Found Deceased Spain - Esther Dingley, from UK, missing in the Pyrenees, November 2020 #3

[Hatty]

Dropping 1600 feet down a mountain would result in good speed by the time it landed near or in the water. I posted the link to school physics - the formula is there somewhere.

Dropping ....or jumping.

 

[Hatty]

Dropping 1600 feet down a mountain would result in good speed by the time it landed near or in the water. I posted the link to school physics - the formula is there somewhere.

Dropping ....or jumping.

Great find Muva! And very interesting indeed. It may confirm some of our theories about ED's state of mind... ED's relationship with DC... and her lack of food...

And... could LA (the person named in the story) be the mystery bespectacled person in a pic on the Esther and Dan FB page from 13/11 that I called out in my Thread #2, page 34, post #678?.... I was hoping she'd be identified and found, to help shed light on ED's state of being and whatever other information that person may have.
https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=0024ea40070d69c16f0603c8a68acc60&oe=60169BD9

Anyone know what it would mean that the British police have now gotten involved with this case?

British police would be involved as she is a British citizen and will be handling UK background enquiries

 

[Hatty]

On the subject of not making sense....

We haven't heard of anyone coming forward who met ED and DC during their long hike over the summer. It's EXTREMELY unlikely no one remembered them. Hikers remember who they had lunch with on the mountainside, who they had that long philosophical conversation with at a hostel or Refuge.... It's a friendly set, hikers are tired and get relaxed, they have time to sit around, they share exploits, discuss gear, warn of trail difficulties ahead, share food, talk about the weather and places to camp, talk about food, talk about food, talk about food....
Yet no one seems to have come forward who encountered them on that long trek. Why?

They may have come forward but info not in MSM.

 

[Hatty]

Involvement of police should only happen when there is some possibility of wrongful action by a third party. French police have ruled out third party and favour accident, but include voluntary disappearance.

Perhaps her family has requested an investigation. Perhaps there are details and questions that are unanswered. What was her partner doing for the month that she was hiking solo ... beyond house sitting (typically paid to ensure the property is occupied).

The police will be carrying out extensive detailed enquiries surrounding the background to ED’s trip and general victimology - hence the involvement of TVP. They certainly won’t be revealing everything on MSM. Without a body obviously they can’t determine cause of death and prepare a Coroner’s File.

 

[Sarahlou]

On the subject of not making sense....

We haven't heard of anyone coming forward who met ED and DC during their long hike over the summer. It's EXTREMELY unlikely no one remembered them. Hikers remember who they had lunch with on the mountainside, who they had that long philosophical conversation with at a hostel or Refuge.... It's a friendly set, hikers are tired and get relaxed, they have time to sit around, they share exploits, discuss gear, warn of trail difficulties ahead, share food, talk about the weather and places to camp, talk about food, talk about food, talk about food....
Yet no one seems to have come forward who encountered them on that long trek. Why?

I'm not sure why they would as I can't really see what it has to do with her disappearance on this last trip.

 

[Hatty]

A few people have mentioned DNA and was it taken from the Refuge.

Places like the Refuge would be swarming with the fingerprints and DNA of hundreds of people and it would an impossible and hugely costly task to swab and forensically examine such a place.

In short, it would not be done.

 

[Hatty]

I'm not sure why they would as I can't really see what it has to do with her disappearance on this last trip.

For background detail.

 

[Sarahlou]

For background detail.

True. Like you said in a previous post, if they have come forward it might not have been made public.

 

[Hatty]

There’s an interesting You Tube video of DC and ED, made whilst they were apart in November to promote their college at Oxford Uni. IMO they look as though they adore each other and ED comments happily about how she met DC at university.

I can’t seem to post the link but go to You Tube and type in Esther Dingly and Dan Colegate.

 

[PeggyHenry]

Esther is a missing person in the Pyrenees and as such the investigation is being run by the respective countries in which she may have disappeared. For the British police to be involved there may be an aspect to the investigation relating to UK records / authorities / such that it will be easier for British police to pursue.of course they will be cooperating and assisting the French / Spanish rather than running the investigation. Similar to Mc Cann case.

 

[jsoap]

Good point. I was basing elevation on the meters indicated on the caption of the photo in the dossier. The cable has to be on the switch backs. The lake elevation is 225o, switchbacks appear to be 2400-2450 m elevation. That's a difference of 200 meters, roughly 700 feet. She would be falling slower when she landed from that height.

View attachment 279731

Topology map: Le Port de Venasque

Lake elevation: Boums de Venasque - Bagnères de Luchon

The cables are on the way to the Pic Sauvegarde see- Randonnée Pic Sauvegarde 2738m – Les Topos Pyrénées par Mariano

 

[Hatty]

Thank you for posting this. It actually fits-in with the direction the discussion was going regarding possibilities such as voluntarily missing (suicide?), accident and criminal event.

This is definitely a reference to asking strangers for food. It brings back something else we discussed - why she was quibbling over small change regarding the chia seeds that were, or were not, on sale. Was she short on money?

"Hiker Laura Adomaitye met Esther, 37, at a shelter days earlier and was surprised at how little food she carried."
​

To her emotional state:

"“When you are not 100 per cent OK with your partner, you’re not going to be totally balanced emotionally.”
​

Missing hiker 'had problems in her love life' Brit cops hear as they join search

It’s The Sun - so we need to take this article with a little pinch of salt!

 

[Hatty]

The cables are on the way to the Pic Sauvegarde see- Randonnée Pic Sauvegarde 2738m – Les Topos Pyrénées par Mariano

Wow, some of these photos look perilous. I know angles can be deceptive but it looks like you’d only need to trip and you could tumble into a lake - and in a deep bit.

 

[patCee]

Apparently there were no tensions in their relationship DC has said. He has acknowledged in the past there were but they were now happy together.

Previously there have been very strong words suggesting more than just a tiff, about past tensions in their relationship. How were such strong feelings resolved during the past 6 years? By off loading some of their responsibilities and living in a small motorhome.? They managed to get along travelling and hiking together to occupy their days. This was the 2nd time Esther had a period of hiking alone, including various 8 hour one day hikes, as referred to in DCs info pack.

The couple had previously set up a business and bought 3 buy to let properties. They offloaded them apart from their flat that I understand they rent out. Following DCs illness they planned their new way of life. 6 years ago.

Mr Colegate records in his memoir: “It was around this time that any last traces of romance slipped away from us. We clung on to the belief that we still loved each other, but beneath all the animosity, it was hard.”

They had decided to get married in February 2014 despite Mr Colegate recording “what was supposed to be a chance to rediscover our love of one another did, at times, seem to have transformed into a festering pit of mutual loathing”.

Strong words and seems a strange time to plan a wedding, and they clearly decided to move on instead.

Esther Dingley ‘may have deliberately gone missing to retain nomadic lifestyle’ | News | The Times

I had wondered why they didn't arrange to meet up during EDs month away, but of course it would have been difficult for DC to get into Spain with lockdown in France, permitted or not.

 

[Officer Dibble]

The part that stood out most to me was where Laura said;

“I told them what she said to me about their relationship.
Esther said she and Dan were taking a break and she didn’t know if they were going to get back together."

Do we believe all witness reports though? If we didn't believe them then we would have to wonder why a witness said this. If its a true fact then has Dan confirmed it?

 

[Grouse]

But Dan also stayed at the Refuge for two days—and perhaps some other occasional hikers had entered—as well as SAR. All of that would have contaminated the aroma, especially that many days after ED was scheduled to be there.

I was thinking they might have searched the refuge before he was allowed to stay there.

Also, is that actually a thing about contamination of the aroma? I'm sure I've read of other cases where sniffer dogs have been able to trace the scent of abduction victims in populated areas, where there would have been the scent of many other humans in the vicinity.

 

[sundaaaay]

I don't think she hiked to the refuge and continued on the trail to the Port de Glere via Lac de la Montagnette at 4:30-5:00 PM on Mon Nov 22. If she had made it to the refuge Winter room on Nov 22, she would most likely have settled in for the night.

I think there's something to the fact that she hiked the Pic de Sauvegarde on Nov 21, sent photos, descended a short distance down the trail, stayed at a cabin in Spain, then hiked back up the same summit the following day at 3 PM - remarkably late in the day - arriving at the summit around 4 PM. Was she scoping out options and trails towards Port de Glere?

There would be nothing on a rock face to indicate that someone fell. The rocks are millions of years old - no way to tell from a helicopter when a scratch on the rocks happened.

She was probably sturdy enough that she didn't fall over when wearing a backpack in the wind and she most likely had a safe yet accessible place to pack/carry the phone when she was hiking.

It's a 1600 foot fall, there is a cable system in the switch backs because the slope is steep - slipperiness is a factor (temp, shade, precipitation)

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned before but I was under the impression she hiked up there a second time because it was the only place you could get phone signal which she hadn’t had for a period of time in the Spanish side. She knew it had phone signal because she had been there before so she took a detour to let DC and family know her whereabouts before continuing.

 

[sundaaaay]

Yes, Otto. I have wondered that myself in my prior musings here - whether ED truly intended to go to the Refuge de Vanesque on 22/11. Or if she simply descended back down to her van or the Cabane she stayed at 21/11 at the trail head of Pic de S... Or hiked towards Port de Glere - via the trail next to the Refuge de Vanesque - to possibly bivouac on the edge of Lac de Montagnette (see image below). Or did she bivouac at the summit of Pic de Sauvegarde on 22/11? Or just walk into a deep lake to end it all.

Anyhow, back to the idea that dear ED is at the bottom of a lake. I went back to topo maps and some web pics from the summit of Pic de Sauvegarde. Given the trajectory if ED fell from the back side of the col, would / could she have landed near the middle of the Boum de Vanesque? But without a trace of anything on the rock face?

On the topo map, I drew in two red lines - the left line would be the fall from the summit, the right line would be the fall from that steep descent from Port de Vanesque you talked about. And I have a picture of Boum Lake from the backside of the Pic de S summit. We've seen images like this before, but have we explored a fall from here?

Going back to RickshawFan's assessment that with ED's slim stature, her heavy pack, and the design of the pack, it could possibly topple her backwards in an accident. Or if she tried to retrieve a dropped phone... Or many other scenarios that might have put her in a precarious situation she could not recover from...

Sources:
Image #1: Sauvegarde / Salvaguardia
Image #2: Lakes "Boum du Port" : Photos, Diagrams & Topos : SummitPost

I've thought about this but I find it hard to believe she would roll down this hill and into the lake. The human body is not the shape of a football, it’s irregular and angular and if it hit a few rocks on the way down it would likely stop and the contents of her bag would be scattered all the way down. If she did roll down into the lake, she’d be right in the shallow part at the edge. There was a case mentioned on a previous Thread regarding a woman who unfortunately fell off this Pic, and she was spotted immediately.

 

[Grouse]

The part that stood out most to me was where Laura said;

“I told them what she said to me about their relationship.
Esther said she and Dan were taking a break and she didn’t know if they were going to get back together."

Interesting little snippet from The Sun. It doesn't say what nationality LA is, though it says she lives in Spain. If English is not her first language, or if they were talking in another language, I'd say it's quite possible that could have been misinterpreted. It was a break but a planned one not like a trial separation, and she may have been saying she didn't know when (rather than if) she was going back as we know her trip kept getting extended. Those facts could easily get lost if one or both parties are not talking in their native language.

 

[stmarysmead]

All of Esther’s FB posts in November are about the dogs. Some seem promotional...to sell books. But the Nov 13 post has some interesting comments from her:

“Right now, for one reason or another, I’m separated from these wonderful dogs.”

Hmmmm...she is obviously missing them. For years they managed their lifestyle with the dogs. But now it seems the dogs have actually been split up and taken to others to care for. She is happy when two of them are reunited in a further post.

She talks about missing them and that dog walking is healing for her “overactive mind” and stops her “cravings to eat.”

Later she mentions not wanting to walk around the village and end up at the supermarket “buying things I’d rather not.”

Seems to tie in with traveling with an unusually small amount of food.( today’s article) Food issues? Money issues? Both?

She talks about “pressure”... “to sit behind a computer and do more work.” Is this reference to writing these books? What other work can it be?!

Their lifestyle is promoted as being so carefree, but the emphasis on selling these books and maybe producing them, promoting them seems to create a lot of stress in Esther. Perhaps money problems account for this new drive to monetize their lifestyle. Did she see the “success” of achieving notice by the BBC as a positive thing for HER life, her “self-care” as she calls it? Or an escalation of pressure?

“Last year, for a slightly complicated reason, two dogs gave me the opportunity to try a hike in my own...and it was just what I needed.”

Another intriguing quote.

Dan seems like the practical one. Six years of living on savings, rental income and odd jobs might have become problematic going forward. Even feeding and paying for veterinary care for multiple dogs can be a drain. Gas for the motor home, expensive equipment...

Trekking all day for months does not lend itself to serious attempts to produce, market, or monetize these books. In addition to his health problems, IMO he may have been trying to pull back on the nomadic lifestyle in order to build up again for the their future. As the practical one, he might have been making necessary, responsible decisions but those decisions were pulling them back into a competitive world they had abandoned.

Their blog and books romanticize their lifestyle. But Esther is constantly speaking of her stress and fear. It reminds me of that old saying...”Wherever you go, there you are.”