Found Deceased UK - Leah Croucher, 19, Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, 14 Feb 2019

[Cardgame]

Exactly right regarding visibility. Eg lake searches lots and lots of people will see what’s going on, however the local press will be slow to report so unless you are local, in the area at that time or someone you know tells you they saw it AND also are a member here then how would it get posted here.
As I think someone mentioned before MK is built on a dual carriageway (mainly) grid system with housing ‘estates’ in the pockets of the grids. From main roads you can’t really see in to the housing areas as they are mostly tree covered, plus the roads are 60/70mph. There are lots and lots of housing estates so unless the police are literally in your street there could be anything going on around you and you would never know. There is no ‘main road’ or main through route like other cities.
I always say you can never get lost here, you just go the long way round. Meaning there are umpteen ways to get to your destination from your start point. Lots of places I routinely go to from my house, I may never go the exact same way twice.

Hi Truth, (and other locals)

I have a question. So, on googlemaps I've been looking at the route from Leah's house to the area she is said to have been headed, and when I made those maps I automatically added buzzacott lane because that's where Leah was last seen.

Sorry if this has been answered before, but when you put that route into googlemaps without buzzacott lane, there is a quicker, and apparently more scenic route that you could in theory take towards Knowlhill.

Google Maps

If Leah walked as her 'regular' route up Buzzacott, then do we know why she might have chosen that route?

I guess, I'm speculating that there might have been a specific reason, other than the route. Someone who lived along the route. For example.

 

[truthistheresomewher]

You’d never walk the direct road route really as it’s along side dual carriageways. Milton Keynes runs on a redway network for walking/cycling, some of the redway route dips up alongside the main roads but most of it is lower down alongside the housing estates.
If you check google maps for the cycling route (rather than walking) it will show the route using the redway network, which is also typically the same way you would go when walking.

 

[Alyce]

Was wondering where Leah works because on the cctv she does not look dressed for the office.

Also looking at the map, i find it a rather strange idea that the police would be looking in that lake....surely if someone had snatched her, they would have taken her a bit further afield than that? And if nobody took her..then less reason for her to be in there.
Surely cctv must be plentiful in that area?
Also i didnt quite understand from reading......her parents last saw her at 10pm the night before.....where was she when they last saw her?
Why did nobody see her leave for work?
Personally i thought that she looked perhaps a little bedraggled in one of the stills....not in keeping with other pictures i have seen
Somebody just must have seen her in that area at that time of day!
Certainly as an abduction site that location and timings are a million miles from ideal

She works for a Finance Company - name is somewhere on here, further back in the thread.
If she is a back office / telephone worker as opposed to client facing, there may be a more relaxed dress code.

Re who last saw her. The only statement issued says last seen by family at 10pm.
We have no idea who saw her then, or what she was doing - ie; going to bed, going out ?

Likewise with the - why did no one see her leave for work - for whatever reason, police are not explaining this.

Agree that as an abduction site it's not ideal. However, as a place to meet someone, at a guaranteed time along their regular route, and persuade them to go somewhere, willingly, it is a very good location.

 

[Cardgame]

You’d never walk the direct road route really as it’s along side dual carriageways. Milton Keynes runs on a redway network for walking/cycling, some of the redway route dips up alongside the main roads but most of it is lower down alongside the housing estates.
If you check google maps for the cycling route (rather than walking) it will show the route using the redway network, which is also typically the same way you would go when walking.

The cycle suggestion is also not via buzzacott, and also looks to be more scenic.

Google Maps

 

[Cardgame]

You’d never walk the direct road route really as it’s along side dual carriageways. Milton Keynes runs on a redway network for walking/cycling, some of the redway route dips up alongside the main roads but most of it is lower down alongside the housing estates.
If you check google maps for the cycling route (rather than walking) it will show the route using the redway network, which is also typically the same way you would go when walking.

Do you mean routes like the one in the photo I have attached? Is that what they look like? The other attached image is of what looks to be the most likely route from Quantock Crescent towards Buzzacott, presumably on one of those footpaths?

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Our local press in MK are literally useless. Lots and lots of things go on which they never report on and their website is always slow to be updated. From the Libby thread a lot of the updates and articles are linked to Hull Live - with local press live reporting to that level others are bound to pick up on it, I think a lot of it stems from that maybe

Totally agree re our local press! Nothing new on MKFM or Citizen today on this

 

[HongKongPhooey]

All of these have been good points! It's hard to remember that all of us on here are actually a very small number of people...I feel like we have a few members though who keep an eye out and report when there is knowledge of police gathering anywhere that could be related to an incident, so even if the media aren't reporting, I feel like a member on here who is in the area would report back to us if they had seen a greater police presence/searching, etc. And I don't think we've heard anything from locals lately. Of course, I am not familiar with the area and perhaps a gathering of police isn't as obvious or visible to the public as it might be in and around Hull...where Libby lives.

Nothing happening locally according to a friend who lives on Furzton. And they haven't spoken to LE at all, just a leaflet thro the door.

 

[truthistheresomewher]

The cycle suggestion is also not via buzzacott, and also looks to be more scenic.

Google Maps

Yes I know what you are saying about that, but I’m not sure I’m reading too much in to it. The route without Buzzacott is more scenic but also more secluded, maybe she prefers being more out in the open walking alone. Also not much time difference either route so as I said before lots of different ways to get to the same place in the same amount of time. I’ll take a drive over there tomorrow and see what local shops along the way have cctv.

 

[Alyce]

This is snipped from a February 17 report re Leah -
from the way it is worded, makes it sound as though she is seen on the street, rather than in her home and the timing is not definite. Plus wearing the same clothes as she is reported to be wearing the following day.
Maybe nothing, just reads oddly to me.



Leah Croucher, aged 19, was last seen on Quantock Crescent, Emerson Valley in Milton Keynes at around 10pm on Thursday (14/2).

Leah is white, of a slim build with below shoulder length brown hair and sometimes wears glasses.

We believe that she was dressed in a black coat, skinny black jeans and black Converse high top shoes when she was last seen.

Leah often travels on foot through Furzton and into the Knowlhill area of Milton Keynes.

Since enquiries began we have received a report of a sighting of Leah on Buzzacott Lane, Furzton shortly after 8am on Friday (15/2).


AMENDED: Appeal to trace missing woman – Milton Keynes

 

[Cardgame]

This is snipped from a February 17 report re Leah -
from the way it is worded, makes it sound as though she is seen on the street, rather than in her home and the timing is not definite. Plus wearing the same clothes as she is reported to be wearing the following day.
Maybe nothing, just reads oddly to me.



Leah Croucher, aged 19, was last seen on Quantock Crescent, Emerson Valley in Milton Keynes at around 10pm on Thursday (14/2).

Leah is white, of a slim build with below shoulder length brown hair and sometimes wears glasses.

We believe that she was dressed in a black coat, skinny black jeans and black Converse high top shoes when she was last seen.

Leah often travels on foot through Furzton and into the Knowlhill area of Milton Keynes.

Since enquiries began we have received a report of a sighting of Leah on Buzzacott Lane, Furzton shortly after 8am on Friday (15/2).


AMENDED: Appeal to trace missing woman – Milton Keynes

Interesting thought about the clothes. No way she could be heading the same way up Buzzacott to get home as she would head to get to work, I suppose?

(Perhaps the kind of question only someone with as poor a sense of direction as me could ask... but given what Truth is saying about all the different routes...?)

 

[Cardgame]

Yes I know what you are saying about that, but I’m not sure I’m reading too much in to it. The route without Buzzacott is more scenic but also more secluded, maybe she prefers being more out in the open walking alone. Also not much time difference either route so as I said before lots of different ways to get to the same place in the same amount of time. I’ll take a drive over there tomorrow and see what local shops along the way have cctv.

Great. And yes, what you say makes sense. Although whichever way she went that day, it was obviously pretty secluded since no one has seen or heard a thing!

 

[astheworldfallsdown]

Has there been any information about her phone other than it hasn't been used? Was it on until a certain time, switched off at a certain time or battery die? Did anyone try to phone her when she didn't turn up for work?

 

[Cardgame]

Has there been any information about her phone other than it hasn't been used? Was it on until a certain time, switched off at a certain time or battery die? Did anyone try to phone her when she didn't turn up for work?

Nothing in mainstream media, other than, I think, the fact that it has been turned off. And I'm not sure about even that. Certainly no information more specific than: 'her phone has been off since she went missing.'

There are claims about when the phone switched off on social media, but not MSM.

 

[truthistheresomewher]

I’ve seen the same reports about the time her phone dropped. There does seem to be quite a bit more info floating about than is actually being officially reported.
There have been a few people in my memory gone in the lake, either kids messing about or during hot days and/or involving alcohol, but in all cases bodies recovered very quickly. If she was in the lake I believe she would have been found as soon as they searched it. I’ve been at Furzton lake myself years ago when someone was reported as gone in, helicopter up, boat out, body recovered within half hour.

 

[truthistheresomewher]

Regarding the comment that no one has seen a thing, I agree very very strange. Redways that time of the morning are not exactly packed, but definitely cyclists and walkers all over doing as she was and heading to work, all the lake areas attract lots of dog walkers and also there is a massive amount of runners in MK who use the paths. You’d struggle to walk for 5 mins without passing someone.
My initial though was MK has a lot of rough sleepers and I wonder if LE have reached out to that circle in case she has voluntarily gone off grid for any reason

 

[ly502]

This is snipped from a February 17 report re Leah -
from the way it is worded, makes it sound as though she is seen on the street, rather than in her home and the timing is not definite. Plus wearing the same clothes as she is reported to be wearing the following day.
Maybe nothing, just reads oddly to me.



Leah Croucher, aged 19, was last seen on Quantock Crescent, Emerson Valley in Milton Keynes at around 10pm on Thursday (14/2).

Leah is white, of a slim build with below shoulder length brown hair and sometimes wears glasses.

We believe that she was dressed in a black coat, skinny black jeans and black Converse high top shoes when she was last seen.

Leah often travels on foot through Furzton and into the Knowlhill area of Milton Keynes.

Since enquiries began we have received a report of a sighting of Leah on Buzzacott Lane, Furzton shortly after 8am on Friday (15/2).


AMENDED: Appeal to trace missing woman – Milton Keynes

Well, I can say that I might look like I am wearing the same things two days in a row...especially in cooler weather...the same jacket and shoes, and I wear black pants to work almost every day. Although no one confirmed that she was last seen at home, this was kind of implied when her family and others said that she was the type to come home early, stay in on the computer, etc. But nothing has been verified. Same with morning...people speculating that perhaps her family members leave before her while she is still asleep or vice versa.

 

[cherrytree9]

People probably did see her that morning, but just don't remember her. I couldn't even vaguely describe most people I walked by on the way to work this morning.

Given that she looks so young for her age and is short, I wonder if someone remembered her but didn't think she was 19? When I first saw the CCTV images, I thought she was wearing a school uniform before I saw her age. It's also the right time to be walking to school.

I hope they find her soon

 

[truthistheresomewher]

Given that she looks so young for her age and is short, I wonder if someone remembered her but didn't think she was 19? When I first saw the CCTV images, I thought she was wearing a school uniform before I saw her age. It's also the right time to be walking to school.

Very true it was last day of school before half term so she could well have mingled in with the school crowd wearing those clothes and the back pack - I guess making CCTV detection an even harder task

 

[truthistheresomewher]

Kind of various levels of quality on the walk/cycle ways. The redways I’m referring to are mapped out here - may not be completely up to date but to give you an idea
Pedalling Culture
And look like this normally

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Kind of various levels of quality on the walk/cycle ways. The redways I’m referring to are mapped out here - may not be completely up to date but to give you an idea
Pedalling Culture
And look like this normally View attachment 171524

The redways worry me in this case. Would the underpass to Shenley Lodge be her only redway on her normal route?