Found Deceased UK - Richard Okorogheye, 19, Oxford Student, Ladbroke Grove, West London, 24 Mar 2021

[Alyce]

I thought the opposite.
I saw the light on the phone just as he got out of the taxi (possibly just paid using his phone).
Then I think he put his phone INTO his Addidas bag ETA Still see the light on the phone.

I agree he would most likely have used his phone to pay.
If you look at the last second of the clip, he still has his phone in his hand. Although he may have put it away just after that.
There is plenty of street lighting on Smarts Lane, if he carried straight on. Although it was after midnight, so possibly the lights had been switched off by then.

 

[sleuthheywood7]

Having just watched the cctv again - he does look relatively relaxed although it is obviously hard to tell. The thought of being in a huge deserted forest at night in the dark absolutely terrifies me Praying he is safe and that his family hear some news soon.

 

[tedtink]

Yes I think it's already in his hand as he gets out of the car, but I don't think he puts it in his bag, I think he's still holding it.

Does he put a lit phone into the bag and lift another unlit one out of the bag? Or it could be that the light goes off on the first phone, but then why fiddle with the bag?

 

[sleuthheywood7]

Having just watched the cctv again - he does look relatively relaxed although it is obviously hard to tell. The thought of being in a huge deserted forest at night in the dark absolutely terrifies me Praying he is safe and that his family hear some news soon.

 

[Alyce]

Google Maps


Map link to Smarts Lane showing where Richard got out of taxi

 

[sleuthheywood7]

I agree he would most likely have used his phone to pay.
If you look at the last second of the clip, he still has his phone in his hand. Although he may have put it away just after that.
There is plenty of street lighting on Smarts Lane, if he carried straight on. Although it was after midnight, so possibly the lights had been switched off by then.

It does look a bit like that - can you pay for an Uber with a phone on completion of a job? I thought you had to pay in advance as the app takes the payment automatically from the card connected with your account when you confirm your booking (or maybe on completion of the trip but still automatically). That is obviously assuming the cab was an uber - if it wasn't I presume most minicabs have card machines that can be used with contactless/Apple Pay nowadays. He does look like he's leaning forward as if to pay as he gets out the cab but it could just be the angle he gets out at/he's looking at his phone for another purpose as he gets out. There are obviously other cab services you can book through a phone like Bolt etc - I haven't used them so don't know anything about how one pays. JMO

 

[KHA]

It does look a bit like that - can you pay for an Uber with a phone on completion of a job? I thought you had to pay in advance as the app takes the payment automatically from the card connected with your account when you confirm your booking (or maybe on completion of the trip but still automatically). That is obviously assuming the cab was an uber - if it wasn't I presume most minicabs have card machines that can be used with contactless/Apple Pay nowadays. JMO

If it is an uber, which IMO I would say looks likely, the payment is taken through the app therefore no need to use his phone to physically pay.

 

[Sarahlou]

I think if he is not found today it’s unlikely that there’s been any kind of suicide.

Epping Forest is a large area. I think it's entirely possible he could be there and not found yet.

 

[dotr]

• 
  Assuming LE are also looking up.....
  Richard Okorogheye: Police continue Epping Forest search 12 days after student disappeared
  
  
  Image: Specialist search officers are continuing to scour Epping Forest
  • 
    
    Image: Police search for Richard Okorogheye in Essex
    ''Specialist police search officers, with mounted police and a dogs unit, have been searching Epping Forest since Wednesday after CCTV captured Mr Okorogheye walking towards the area in the early hours of 23 March.
    
    They are continuing their search today after police revealed there does not appear to have been any activity on his phone since he disappeared.
    
    Superintendent Danny Gosling said detectives had not picked up any activity on his phone and that his "laptops and computers" were "at the lab" being examined for clues.
    
    He said police were also scouring Mr Okorogheye's financial activity and that all lines of inquiry were still open.''
    

 

[dotr]

https://www.the-sun.com/news/2628114/richard-okorogheye-missing-teen-playstation/

Police are tonight piecing together Richard's movements in a desperate bid to track him down

Wearing wetsuits, officers search the lake in Epping Forest

 

[sleuthheywood7]

Is it normal for there not to have been a police update for over 24hours? I guess there is no normal in situations like these and I think I'm mainly basing my surprise that there hasn't been on the SE case, which moved really fast from here disappearance to arresting the suspect etc.

 

[Dénouement]

For the Uber, Bolts and Ola’s the payment is preauthorised and taken once the driver ends the ride. He could be looking at notification he would have received after the ride ended could also relate to him looking back

 

[Struth]

DBM

 

[annpats]

I read in a news article a few days after Richard went missing, that he left his mobile at home as his sister was using it as a wifi hotspot. If he was an avid ps5 gamer I would have thought that his home would have wifi installed so why would she need a wifi hotspot?

I think you're getting confused with the Pakistani student Shakeel Mohammed who went missing in London and was found in hospital a week ago. He went for a walk and left his phone at home as his host family's daughter was using it as a Wi-Fi hot-spot.

Richard Okorogheye is an only child and doesn't have a sister.

 

[Struth]

I think you're getting confused with the Pakistani student Shakeel Mohammed who went missing in London and was found in hospital a week ago. He went for a walk and left his phone at home as his host family's daughter was using it as a Wi-Fi hot-spot.

Richard Okorogheye is an only child and doesn't have a sister.

 

[Struth]

Apologies, i'll delete my post. Thanks for pointing that out I guess I must of got confused.

 

[annpats]

Apologies, i'll delete my post. Thanks for pointing that out I guess I must of got confused.

It is an easy thing to do. I do it often on some of the American cases, especially when many people go missing from the same town/area at the same time....

 

[pokerowan]

And from after midnight onward as the temperature would have been dropping significantly after he got out of that cab. Cold is a trigger for sickle cell crisis which he no doubt would know. Which makes it all the more difficult to understand why he would not have worn a coat.

Yes, it's like he wasn't expecting to be outside for long. I definitely think he was planning on meeting someone and being indoors.

JMO but maybe he was going to stay at another house and be back in the morning before his mum returned?

 

[JuicyLucy]

Apologies, i'll delete my post. Thanks for pointing that out I guess I must of got confused.

In fairness, there was a lot of misinformation in the MSM about Richard's case, once they got around to reporting it at all. For instance, I read that he not only had a sister but that she had sickle cell disease too. So it may well have been someone else's error, not yours, @Struth.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Chief Superintendent Karen Findlay (@KarenFindlayMPS) tweeted at 6:10 pm on Fri, Apr 02, 2021:

Huge team effort from specialist @MetTaskforce Dogs, Mounted and Marine doing all they can to support the ongoing investigation down at Epping Forest doing all we can to find Richard Okorogheye. If anyone has any information please come forward and dial into @MetCC https://t.co/cM8wDCrtQN

(https://twitter.com/KarenFindlayMPS/status/1378032211065241602?s=03)