Found Deceased UK - Thomas Jones, 18, Worcester, 19 Sep 2018

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sundaaaay said:
On Google maps it shows that from McDonalds to the Uni is only a 26 minute walk.

If he left McDonalds at 3.15, a 26 minute walk would mean he would be at Uni at 3.41, so if he was intending on going straight home, whatever happened could have been very close to the University
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The timeline we have indicates that he left McDonalds shortly after 3am, so where do you get 3.15 from? Or is that just a guess?

I had estimated the walk as around 1 mile and that, being pretty sober, he would have walked at approximately 3mph so he should have been home between 3.20 and 3.25. Yet at 3.30 he was messing about near the racecourse. He should have been home by then.

I'm posting again below the map from the Mail published a few days ago. The only thing that has changed, AFAIK, is there was no snapchat at 3.51.


4518498-6201229-image-a-103_1537802805282.jpg
 
CoverMeCagney said:
Huh? I'm sure even at 18 (and I was a proper little raver at that age) I wouldn't have been arsed going out at midnight. Still finding all the communication from/with mum and dad a little hinky. as our friends across the pond would say. All a bit weird.
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Following this as I had family living in Worcester 20-odd years ago and visited regularly.

His parents were also trying to contact him the following morning; why? Because he'd been out late and they wanted to make sure he was up? That's a bit stifling, or he's a bit vulnerable? Not sure it's the right word, but I kind of mean a soft touch; would give a mate £10, then walk home because he couldn't afford a taxi.

"His father Ian, 53, told The Sun previously: 'We are all so worried, it has been the most distressing two days of our lives and it's completely out of character for Tom. My wife, Vicky, then text him at 8.45am as we knew he had lectures and we wanted to check in with him."

Police RELEASE two men they were quizzing on suspicion of murder after freshers student goes missing | Daily Mail Online
 
I can’t decide if his mum and dad are ‘helicopter’ parents or if they had reason to be keeping track of Tom. Had his dad got worried about him when they were at the match earlier, and gone home and told his mum who insisted on him checking in whenever he got home? And then again the morning.

It would be very interesting to see his call log and content of his messages. I’m just getting a feeling maybe all was not well. Though I am equally aware this is what happens when there’s no news, no doubt the theories will become increasingly outlandish.
 
MelmothTheLost said:
Does not compute. Depending on exactly where outside the racecourse he sent the snapchat photo, he was possibly a little under half way home, which I put at 10 to 15 minutes walk.

Unless for some reason he originally got nearer his flat but then doubled back towards town, but if that had happened they would have had multiple sightings of him going backwards and forwards on the long distance CCTV images they have.

However we come back once again to the fact that on the information we have Tom was making remarkably slow progress homewards. Why?
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I wonder what they know about his walk home the previous night, eg cctv/witness statements about the route and how long it took. Also wonder if there was the same phone activity with calls and messages to parents and flatmate.

I know young people will take photos of anything, but why the racecourse and why on Snapchat? Could he have been doing some dare with photos for Freshers and somethings happened near the water?
 
Young people I know post the most random things on Snapchat, I suppose the racecourse is a known place in Worcester.

Its true that according to reports he chose to walk home the previous night also.

Looking at Google Maps (I'm not familiar with the area) but it seems there is a walkway called the "Severn way" which is connected to the path from the footbridge and runs behind the houses on Hylton road, but its a longer route back to campus than using the roads...
 
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Is hazing a thing in the UK, as it is in the US?

Anyway...it seems almost certain the river is the answer, imo. It almosts always is the river in these cases of missing college-age men...
 
There is a kind of banter amongst young university guys in the UK who try to outdo one another, similar to hazing
 
Regards him calling his mom and his mom texting to see if he was up for lectures..I really don't see that as any indication of vulnerability or over fussy parent ..at 18 he is only just out of 6th form ..first time away from home ..and freshers weeks are particularly boisterous..I as a mother would easily do the same and I'm not a fussy mom
 
I wonder if perhaps he had taken something or had been spiked. The fresh air coming out of a club can cause an extra wave of effects.

I know he was fairly local but I also wonder how well he knew the walk back to his halls.

It's making me think of Antoine Maury last year. Disappeared walking home while on mushrooms and was found in water months later.
 
I'm with trying to think of reasons for both the slow progress and the calls in which Tom said he was places that he wasn't. I guess I can understand why he would tell his mum he was home so she didn't worry but why was he ringing his flatmates?
 
That's true but his friends said he wasn't drunk or on drugs. On certain drugs, such as MDMA, you can seem quite normal though, just extra sociable. Unless he came up from the drugs alone on the way home and did something stupid. If he was sober and slipped into the river for whatever reason (unless he cannot swim) I like to think it would be possible to get out, as the water level is probably low at the moment and the current not so strong. This was a mild night, and the Antoine Maury case was during December.

I find a few things suspicious...

The 50 minute walk to get from McDonald's to the other side of the footbridge, which is only a 10 minute direct walk. At 3am there's nothing really to do there for 40 minutes. Somewhere around here he told his mum he was home but he wasn't. What was he doing for that extra 40 minutes? Because when Tom called and messaged his flatmates at 03:44 and 03:46, he received a phone call back immediately, was this because his flatmate was concerned for his safety?

Its why I think maybe Tom was trying to hook up with someone. The eagerness to go out alone after the match, leaving his friends behind to walk home alone, and leading them to believe he was in places he was not, the extra time it took him to get across the footbridge. Was he waiting for someone? Possibly someone he met in the club earlier, McDonald's or through a location based app.
 
It's difficult to make an opinion at the moment as we don't really know the background of Tom, i did try and do a bit of digging around but never found much but he doesn't come across as being a street wise lad, most of his friends would be from his old school back home, i would be interested to find out if he had any history of depression but we maybe will never know ,
 
Interesting post on the Find Jonah page with something I've not really seen before in searches. They are calling out for people with drones to conduct a mass search from the air. Properly done with the necessary regulations and permissions. Brilliant idea!
 
CoverMeCagney said:
Interesting post on the Find Jonah page with something I've not really seen before in searches. They are calling out for people with drones to conduct a mass search from the air. Properly done with the necessary regulations and permissions. Brilliant idea!
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We recently had several people volunteer to bring drones to search for a lost dog. You would think anyone with such means to help a missing person would instinctively reach out.
 
There's some new stuff today told by a friend who knows him from Bromsgrove, where they grew up, and they had both enrolled on the same teaching degree at Worcester University. I think this information gives some insight into his personality.

Link

The university student was in high spirits enjoying a “new chapter” in his life just hours before vanishing.

The freshers had originally arranged to meet at midnight at a Wetherspoon's pub but as it was shut they met in Velvet

“As he went off I was with my flatmates. I saw him again about half an hour later on his own having a bit of fun, dancing around like anyone would do in a club.

“I went to leave and I asked him if he'd be OK getting back and he said he was waiting for somebody and then he'd be off.

“He told me and a few other people on the night that he was with somebody but no-one knows who and CCTV footage suggests he might not have been.

“He might have been with someone or about to meet someone at some point, we just don't know.

“But he was happy to be there, he was loving it.”

“Going to university was a new chapter in his life, he was excited about it,” Harley said.

“I always thought he do something around sport but he had a passion for being a primary school teacher and was looking forward to doing something new and meeting new people.”


Harley left the club between 2am and 2.30am, around half an hour before Thomas.

Thomas then went to a McDonald's by Foregate Street train station.

Between 3am and 3.40am he called his mother to say he was back at his flat – when he was actually still out.

At 3.30am he called his flatmates to say he was two minutes away and ten minutes later put a photo of himself by Worcester Racecourse on Snapchat.

At 3.44 he called his flatmates before messaging one at 3.46.

Then at 3.48 one of the flatmates called him – but the phone didn't ring.


Harley has heard Thomas had a low battery but believes those two minutes could be crucial and it is unlikely his phone simply cut out.

“Tom is not a person ready to give up on life at all.

“He was excited to go to university and was excited to be with people.

“It's an environment we had all been craving, one where we would be surrounded by people the same age and could have a bit of fun.”

Harley added: “Tom is a very popular kid, loud, funny, outgoing, always with people.

“He's sociable and if goes out he always enjoys being around other people. He is a fun lad to be around.”
 
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