Welcome here PPowell. What interesting and valuable info you have posted, thank you so much. We have to remember the missing and try our best to help.
UK UK - Donovan Van Lill, 29, Chippenham, Wiltshire, 3 March 2010
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Welcome here PPowell. What interesting and valuable info you have posted, thank you so much. We have to remember the missing and try our best to help.
There was talk Martin Sugden fed him to pigs at his father's farm where he was on the day of Donavan's disappearance. Although I recently read that somebody said his father's farm didn't have pigs. It has chickens and I think cows, wouldn't police have looked for evidence there?
Whenever I tried to keep the case being talked about, such as putting his name on a Wikipedia page for missing people, it doesn't appear. Other people who know him say there's no point in looking for an alive person as they accept he's dead, even though there's no evidence he is.
He lived in a room of a rented house since he split from the mother of his daughter who also lived in Wiltshire. It was a new housing area and enough houses to be strange if anybody saw anything unusual. Think he had a child in South Africa and then had another child with woman he moved to Britain with. That's the one he split from and then moved into rented room. His last movements were of him being on his computer on facebook. Even his wallet was found in the home with his car keys and passport. I don't go down the road without taking my cash cards.
Does anybody have any idea how somebody can go missing from home like that without taking anything?
Whenever I tried to keep the case being talked about, such as putting his name on a Wikipedia page for missing people, it doesn't appear. Other people who know him say there's no point in looking for an alive person as they accept he's dead, even though there's no evidence he is.
He lived in a room of a rented house since he split from the mother of his daughter who also lived in Wiltshire. It was a new housing area and enough houses to be strange if anybody saw anything unusual. Think he had a child in South Africa and then had another child with woman he moved to Britain with. That's the one he split from and then moved into rented room. His last movements were of him being on his computer on facebook. Even his wallet was found in the home with his car keys and passport. I don't go down the road without taking my cash cards.
Does anybody have any idea how somebody can go missing from home like that without taking anything?
Wish I could answer that question PPowell.
Just posted on the recent Leah Croucher case - she has completely disappeared - no trace and no apparent reason.
It's so hard to accept people go missing voluntarily, especially when there are family connections, so we have to keep looking.
I thought he went missing voluntarily, as he had a child in South Africa and then moved with his new wife to Britain for a new life, but he split from that wife, and he was in a low paying job. Although the police and his friends say he's dead.
His wife said she became pregnant but he didn't want a child and went travelling without her.
His new girlfriend took his name off from being her boyfriend on facebook while she went on holiday to Egypt the same day he went missing, as his friends kept messaging her asking what she had done with him. She seemed more upset by their messages than him being missing. Although she was only with him a few weeks.
I wonder where his girlfriend is now? I couldn't see her profile on facebook.
Missing man's girlfriend testifies in murder trial
Born in the UK, Miss Van Lill emigrated to South Africa with her parents when she was seven. She met Mr Van Lill in 2002 and they married in 2003 before moving back to the UK the same year.
The couple had plans to travel together but Miss Van Lill became pregnant with their daughter Courtney.
She said: “Don didn’t want me to have the baby but I was determined to go through with the pregnancy.
“He went travelling without me, both while I was pregnant and after Courtney was born.”
The court heard that the family was living in a house in Chippenham with Miss Van Lill’s parents and that, at first, Mr Van Lill would not help to look after his daughter.
In her statement Miss Van Lill said her trust in Mr Van Lill was betrayed when she found internet searches by him of dating websites and
and saw a photo of him with another woman.
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lindamichelle1
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Donovan has never been found. Article from 2022
I used the gym Donavan worked at and lived in Chippenham, so joined the facebook pages for people wanting to find him. A Chippenham woman called Margaret Andre would be involved in running most of the groups. I found it strange how if there was any suggestion he went missing on purpose, Margaret wouldn't like it and tell us to accept he's dead.
He seemed a bit of a dodgy person, as his ex wife said in police interviews that he didn't like it when she announced her pregnancy, and after the baby was born he went off world travelling alone. She also said that he would sometimes walk on the other side of the street so people wouldn't know he was married. They split up when she discovered he was talking with other women online. She was living with another man at the time of Donavan's disappearance.
I thought that maybe as Donavan has family in South Africa and lived there most of his life, and he was in a low paying job but paying maintenance for a daughter who's living with another stepfather, maybe he went back to South Africa? However Margaret didn't like any talk that Donavan was still alive.
Then I recently found out that Margaret's son had committed suicide about 4 years before Donavan went missing, and she set up help groups for other families whose children died through suicide. Suicide victim’s mum sets up support group
Margaret helped raise funds to bring over Donavan's mother from South Africa for the trial of the man who was found not guilty of killing him, and helped look after her while she was in Chippenham.
I wonder if losing her own son influenced her to not want others to think Donavan is still alive, or could she be correct that there's no other option than him being dead?
I don't hear much about Donavan's South African family wanting to keep the case in the public eye.
He seemed a bit of a dodgy person, as his ex wife said in police interviews that he didn't like it when she announced her pregnancy, and after the baby was born he went off world travelling alone. She also said that he would sometimes walk on the other side of the street so people wouldn't know he was married. They split up when she discovered he was talking with other women online. She was living with another man at the time of Donavan's disappearance.
I thought that maybe as Donavan has family in South Africa and lived there most of his life, and he was in a low paying job but paying maintenance for a daughter who's living with another stepfather, maybe he went back to South Africa? However Margaret didn't like any talk that Donavan was still alive.
Then I recently found out that Margaret's son had committed suicide about 4 years before Donavan went missing, and she set up help groups for other families whose children died through suicide. Suicide victim’s mum sets up support group
Margaret helped raise funds to bring over Donavan's mother from South Africa for the trial of the man who was found not guilty of killing him, and helped look after her while she was in Chippenham.
I wonder if losing her own son influenced her to not want others to think Donavan is still alive, or could she be correct that there's no other option than him being dead?
I don't hear much about Donavan's South African family wanting to keep the case in the public eye.
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On the 15th anniversary of the disappearance of 29-year-old Donavan Van Lill, Wiltshire Police are launching a fresh appeal for information from the public.
The last known sighting of Donavan - a keen rugby player and father of two - was at 1am on Wednesday 3rd March 2010 at his home address, 3 Blackthorn Mews, Pewsham in Chippenham.
His landlord, who was also a friend, reported that Donavan was on his way to bed, and all seemed well. It is thought that he was at home on his laptop until about 10am.
When Donavan failed to show up for work at the Olympiad Leisure Centre at 2pm that same day, the alarm was raised by his concerned colleagues.
There was no sign of a disturbance or any evidence of forced entry. Donavan's white Citroen Saxo was found on the drive where he had left it the evening before.
Despite extensive enquiries and numerous appeals for information over the past 15 years, Donavan has not been found.
The last known sighting of Donavan - a keen rugby player and father of two - was at 1am on Wednesday 3rd March 2010 at his home address, 3 Blackthorn Mews, Pewsham in Chippenham.
His landlord, who was also a friend, reported that Donavan was on his way to bed, and all seemed well. It is thought that he was at home on his laptop until about 10am.
When Donavan failed to show up for work at the Olympiad Leisure Centre at 2pm that same day, the alarm was raised by his concerned colleagues.
There was no sign of a disturbance or any evidence of forced entry. Donavan's white Citroen Saxo was found on the drive where he had left it the evening before.
Despite extensive enquiries and numerous appeals for information over the past 15 years, Donavan has not been found.
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Daughter of man who vanished 15 years ago speaks about her heartbreak
"He's never going to see me become an adult"
Donavan Van Lill (Image: PA Media)
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