Found Deceased UK - Susan McLean, 61, U.S. tourist, Aberfeldy, Scotland, 17 May 2015

[Aloysius]

For Susan's horsey friends who are trying to be proactive, the Chronicle of the Horse, Horse Nation/EventingNation and similar websites/publications in the UK might pick up an appeal by a friend or former student of Susan's. Definitely worth a shot.

ETA: I have a contact at EventingNation but I only know the scant details about Susan that have been in the media. If someone who knows Susan better wants the contact info, PM me.

Could do with local riders/dog walkers perhaps getting involved in the searching?

H Hippy has been doing a brilliant job in the immediate area, now maybe people from neighbouring areas could also start looking?

(How's it going Hippy Hippy?)

Was there any indication that she was suffering from any medical conditions that might shine a bit more light on why/how far she may have gone?

 

[LadyL]

I don't think anyone has mentioned that one of her adult sons is special needs so this may be a valid reason, in addition to caring for their pets, that her husband had to return home.

I also noticed while perusing Susan's FB that one of their homes had been burglarized in the past. She posted a photo that shows the thieves really cleaned them out to the point where she made a comment about having to sleep either in bunkbeds or on the floor. I was thinking this would`ve been a vacation home - maybe the property where the restored barn is. Someone knew they had a lot of time in which to take so much stuff - someone knew the owners weren`t in the country IMO. It probably has nothing whatsoever to do with Susan`s disappearance unless someone held a grudge or there was something more to that situation. Was it resolved and was anyone ever charged with the crime is the question.

The whole scenario where she was offered rides twice bothers my spidey senses. I wish we had confirmation from the men that they actually saw her face and are sure it was a woman. Also, that CCTV image is tugging at me.

 

[hippy hippy]

Just curious, but has it been confirmed that the time stamp on the CCTV is accurate? Also, speaking of the rain the evening she disappeared ... Was it raining all evening, as in at Six Thirty when she was reported to have last been seen, or did it start to chuck down a bit later? I have reason for asking..

Portabella, can you tell us what was your reason for asking about the rain? I know it rained between 5 and about 6:30' then brief respite as far as I know then again by 11 pm. Gusty wind too.

 

[hippy hippy]

I have done three more searches. I would all Love to get more people involved but the story has died away here,the forests are too vast, and people just lead busy lives. I think it a shame that the police did not ask for the public's help on the ground in the first week. We have so many, I mean SO many, people here who work the kind of jobs that require knowledge of the rural area. I am referring to Ghillies. These are people who guide, accompany, instruct, advise, whatever you want to call it, clients on hunting, fishing and stalking trips on the Estates that make up this entire part of Scotland. These guys know the land like the back of their hand, know how to hunt and track. So why weren't they used in the search. They know all the nooks and crannies of these Estates. And they all have dogs. And thetimber men of the Forestry Commision who do the logging, they could have come on board too. And what about the workers at the wind farm just above the nursery. Again, they know the area so much better than I do. Definitely a missed opportunity.

 

[Zuri]

Hippy, would you be adverse to someone in U.S. Senator Casey's office contactIng you? They may have more info for you to rely on. Also, I can get you the case worker's name and email that has been assigned to her case from within his office if that would be helpful?

 

[PLT]

I was just reviewing an old case on Websleuths and it made me think of Susan. This other woman went out for a short walk and never came back. There was a big initial search for her but then it died down. Speculation on this forum was rampant, particularly that she had been killed by her husband, been abducted or had an accident. Finally she was found, hanging from a tree in a brushy area. Turned out that, although capable of great happiness, she had fallen victim to the mental illness of depression and anxiety, and was unable to acknowledge it or seek help. She had left a note, though it was somewhat ambiguous, and that fact hadn't been revealed by police or the family.

My feeling is that something similar has happened in this case, this is why there is little information and the family has left. Don't want to be a downer, but suicide is 4 times as common as homicide for people her age. Perhaps the family holiday was an attempt to 'cheer her up', and when it didn't work she was overcome by despair.

Just my 2 cents on this sad case.

Was this Leanne Bearden? I joined WS because of that case. I was of the accident belief or ran away but I never knew about the note until you posted. Was there an update mentioning it?

I was thinking about that case a lot as I read this one .

 

[LadyL]

I have done three more searches. I would all Love to get more people involved but the story has died away here,the forests are too vast, and people just lead busy lives. I think it a shame that the police did not ask for the public's help on the ground in the first week. We have so many, I mean SO many, people here who work the kind of jobs that require knowledge of the rural area. I am referring to Ghillies. These are people who guide, accompany, instruct, advise, whatever you want to call it, clients on hunting, fishing and stalking trips on the Estates that make up this entire part of Scotland. These guys know the land like the back of their hand, know how to hunt and track. So why weren't they used in the search. They know all the nooks and crannies of these Estates. And they all have dogs. And thetimber men of the Forestry Commision who do the logging, they could have come on board too. And what about the workers at the wind farm just above the nursery. Again, they know the area so much better than I do. Definitely a missed opportunity.

I don't know about Scotland but in some countries., the police can't work directly with civilian searches for various legal reasons.

 

[Satchie]

Was this Leanne Bearden? I joined WS because of that case. I was of the accident belief or ran away but I never knew about the note until you posted. Was there an update mentioning it?

I was thinking about that case a lot as I read this one .

His gut had told him Leanne had walked off and killed herself. She had left a note on their dresser. It was a piece of white paper. "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH," it said in bold, block letters. He assumed this was a suicide note, but he clung to a small ray of hope that perhaps his wife had decided to run away.

It is very interesting that the existence of the - admittedly ambiguous - note was never revealed - neither was her depression that her husband suspected, but hadn't discussed with her. Just goes to show that there is usually more behind the scenes than we know about.

You have to click on the 3 bars in the upper left to get the table of contents.

http://www.kens5.com/story/life/2014/04/30/josh-s-story-suicide-survival-for-the-husband-of-leanne-bearden/10692576

 

[PLT]

It is very interesting that the existence of the - admittedly ambiguous - note was never revealed - neither was her depression that her husband suspected, but hadn't discussed with her. Just goes to show that there is usually more behind the scenes than we know about.

You have to click on the 3 bars in the upper left to get the table of contents.

http://www.kens5.com/story/life/2014/04/30/josh-s-story-suicide-survival-for-the-husband-of-leanne-bearden/10692576

Wow! Thank you for this article . Given her life and talent (heard her singing in this article and the Ava Maria on their blog) ....I never will understand why. She was the picture of happiness ...and I guess that's why I never rule out this possibility even when people say it could never apply.

I won't side track this forum because Susan is the main priority here - but wanted to thank you for this article .

Now, I am hoping some help arrives for Hippy who has been selflessly conducting so many searches. She mentioned the missed opportunity where police could have enlisted crews of people familar with the area. Can they still be called upon by the family /friends to do so? I was thinking that if I were in a situation where my loved one was missing in another country - I may start contacting locals over there and start organizing a search day. The individuals that Hippy mentioned (such as hunting guides)sound like resources who know the little nooks and off beat paths that have not been covered. can the Senators office help organize this?

 

[hippy hippy]

Here is a map of searches I have done over the past week starting at the blue circle which is the picnic/viewpoint area on Crieff Road. This picnic spot is another ten minutes walk from garden centre, which I have circled in orange,( the green star shows my usual route and walkers map) so you can get an idea of the distance between the two search areas. Yellow lines indicate my forays into the trees and logging tracks. All I found was Calloway golf ball, sorry.

 

[hippy hippy]

Thank you to the friends of Susan who have done their best to encourage family members to contact me. As of today, no contact. I wonder if I should take this as a sign that perhaps my efforts are uncalled for...
By the way, the little yellow lines on the map that seem to wander off to dead ends are purely me trying to follow the dogs who have picked up a scent!

 

[hippy hippy]

I went to the garden centre on Friday and asked a staff member if she had heard anything more from the police, or anyone for that matter, about the witnesses who had come forward re the garden centre sighting. She said no, nothing more, only that the search team did a thorough search of the centre, the trees and the fields round about. I asked her if perhaps the sighting had been of one of the staff or one of the family members who live at the compound, and she said no that had been ruled out, she thinks it probably was Susan who was seen, especially, she said, because she was already offered a lift by ***** further down the hill. So I asked her about that and she repeated the exact same version of events that my neighbour told me, and that the woman definitely did not respond verbally to the driver, just shook her head. She said if she hears anything more, she would tell me next time I drop by. We both wondered why the first sighting was not acknowledged by police or press.
I asked her what her theory was, and she believes she probably walked too far into the evening to risk coming home in darkness on that awful road in such poor visibility and so maybe decided to return off track so to speak. I have always thought this.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Hippy Hippy, you are an amazing person to carry on the search for Susan, particularly as there has been no communication or help from her family. You'd think they'd be keen to make contact (assuming they have heard about your efforts), the fact there is silence makes me think they know something we don't. It's all very odd.

 

[eucalyptuz]

Oh, I really wish we had an explanation. Trying not to sound entitled here but I just don't get it.

I know people disappear all the time but this is not some 20 year-old, tipsy in a metropolitan area (Statistics, not victim profiling .) In daylight, an American woman in her prime with a full life of family and interests just vanishes near a quaint village in the UK!?!

From early days I was so sure she'd slipped in the wet and it would be a matter of days before she would be discovered - hopefully alive. After days turned into weeks I was still sure it was an unfortunate accident and she'd turn up.

Now it is 7 weeks. Even Scotland's seasons are ticking over to summer now...more tourists, vacationers, ramblers. Where is Susan? It is almost impossible to think that our innocent postulations and explanations of mossy rocks, steep trails and inclement weather can be the answer.

I'd like to thank Hippyhippy too for being the eyes, ears and legs on the ground and I'm sorry that it seems as though they had little prolonged company from local LE in the search. I hope we'll have an answer one day soon as the scenarios that pop into my head late at night are less and less naive (hopeful).

Sorry for my ranting...mainly just thinking (and bumping) for Susan...

 

[Lumberjill]

Hi Websleuthers,
I'm Susan's friend from the US. I so wish I'd known about this site earlier, but just learned of it a few days ago. Hippy hippy, your map helps me see what some of the problems are with searching the area. Are you still going out? Would it be worth my coming over? I have no specific skills to make me particularly useful, but if the police have stopped all searching... I could surely do something if only make sure the posters are still visible. Comments, here or by PM please. I feel like I need to do something, but have no clue of what.

 

[hippy hippy]

Hi Lumberjill and welcome to Susan's thread. Today marks exactly 8weeks since she walked off and we are no further forward. However there has been a deluge of sound advice from the Websleuthers who are following, useful insights from some of Susan's friends, and of course just a general and warm feeling from everyone that people out there care about her and this story, even though most of us did not have the honour of knowing her personally.

I would also thank you for offering to come out here to help. You are the first person to actually make this kind of offer and I would like to PM you for a chat about logisticse etc.

I do go out daily still although missed today as we had the Mens Wimbledon Final to watch! But back to the routne tomorrow. Pollen and allergis are frightful at the moment so that can influence where I search but am still basing my thoughts on the area south of the garden centre. I encourage you to read the WHOLE thread, examine all my maps, and in light of what you read, and depending on how well you know Susan, please offer us on WS any insights or ideas you can to enlighten us further.
Again, WELCOME to our wee band of sleuthers!

 

[Lumberjill]

I heard that Susan's husband just learned about WebSleuth late last week. And it takes a couple of days to get permissions to post here, so I'm hoping he will soon be commenting on some of the WS questions asked to fill in gaps that might lead to finding Susan.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I heard that Susan's husband just learned about WebSleuth late last week. And it takes a couple of days to get permissions to post here, so I'm hoping he will soon be commenting on some of the WS questions asked to fill in gaps that might lead to finding Susan.

It would be great if he came on board, not least to help HippyHippy learn more about Susan's mindset.

 

[Lumberjill]

http://www.sunrise-and-sunset.com/en/sun/united-kingdom/aberfeldy/2015/may/17

 

[hippy hippy]

Thank you Lumberjill for the Sunset info. We had already established that by about 10 she would be walking in darkness, so when she left Moness at 7:45 she had about two hours of manageable light to walk in. If she had been injured and decided to lay up until daylight, she would only need to wait until 5am before trying to move again. A short nit, yes pretty heavy rain, and very gusty wind but there's plenty places to shelter as the woods are so dense. An injury would have to be pretty severe to have caused her to fall to the ground and not move again, therefore the helicopter would have seen her the next day, or picked up body heat on the sensor. So that leaves us with her slipping down into a deep body of water, or a steep gorge, or the river and perishing very soon after (no body heat). I hphave checked the three disused quarries, nothing. The River Tay has been too shallow to allow for her body to travel far so she would have been found by now, especially during this season of constant rafting and kayaking traffic on it. And the various bodies of water within the area of Aberfeldy have all been checked by divers etc. that just leaves the Birks, which is the waterfall and gorge trail opposite the resort. I had ruled that out early on after walking it carefully several times, in rain, semi darkness and sunshine. Too slip and be killed would mean climbing steeply uphill almost to the top and then quite deliberately going to the non fenced part of the walk and literally veering right over to the edge, finding the one spot where there are no trees to catch your fall. Just too many coincidences to be able to have success in being hurt there. That trail is our most popular one here , thousands of people do it, with dogs, kids, the elderly, and I know of no such accident to date.