I drove past Kyle’s sign again yesterday.
Sad to see that almost 3 years on there’s still no news and it appears that the sign has suffered storm damage and not been repaired / replaced.
For those of you who are not familiar with the case and don’t want to click through a dozen links from the various posts, here’s a summary of the story:
Kyle disappeared on 30th December 2012.
The last believed sighting of him was on the A467 road between Risca and Crosskeys sometime between approximately 11:00pm and 11:45pm. Early reports suggested that he was hitchhiking, but I haven’t seen that particular piece of information repeated since the very early stages of the disappearance.
Police found Kyle’s silver Peugeot abandoned along that same stretch of road at 11:45pm with evidence that it had been involved in a collision – it’s unknown who was driving at the time of the collision or exactly when the collision occurred. I’d suggest though that since it’s a well-driven, fast road without a proper ‘hard-shoulder’ any abandoned car would be causing an obstruction and would have been reported promptly to the police, which fits with the timing of the sighting of him on foot.
Concern over Kyle’s welfare was raised early on due to his Diabetes and his need for regular insulin injections but despite intensive searches of the river and other areas, Kyle hasn’t been seen since.
Here in the UK, most evidence isn’t made public until after a trial has been concluded. Clearly though, the police must have uncovered something that indicated foul play because from the very first days this has been treated as a murder investigation.
Just over a week after the disappearance, a 27 year old man from Blackwood was arrested on suspicion of murder.
This was followed by 5 further arrests :
A 25 year old man also from Blackwood and also arrested on suspicion of murder
A 22-year-old woman from Newbridge arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice
A 62-year-old man from Newbridge arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice
A 21-year-old man from Newbridge arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender
A 15-year-old boy from Abercarn arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender
By the end of January, two more arrests had been made also on suspicion of murder :
A 27-year-old woman from Cwmfelinfach
A 28-year-old man from Cwmfelinfach
Making a total of 8 people under arrest and on release under police bail.
A year later, all bar the two Blackwood men had been informed that no further action was to be taken against them and in February this year (2015) the CPS announced that charges against the two Blackwood men should also be dropped due to insufficient evidence.
I don’t think there’s anything that can be done here. Very little information is in the public domain and it's never likely to become public unless this goes to trial, but please spare a spare a thought for Kyle’s family this Christmas. People don’t just disappear into thin air and 3 years is just way too long for his family to be without answers.
The police obviously have their theory and their suspects but with insufficient evidence it seems that they’ve hit a brick wall and of course, they may not even be correct with their suspicions. I’m hoping that 2016 will be the year that Kyle is found and his family will finally get some answers.
Photos attached of Kyle’s sign on the road where his car was found and of one of the early appeal posters.
