
View attachment 374928
Click to expand...
Excellent, useful post. Thank you for your effort.
 
SeaPriestess said:
The Wharfe has a tendency to hold bodies in deeper sections, sometimes it can be weeks/months and many miles further along that bodies turn up. I feel desperately sad for his family but knowing the river well it seems like he went in and didn't manage to get out. I don't see how he could be anywhere else as the countryside around there is well walked and I don't think he seemed like a survivalist type who could hide anywhere for months! None of his belongings turned up on the banks either so seems like he might have slipped into the river with all of his gear.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your detailed posts.

I, too, have said from start that the Wharfe is where he'll likely be found. With it now being 12 weeks tomorrow since he was last seen - and seen nowhere outside of this area - he must be no longer alive. If he is, then one can only surmise he has effected an elaborate disappearance.
 
MsMiniSleuth said:
Thank you for your detailed posts.

I, too, have said from start that the Wharfe is where he'll likely be found. With it now being 12 weeks tomorrow since he was last seen - and seen nowhere outside of this area - he must be no longer alive. If he is, then one can only surmise he has effected an elaborate disappearance.
Click to expand...
It seems unlikely he would have abandoned his young daughter tbh, I imagine it was just some kind of terrible accident. I hope for her sake they get some closure soon.
 
Excellent post Seapriestess. Very interesting about previously seeing Jesus swim in that location. I wonder if those closest to Jesus we’re able to figure out what was in his ruck sack with particular interest in a towel or swimming shorts. I’m also keen to know as far as I knew Jesus was not a regular bus traveller, did he buy a return ticket or one way ? there must be some trail left if that was Jesus intent to swim.
 
SeaPriestess said:
Hi all, first post for me here ...
Click to expand...

Snipped by me for brevity.

Great first post, SeaPriestess. Very informative, especially about the strength of the current in the river that day and the lack of safe access points to the river. My initial thought on Jesus' disappearance was that had gone wild swimming, though surely his clothes and rucksack would have been discovered by now if that had been the case. Perhaps he fell into the river fully clothed whilst still carrying his rucksack.
 
Normal Norm said:
Snipped by me for brevity.

Great first post, SeaPriestess. Very informative, especially about the strength of the current in the river that day and the lack of safe access points to the river. My initial thought on Jesus' disappearance was that had gone wild swimming, though surely his clothes and rucksack would have been discovered by now if that had been the case. Perhaps he fell into the river fully clothed whilst still carrying his rucksack.
Click to expand...
Yes my thought was that he must have slipped in when trying to climb down one of the banks on the south side. They are very eroded and slippy, occasionally big chunks fall into the river on that side too and the water isn't shallower on that side generally it stays deep close to the edge. The currents are stronger on that side too - if he accidentally fell in when trying to climb down it's very unlikely he would have been able to get back out again. I have walked along the south side all the way to the iron bridge at East Keswick several times since he went missing looking for any sign of his bag or clothes and found nothing so he can't have entered the water safely and drowned then, unless someone picked up his stuff and didn't report it.
 
It's also entirely possible that part of the bank just collapsed under him when he was walking near the edge of the path because it's very liable to do that in places, when I walked there with my son a few years ago in the winter a huge section had fallen into the river and we detoured across the field to avoid walking near the edge. The ground is very sandy and erodes easily there.
 
charminglane said:
He tried to access the work van and couldn't.
Did he not have a key?
Would he have driven to the area to swim if he could? Was that his original plan?
Swim, and then go to work?
Click to expand...
I'm guessing that must have been his original plan as it's not quick or easy to walk to the Netherby spot, the bus ride takes around 30 minutes from Leeds city centre and a brisk walk around the north bank path takes approximately 30 minutes if you know the way. I allow 45 minutes for it when I take my kid. Then with a 30 minute swim/dry off and another 30 minutes walk back to the bus stop and another 30 mins for the bus ride back to Leeds if he didn't have to wait for one (36 bus is about every 20 mins). that's a good 2.5 hours even if you know where you are going, if he drove there it would take him less than half that. Perhaps he lost the key when he was out on Sunday night? I assume he was going to cancel his work plans if he couldn't drive to Manchester because of the van problems - although maybe he was also still drunk that morning and was making poor decisions/forgot what day it was!
 
Last edited:
What does 'tried to access the work van but couldn't' mean exactly?

Does it mean he went to get in the van and realised he didn't have his keys? Did he try to break into it? Did he decide not to use the van because it was full of work stuff and it would be inconvenient? Is it just poor wording?
 
3 West Yorks appeals are still up for me the last one being 17 August. I thought there was a more recent appeal than this but I could be wrong. There has been a few body founds in Leeds and the surrounding area recently, the other day there was a body found in a skip at a recycle centre.
www.leeds-live.co.uk

Police update after human body parts 'found in skip'

West Yorkshire Policeconfirmed on Monday that human body parts were found at Skelton Skips
www.leeds-live.co.uk www.leeds-live.co.uk
Body also found in river Aire which is towards Castleford.
www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

Body found in Yorkshire river after member of public sparks helicopter search

A body has been found in Yorkshire following a police search in a river.
www.yorkshirepost.co.uk www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
Neither are likely to be Jesus but worth including for reference.
 
I hope there is a resolution soon here for his family and friends...

[...]
His loved ones have spent countless hours searching for him in the area and are desperate for news.

Nick, a good friend of Jesus, said: "We are still looking. It's Christmas time - everybody is thinking about him. We are having a big gathering and lighting a candle and thinking of him."

Jesus has not been since since August 1


Nick said thousands of people would be thinking of Jesus and hoping that he is safe and well. He described Jesus as a 'nice person' with a loving daughter.

He has personally spent many hours searching for Jesus but has admitted that he is fearful about the location where Jesus had visited. Nick refers to the area as 'devil's valley'.

Nick said it was a place where 'horrible and weird' things had happened in the past. He said the river Wharfe was a location known for whirlpools and had once been a popular holiday destination known for its beach.

He did not go into detail about previous incidents. However, it is known that Netherby Deep has strong currents and whirlpools and there have been tragic accidents in the past.

Nick said the valley around the river Wharfe had been extensively searched, including by volunteers, farmers and the police.

Asked for his thoughts on what might have happened, Nick said: "I honestly don't know. It's a complete riddle. He had no reason to have left."

[...]

www.leeds-live.co.uk

Friend of missing Leeds' Jesus Moreno fearful over 'weird' last place he went

Jesus Moreno's friend, Nick, has spoken about the 'riddle' of his disappearance
www.leeds-live.co.uk www.leeds-live.co.uk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 244 more.
Total: 2,819 (members: 245, guests: 2,574)

Online statistics

Members online
245
Guests online
2,574
Total visitors
2,819
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
599,664
Messages
18,097,933
Members
230,897
Latest member
sarahburhouse
Back
Top