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

[sleuthheywood7]

I agree with you. All together his actions are really strange and don’t really make sense. That’s why I worry he was not in his right mind. JMO.

I wonder if maybe he turned his phone off when he saw his mother had called from work at 10pm ish as he didn't want to arouse any suspicion that he was not at home in bed like she thought he was. Maybe he then swapped over his sim and headed to epping to meet someone - expecting to turn his phone back on when he was on his way home - from the sounds of the timeline his mother has spoken about her shift was around 12 hours, so if he had planned on being back at 4 or 5 am then she would have been unlikely to even notice. I would be terrified of being in somewhere like Epping Forest at night but maybe it was something he had done before / if he was meeting someone it mitigates that aspect a bit? Speculation and JMO.

 

[tedtink]

He is a tall strong man; he enjoys talking to his friends. At a point, he got cut off from his friends. Somehow, it happened that he met some people who we were not 100% sure about.

“It has been very devastating. I don’t know how to describe it but it is serious. All we want to do now is how to get him back and tell us his story.


To me this sounds as though Richard has changed friendship groups .
Perhaps he had an established group of friends through school whom his parents knew and liked,but then Richard began to mix with another group and so began to distance himself from his old friendship group.I think this could have been happening before lockdown.

Agree and I also think this new friend group may hold the key to his disappearance.
Let's hope some are willing to talk.
JMO

 

[candlemaker808]

In terms of a self-harm scenario, someone will likely be in an extreme frame of mind, and it shouldn’t be surprising that they behave in ways that, while they might make sense to them at the time, would appear incomprehensible to outsiders. On that basis, that’s what I still suspect here, as terribly sad as that outcome is.

But that said, there are elements here I find more troubling. RO appears - to me - to have purpose throughout his journey, and I think you can see that in the CCTV when he exits the taxi. He seems to know exactly where he is. Given how deliberate and specific his movements were, I wonder if this is a journey he’s made before, except this time, for some reason, he didn’t go home afterwards. JMO.

 

[shadwell]

Agree and I also think this new friend group may hold the key to his disappearance.
Let's hope some are willing to talk.
JMO

Yes, I would imagine the police are quite keen to establish who this person or people might be and speak to them at the moment.

 

[shadwell]

In terms of a self-harm scenario, someone will likely be in an extreme frame of mind, and it shouldn’t be surprising that they behave in ways that, while they might make sense to them at the time, would appear incomprehensible to outsiders. On that basis, that’s what I still suspect here, as terribly sad as that outcome is.

But that said, there are elements here I find more troubling. RO appears - to me - to have purpose throughout his journey, and I think you can see that in the CCTV when he exits the taxi. He seems to know exactly where he is. Given how deliberate and specific his movements were, I wonder if this is a journey he’s made before, except this time, for some reason, he didn’t go home afterwards. JMO.

It might be that he has made the journey before. But it might also be that his journey and its intended outcome was being directed to some degree by a third party (MOO).

 

[sleuthheywood7]

In terms of a self-harm scenario, someone will likely be in an extreme frame of mind, and it shouldn’t be surprising that they behave in ways that, while they might make sense to them at the time, would appear incomprehensible to outsiders. On that basis, that’s what I still suspect here, as terribly sad as that outcome is.

But that said, there are elements here I find more troubling. RO appears - to me - to have purpose throughout his journey, and I think you can see that in the CCTV when he exits the taxi. He seems to know exactly where he is. Given how deliberate and specific his movements were, I wonder if this is a journey he’s made before, except this time, for some reason, he didn’t go home afterwards. JMO.

Yep - the cctv of him getting out the cab just seems to me like he knows exactly where he is going/has been there before. If he hadn't, and even if he had for some reason wanted to go to that specific location, I would expect him to be a bit more hesitant getting out the cab/walking up smart's lane - especially in the dark. There doesn't seem to be any hesitation at all - no looking around really to get his bearings other than once backward as the cab drives off - as he walks out of shot he's looking down at his phone - that seems like a strange thing to do if you've just arrived in a place you have never been before. Then again, as you say it also depends on his frame of mind at the time. JMO

 

[KensingtonandChelsea]

I know I said before that I felt my opinion had changed from suicide to him meeting someone he met online but if he has gone to take his own life, could it be that he didn't do it immediately as he was nervous and instead camped out in the forest while he built up the nerve to do it? He may not have been entirely sure this was the action he wanted to take.

 

[Skigh]

Yep - the cctv of him getting out the cab just seems to me like he knows exactly where he is going/has been there before. If he hadn't, and even if he had for some reason wanted to go to that specific location, I would expect him to be a bit more hesitant getting out the cab/walking up smart's lane - especially in the dark. There doesn't seem to be any hesitation at all - no looking around really to get his bearings other than once backward as the cab drives off - as he walks out of shot he's looking down at his phone - that seems like a strange thing to do if you've just arrived in a place you have never been before. Then again, as you say it also depends on his frame of mind at the time. JMO

I agree. If he had just been dropped somewhere he had never been before I would have expected him to have stopped and tried to get his bearings after exiting the taxi.

 

[Rosegold68]

i don't see how potentially meeting someone online can then be seen as 'grooming'....Richard is a grown adult male who can make his own decisions...he's intelligent, yet he seems to be portrayed as a groomed teenager,vulnerable and been lead astray. I feel his mothers interviews are colouring this and already so many are buying into it and seeing him as a victim

just my thoughts.

 

[sleuthheywood7]

I agree. If he had just been dropped somewhere he had never been before I would have expected him to have stopped and tried to get his bearings after exiting the taxi.

Yep - and him looking down at his phone after getting out the cab - almost looks like he could be about to send a message to let a third party know he had arrived? If he was simply looking for the forest I would presume he would be able to see it from that point on smarts lane from looking at google maps myself.

 

[Rosegold68]

I agree. If he had just been dropped somewhere he had never been before I would have expected him to have stopped and tried to get his bearings after exiting the taxi.

interesting....almost as if he was leading a double life or had been spending time there in the past
.

 

[sleuthheywood7]

i don't see how potentially meeting someone online can then be seen as 'grooming'....Richard is a grown adult male who can make his own decisions...he's intelligent, yet he seems to be portrayed as a groomed teenager,vulnerable and been lead astray. I feel his mothers interviews are colouring this and already so many are buying into it and seeing him as a victim

just my thoughts.

I totally get your point - I think maybe the fact he's more vulnerable because of his health condition? My sibling is a similar age to Richard and if he had disappeared in these circumstances, having not gone missing before, I think my mum would probably suspect something had gone awry. At 19 as well one is in many ways an adult but also a child in another - and I guess it varies from person to person. As in some 19 year olds are used to be very independent/living alone etc. and others less so. JMO

 

[Lyanna]

@Tortoise The phone being switched off at 10pm same day as disappearance was reported on Sky News (TV report) a few minutes before I posted it. I forgot to source at the time.

In the youtube interview with Mum posted a couple of pages or so ago, mum says phone was ringing at approx 10pm but when she tried at 11pm it was off and hasn't been on since. JMO, but I'm wondering if he switched SIM or something (has a 2nd phone?). If his strange journey etc was motivated by wanting to cover his footsteps/tracks that would make sense. JMO/MOO

Sorry if this has already been said, catching up

Like you I'm thinking second sim, possible dual sim phone?

PS Happy Easter All! X

 

[Hills88]

My 4 year old daughter doesnt have sickle cell but she has a rare blood called Diamond Blackfan Anemia where her body doesnt make red blood cells. Like Richard, she needs a blood transfusions every 3-4 weeks. I am so worried about Richard as I know with my daughter as it gets closer to her transfusion date, she becomes very tired and sleeps alot of the day, . She has already had a stroke as her levels got so low that it deprived her brain of oxygen.

Having transfusiom quite regularly Richard would be on iron overload medication like my daughter as iron overload can be fatal as the excess iron deposits into major organs like the heart when it has no where to go. This medication for iron overload can be quite toxic and causes alot of other medical issues also. So Richard would have alot going on and would need his medication and a transfusion

I just wanted to give abit of an insight into someone who is transfusion dependent. I pray Richard is found soon. I couldnt imagine what his mum is feeling.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

i don't see how potentially meeting someone online can then be seen as 'grooming'....Richard is a grown adult male who can make his own decisions...he's intelligent, yet he seems to be portrayed as a groomed teenager,vulnerable and been lead astray. I feel his mothers interviews are colouring this and already so many are buying into it and seeing him as a victim

just my thoughts.

A person can be intelligent AND naive.

Are you suggesting by "colouring " interviews that his mother is not being truthful?

Richard is our victim here, its not a question of "buying into" anything. He is missing and considered vulnerable. These are facts.

 

[Rosegold68]

A person can be intelligent AND naive.

Are you suggesting by "colouring " interviews that his mother is not being truthful?

Richard is our victim here, its not a question of "buying into" anything. He is missing and considered vulnerable. These are facts.

nope. but mums views are not always realistic, hence many are buying into this. He's not a child, but he's her child.

he is missing considered vulnerable due to a condition, but a victim?? thats no fact. not yet anyway, quite possible he's missing voluntarily, who knows? nobody here does

 

[SveJeMoguce]

Breck was a naive 14year old. Richard is 19 years old and, I imagine ,quite street wise.

I agree with this, I just don't see a 19 year old being lured into the forest at midnight. The case this reminds me of most is Liam Smith a couple of years ago. I hope this time there is a different outcome.

 

[Sherlock'sBlonde]

Using the term grooming for RO at 19 whilst not technically correct if referring to the same process with a child/under 18, it is definitely true that all manner of adults can be deceived by someone misrepresenting themselves in a similar manner. These adults are still victims despite their age.

 

[tedtink]

I agree with this, I just don't see a 19 year old being lured into the forest at midnight. The case this reminds me of most is Liam Smith a couple of years ago. I hope this time there is a different outcome.

I hope it has a different outcome too but RO was not actually seen going into the forest, let alone being lured.

This is the exact spot where he was dropped off.

Google Maps

 

[Lucy6226]

Using the term grooming for RO at 19 whilst not technically correct if referring to the same process with a child/under 18, it is definitely true that all manner of adults can be deceived by someone misrepresenting themselves in a similar manner. These adults are still victims despite their age.

Also worth noting that most people think of grooming by a paedophile. But grooming can be by county line gangs, terrorists, religious sectors, organised crime....there's so many possibilities.

Honestly until we find him, whatever the outcome, all we can do is speculate because there is no way of knowing exactly what's happened.

MOO.