UK UK - Jack O'Sullivan, 22, left friends after night out, last seen Brunel Lock Road/Brunel Way, Bristol at 3.15am, 2 Mar 2024

[Deleted member 348901]

Did he contact his brother in those early morning hours? Was he trying to head there?

Hi Aceahard,
I am not sure whether Jack was heading to his brothers or not to be honest. His Mum thinks he was heading back to Hotwells where the party was but does not say why.

I guess it is possible that Jack, cold, exhausted, not feeling too well from the bang on the head and a looming hangover, may have felt he would be best heading to the party venue to see if he could get his head down there. Maybe they refused him this or had gone to bed and not answered their door to him and so he decided to head back to the Granby Hill area perhaps to see if his brother Ben could let him kip there.

There is no mention of Ben being got out of bed by Jack turning up but Ben lives inside the ping area where Jack's phone last pinged before going completely off the network.

Ben lives near to the top of Granby Hill where Clifton starts.

But Jack was last seen at the top of Bennett Way at 3.39 am. His phone apparently pinged at around 6.44 am so about a 3 hour window of time unaccounted for in terms of Jacks last known movements.

This was posted on the Facebook Find Jack group of Jacks route as found by his Mums review of the CCTV footage:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1077917874058135

Another twist in this puzzling tale is that there was a data use surge on Jacks phone around the time of the last ping which was equivalent to watching a 9 minute video on his phone.

At present, the phone data from Jack's phone which his Mum owns as he was on his Mum's account, is being analysed by a data analyst hired by Jack's family. The police claimed that when they examined the data they found nothing of any consequence.

But the police neglected to find out about the altercation and Jack banging his head after falling down 4 stairs at the party. The police spend 200 hours searching the River Avon and 100 hours searching land around Granby Hill with something like 17 drone deployments in that for good measure they again drew blanks.

<modsnip: Off topic; this is not the Nicola Bulley case>

<modsnip: Websleuths is LE friendly unless there is known fact to not be>

The man who was caught dumping suitcases with body parts in them on the Clifton Suspension Bridge about 2 months ago could have harmed others before he was caught trying to dispose of these body parts 2 months ago. Jack went missing over 6 months ago so whose to say that this same man didn't harm Jack too? See:

<modsnip: Direct accusation against an individual who is not an officially named POI/suspect in this case>

This is the website on Jack:

Find Jack O'Sullivan - REWARD £100,000

23 year old Jack O'Sullivan went missing on March 2nd 2024, following a night out in Hotwells, Bristol. A £100,000 reward is available for information

www.findjackosullivan.co.uk

I wonder if Jack was followed either by someone on foot or in a car by someone who wanted to rob his expensive clothing, watch, Apple Air tag and I Phone off him to sell to buy drugs?

Nothing can be ruled out here can it?

Something feels awfully wrong.

I feel so sorry for Jacks family and for Jack, this is a living nightmare for them all.

I hope they soon get the answers as to what happened to Jack. It is all so harrowing and damaging.

 

[acehard]

There is no mention of Ben being got out of bed by Jack turning up but Ben lives inside the ping area where Jack's phone last pinged before going completely off the network.

Obviously his brother would know if he got any missed calls or messages. IMO

 

[VerityGumshoe]

It’s in all of the original stories. His friend who last spoke to him said he didn’t seem drunk

And yet he allegedly fell down stairs, smashed his head on stairwell. Then got into altercation with a partygoer who said “Think you’ve had enough.”

 

[Deleted member 348901]

And yet he allegedly fell down stairs, smashed his head on stairwell. Then got into altercation with a partygoer who said “Think you’ve had enough.”

It is all very odd. The conflicting stories as to whether Jack was or wasn't drunk. If he wasn't drunk then was his drink spiked? This is a fit man of 5ft 10 who ran a half marathon not long before he vanished. He only fell down 4 stairs according to his Mum, but he banged his head and then he ventured out to walk for over 30 minutes in the cold of the early hours of the morning in search of a taxi. There is one CCTV shot of Jack walking in a more illuminated area - I think it was by the "Create Centre" and you could see the slush and ice on the ground near where he was walking. Ice is slippery and it is easy to fall on ice even when you haven't had a load to drink or a spiked drink. But what if he was slightly concussed from the bang on the head? He was walking in dark spaces under the overhead roads of that area which are not lit and possibly a place where he could get mugged for his expensive gear. There is no way I would have been walking around an area at that time of night in search of a taxi, irrespective of what I was wearing be it cheap or expensive. He was a target for anyone dodgy. It is all so sad. I just hope he is found soon, he has to be somewhere out there and someone must know what has happened to him. It is so perplexing.

 

[Deleted member 348901]

Obviously his brother would know if he got any missed calls or messages. IMO

From what I have read on the Find Jack Facebook group, no more calls were made from Jacks phone after the one he made to a girl at the party who didn't answer her phone, but then 10 minutes later she returned his call and someone - and she can't be sure if it was Jack, apparently just said "hello" and then nothing else, but the phone line was open for a further 58 seconds and then it dropped. Nothing after that.

So what is odd about this is that this girl claims that she heard no noise in the background of Jack saying "hello" yet at that point in time Jack was half way down Bennett Way, and had walked DOWN Bennett way undetected by the CCTV cams which last picked him up, walking back UP Bennett Way after that call, this was at 3.39 am. So wouldn't that girl have found that odd? If you were that girl would you not have tried to call Jack back after the line dropped off after 58 seconds of silence following someone saying "Hello"? Would that not ring some alarm bells for her? It would for me, would it for you?

Had Jack got to his brothers and been let in out of the cold then yes, his brother would know if Jack had more calls but he seemingly didn't get to his brothers where his phone last pinged at 6.44 am.

Jacks mum has the notion that Jack was not in possession of his phone when he disappeared on the basis that she had tried in vain to ring him several times from around 5 to 5.20 am and got no reply. Then the phone pings on Granby Hill close to where Jacks brother Ben lives at 6.44 am and goes off the network after that. Something is seriously amiss here.

Jacks Mum allegedly woke at around 5 am with some sort of 6th sense that something was wrong and she goes into Jacks bedroom, the light still switched on - she left his bedroom light on for him and their outside porch light, that was also still on and so she and his dad get a shower and within 20 mins are down in Bristol searching for Jack. The police would not allow Jacks parents to file a missing person's report until 12 hours had passed from him going missing - a stupid law that needs changing, because those 12 hours would have been crucial to finding him.

Then they file a missing person report having gone home to await the arrival of the police to their house to do this apparently.

The police then started searching the River Avon fixated on the notion that Jack must have ended up in the Avon. But no sign of him so they told Jacks parents that the current on the Avon would likely have carried Jack out to sea.

How awful is that? It is gut wrenching.

 

[Deleted member 348901]

The address was an electricity substation not a house.

Jacks Mum said that Jacks phone last pinged around 6.44 am from a house in Granby Hill OPPOSITE the old electricity sub station which was directly opposite the house and that she and her volunteers have search around that old substation and been to the house and knocked the door and I am not sure if she got an answer to the door or not but the police supposedly did a door to door enquiry on Granby Hill and that was fruitless. But no mention of any houses being searched by the police. All very strange really.

 

[Deleted member 348901]

If you were Jack and you had chosen to disappear, for whatever reason, how would you feel if you were a 5ft 10 guy who had lived away from home in Exeter for a few years doing a degree and you are out there in hiding watching your Mum going around doing her own reconstructions of his route around Bristol that night and going on TV and in the media telling the nation that he was a cheeky boy at home and yet reserved at times with new people and that he regularly checked in and had given her a kiss after driving her to her friends just days before disappearing in expensive gear but banged his head after falling downstairs at a party he was in two minds as to whether he should attend or not but went to the party anyway as Mum told him to go and meet new friends, only to feel a real prat for falling down the stairs and being mocked for doing so?
Would this embarrass you enough to remain in hiding or would you feel so touched and moved by the torment his Mum is showing from you being missing after being told by her to go to a party you maybe didn't want to go to and just return home to face maybe embarrassing media attention?
This is assuming Jack is still alive. Suffice to say that there is always a flip side to every story.
Jacks family mean well and are distraught and this is clear to see, no one would be void of sympathy for any of them. But what about Jack himself? How might he be viewing this from some place of hiding, if he is still with us?

 

[dotr]

If you were Jack and you had chosen to disappear, for whatever reason, how would you feel if you were a 5ft 10 guy who had lived away from home in Exeter for a few years doing a degree and you are out there in hiding watching your Mum going around doing her own reconstructions of his route around Bristol that night and going on TV and in the media telling the nation that he was a cheeky boy at home and yet reserved at times with new people and that he regularly checked in and had given her a kiss after driving her to her friends just days before disappearing in expensive gear but banged his head after falling downstairs at a party he was in two minds as to whether he should attend or not but went to the party anyway as Mum told him to go and meet new friends, only to feel a real prat for falling down the stairs and being mocked for doing so?
Would this embarrass you enough to remain in hiding or would you feel so touched and moved by the torment his Mum is showing from you being missing after being told by her to go to a party you maybe didn't want to go to and just return home to face maybe embarrassing media attention?
This is assuming Jack is still alive. Suffice to say that there is always a flip side to every story.
Jacks family mean well and are distraught and this is clear to see, no one would be void of sympathy for any of them. But what about Jack himself? How might he be viewing this from some place of hiding, if he is still with us?

FWIW..
Francisco Garcia Sat 5 Jun 2021

When missing people don’t want to be found: ‘I’d removed myself to push the world away’

What happens if you decide to disappear – then find yourself plastered over the internet?

www.theguardian.com

''What happens if you decide to disappear – then find yourself plastered over the internet?''

''At 10pm on Friday 29 January 2016, Esther Beadle closed the front door and walked out of her life. A journalist at the Oxford Mail, she was seen leaving her shared house in Cowley, about an hour’s walk from the centre of Oxford. Then she was gone.

When she didn’t turn up to meet a friend in London the next day, alarm bells started ringing. Within hours there were hundreds of tweets about her, describing her, detailing her last known movements, and asking for information.


But Esther hadn’t planned to become a missing person. She just wanted a break, and had taken herself somewhere else to get some space. “In my eyes, people were missing from me,” she told me last summer. “I’d removed myself from everything, to try to push the world away.”

 

[Deleted member 348901]

After a full run-through of his route, found here video...I have changed my mind somewhat.

- I think the phone location signal has potential to mislead, because doesn't it rely on having battery? You'd be lucky to get charge after a full night out into the hours of 6am, even if you went out on full charge. I believe the phone probably run out of battery, especially as he was known to be using it as well. So would this stop the location? Also the Air-Tag would cut out if the phone ran out of battery because the bluetooth stops too. Whatssap messages are unopened too, again, could indicate Batt gone.

- From the full route re-run on Facebook - he is definitely lost and confused. The area he goes to by "integrated facilities Bristol Workplace" (here) is a dead end, on the banks of the River Avon and indeed he turns back. He's lost.

- He then goes under the bridge complex at Brunel Lock Development. I saw a post earlier saying he'd be unlucky to fall to foul play in this area, I have to respectfully disagree, and this is an area I would 100% avoid. Looks like he continued from this point, but I can't rule out foul play at some point.

- No wonder the route was hard to follow on maps, he changes direction many times. Going back on himself multiple times.

- Makes it across the Plimsoll Swingbridge (going North) and down the slip road and opens whatssap messages at 3:38 and 3:39am. He can see Granby Hill at this point, looking right. This view. That is Granby Hill, and I believe he has his sights set on that. Once again turns back on himself to go back up the bridge. Looks precarious here in traffic. And here was his last sighting ( here, going back up ).


So doing that run through, I am less sure about being in water now. Because I believe he tries to get over to the Granby Hill location, this explains going back up the bridge, because it looks a nightmare to get to from the above linked location. He must have made it because of the phone ping. And he's now not near to water. There's a lot of barriers everywhere too....he'd have to really climb over them to end up in Water (or thrown over I suppose).

There's just no more evidence he went back near water from Granby. Unless his phone went to Granby and he did not. But I do believe it was his aim to get there.

I agree with your post, it makes a lot of sense.

<modsnip: Sleuthing and posting personal information about individuals who are not either victim or a POI is not allowed>

Jacks Mum, however, believes he walked down the road that slopes down toward traffic lights toward the party venue in Hotwells Road, perhaps to try and get a taxi in that location. But then she goes on to say that she thinks he got into a car which drove him miles away and just simply dropped Jack off there. Why would any taxi driver or as some people on the Facebook 'Find Jack' page have said may be a fake taxi who lured Jack into it to take him somewhere for a sinister reason.
Had this been the case then we may have to assume that this fake taxi driver or even a real one, took Jacks phone off him and returned to perhaps their home on Granby Hill where it last pinged. If this happened and there was a 3 hour window from when Jack was last seen on CCTV walking UP Bennett Hill at 3.39 am until the phone last pinged before going off the network at 6.44 am then the driver of that vehicle would not have been able to drive Jack for more than an hour out of Bristol in order to do what ever they did with Jack and drive back to Granby Hill in time for the phone to ping at 6.44 am.

But if Jack was left somewhere and was alive when he was just left there, surely by now Jack would have found a way to get to somewhere where he could get help would it take over 6 months to walk to a place to get help, surely not!

But if he was heading to Granby Hill and not the party venue in Hotwells, what happened to him from when he was last seen walking back UP Bennett Way where he was last spotted at 3.39 am on CCTV and where his phone last pinged on Granby Hill at 6.44 am. Did he get into his brothers home and something happen there? It doesn't add up.

The only way Jack would not have been spotted in a car being driven out of Bristol or to another location in Bristol, perhaps toward his parents home in Flax Bourton along the A370 where the sniffer dogs got excited in the land search for Jack along there, would be from Jack being put into the back of a van with no windows in the sides. But surely someone would have seen Jack either being bundled into a van or willingly climbing into it by someone around there?

Jacks Mum counted 15 cars driving over the Plimsoll Bridge that night at the same time as she spotted Jack on CCTV walking along the Plimsol Bridge. There were lots of events happening in Bristol that night including a major football match. It was weekend and people are out socialising and partying at weekends.

What a puzzle this case is!

 

[Deleted member 348901]

Ya I have kids your age I understand what it's like and some people can see spiking someone's drink as a joke until something like this occurs... Bristol has pretty big problem for Ketamine I believe ...which is a dissociative type of drug ....I'm not saying tht happened but there is a chance he. Could have been spiked or peer pressured into taking something... He may not have expected it to be so strong and that's why he fell over on the way out of the party... The girl rang him too was this prompted by his mother asking her too or just off her own back... If it was just her own idea to ring him was there a reason she was worried was he out of it...

If substances were involved and he's walking along river banks he could have easily gone in.. your vision is blurry and you can't judge distance.,, on the other hand he could have suffered a bad enough head injury for memory loss and has no idea who he is....such people tend to draw attention to themselves and get found... Especially when it's been in the paper..
It's certainly a strange story personally I'd like to know more bout this party... Am sure there is a level of secrecy between the students and the police if drugs were involved but maybe if his mum went down there,.,,am sure she must have

You talk a lot of sense and make very valid points. I agree with you on all counts.

I have thought all along that the partygoers are playing down what happened and that more must have happened.

The partygoers neglected to tell the police about Jack's fall down the stairs that night, it was only when Jacks family became disenchanted by the police and called in an Private Investigator (PI), that they found out about the altercation Jack got into with the man who mocked him for falling down the stairs. The PI was the one to get the information about this incident and he told Jacks family about it, prompting Jacks parents to go probing someone from the party and then going to the police asking why they had not mentioned this incident to which the police replied "No one told us anything about that" or words to that effect. The police can be utterly useless at times and so lax.

I have suspected all along that Jack was spiked with some sort of drug. Jacks Mum seems to dismiss this and says this would not have happened as the partygoers were all budding lawyers like Jack, but what about any gate crashers, you often get these turning up at parties and they may not be budding lawyers - far from it, if they were druggies!

If it was just down to drinking too much and banging his head, it would explain why Jack seemingly walked around in a virtual circle that night, as would be so perhaps from having been spiked or coerced into taking something to try, which may have been offered to him. If you leave a party and you are not worse for wear from having too much to drink, but you have just banged your head and feel a bit dizzy, surely you would phone a taxi rank to come and pick you up in that area as opposed to walking around in the bitterly cold icy and snowy night for over half an hour, seemingly in search of an elusive taxi?

It seem to me that Jack was not in his normal state of mind by the way he is walking and the route he walked.

There are areas where Jack walked which have no barriers to prevent you from falling in the River Avon. But had he done that, how did his phone end up pinging at an address in Granby Hill? The puzzle is perplexing but there has to be some explanation to all of this to come from somewhere!

 

[Deleted member 348901]

Yep.
The fall down the stairs
and his bolting out of the party house without even saying goodbye to the girl
(who was smoking outside)
are really strange.

And as I wrote earlier
the best way is to just call a taxi/Uber and wait at the party place
instead of wandering in the streets intoxicated in the middle of the night and with icy weather conditions.

I'm not even sure where he was heading
Didn't he call the Uber car earlier?

What a tragedy

PS
My friends & I have an agreement to never let anybody leave the party alone.
Either somebody is a designated driver or a family member comes in a car or taxis are called.

JMO

You talk sense. I also wondered why an intelligent guy like Jack, failed to just call a taxi from outside the party venue, it was a cold night, snow on the ground and ice, he wanted to get home and was likely exhausted from being up for hours, had something to drink and a bang on the head from a fall downstairs, so why on earth would he venture off in search of a taxi when he had a phone on him and could have called a taxi to pick him up.

The guy who teased him about falling down the stairs was at the bottom of the stairs and the female Jack was with at the party was smoking outside, people would have been around at the time, so why didn't these 'budding lawyers' as his Mum likes to call them, not act more responsibly and call a taxi for Jack or get him back inside and let him lie down and rest there until they could ensure he was OK to leave?

I am glad that you and your friends have the sense to ensure that nobody leaves a party alone and that you all ensure that someone gets a designated driver to get you all home. You would expect the 'budding lawyers' (as Jacks Mum likes to call them) who were at the party to act responsibly and do likewise, so where is their common sense and respect?

Jack left the party and failed to say goodbye to the host or the others, he falls down 4 stairs, and then gets up, and shoves a guy who was at the bottom of the stairs teasing him about having had too much to drink before leaving the party venue. Had someone riled Jack up after his friend went out to smoke that night and so he just got ratty and left in a bit of a huff, hence no one bothered looking out for him properly?

Something sure isn't right about all of this and too little is being done to probe the partygoers who were the last people to see Jack unless Jack was attacked after he left the party. It is crazy.

 

[Deleted member 348901]

Do we know if Jack is familiar with Bristol? Was he a student at one of the unis there? If so, he'd be well versed in the city I'd have thought. He's from North Somerset, and so Bristol is the closest big city and I know many young people from the South West go into Bristol on the weekends for nights out etc. So I am assuming he was at least moderately familiar with the city. MOO.

I have been on to Bristol for a night out only once, and I was walking around for about an hour trying to find my hotel. It is a confusing city if you're not used to it! Honestly it's the first thing I thought of when I was reading this case; I bet he's lost because Bristol can be a maze.

Unfortunately, I do believe he's in water. There's plenty of it in that area with many steep drop offs in the harbour or the river. Hope I'm wrong

Jack was born in Bristol, raised in Bristol, he went to the prestigious Clifton College <modsnip: Sleuthing and posting personal information about individuals who are not either victim or a POI is not allowed> Clifton College seems to be up behind the party venue area somewhere over toward Clifton a part of which starts at the top of Granby Hill. <modsnip: Sleuthing and posting personal information about individuals who are not either victim or a POI is not allowed>
I would imagine Jack would have a good idea of the Bristol area.

This is Clifton College:

Clifton College - Home

Clifton College is an independent boarding and day school in Bristol, offering first-class teaching in a coeducational environment

www.cliftoncollege.com

Clifton College is a private school with boarding facilities.

<modsnip: Sleuthing and posting personal information about individuals who are not either victim or a POI is not allowed>

Home - Surge Radio

<modsnip: Sleuthing and posting personal information about individuals who are not either victim or a POI is not allowed>

A lot of the route Jack walked that night was close to the edge of the River Avon and the harbourside and marine areas of the Cumberland basin do not have any barriers between the paved walk areas and the River itself, so easy to slip on the snow and ice that was on the ground that night and into the River from the harbour or marine riverside paving. I too hope Jack hasn't ended up in the river.

 

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

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Thank you all for posting according to Websleuths rules and policies.

 

[Centaurus]

I hate to be the Debbie Downer here, but it just seems like another intoxicated young man that ended up in the water. I hate that this happens so frequently.

 

[elframo]

I hate to be the Debbie Downer here, but it just seems like another intoxicated young man that ended up in the water. I hate that this happens so frequently.

Yes I agree sadly...Growing up in a City which had a Beach,a harbour and several large rivers... I'm amazed I passed adolescence considering the amount of times I walked along them very drunk...

 

[LarysaRose]

I tend to normally agree with this but there are several factors which throws me off this theory.

His phone location being away from the water and remaining on the network for several hours.

His phone still ringing at 5am.

The data showing usage equivalent to watching a 9 minute video.

I find it extremely hard to believe that he had become separated from his phone and then for him to have then ended up in the water. But that’s just my opinion.

I hate to be the Debbie Downer here, but it just seems like another intoxicated young man that ended up in the water. I hate that this happens so frequently.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I find it extremely hard to believe that he had become separated from his phone and then for him to have then ended up in the water. But that’s just my opinion.

On the contrary, I find it all to believable that a drunk young man could lose his phone and then fall into a body of water. A drunk young man could just as credibly have picked a fight with the wrong person and been seriously injured or staggered out in front of a car and been injured or killed. Drunks aren't rationed to just one item of daft behaviour each.

 

[Centaurus]

On the contrary, I find it all to believable that a drunk young man could lose his phone and then fall into a body of water. A drunk young man could just as credibly have picked a fight with the wrong person and been seriously injured or staggered out in front of a car and been injured or killed. Drunks aren't rationed to just one item of daft behaviour each.

I agree. I find it very believable the phone and Jack could have been separated.

 

[GML1981]

Jack's phone has been mentioned considerably in media reports and on the Find Jack facebook page, I find it odd that nothing has been mentioned about his social media apps usage. I am double Jack's age so can't claim to understand how youngsters communicate, however going by my nieces and nephews (aged 17 to 25) most of theirs seems to revolve around snapchat/tiktok/instagram etc. especially on a night out. From what I have read, nothing has been mentioned about Jack sending/receiving anything via these apps. Also was Jack in a relationship or single? Any dating apps he was active on? Could he have arranged a last minute meet up that went wrong?
All just my musings and thoughts about this puzzling case, and of course thinking of Jack's loved ones.

 

[fauhjdsh]

Could have been irritated annoyed at the girl at the party .. (he did leave without saying goodbye) took to the road to go home (called mum) but after walking a bit ..cooled off & called her….
But when she didn’t answer became irritated again….When she did call back was still mad and just listening..not speaking into the phone..
I know I have done this..
I think it’s important to find out how he felt about her & what happened..
He may have initially in the heat of the moment decided to leave but still wanted to go back to her
(Why wouldn’t he have booked an Uber if he really decided to go home)…
..and when she called back -he started to walk back to the party..
He is young, a male with a bruised ego and affected by alcohol and the only call was to her…
He would have been in the headspace of going back..

I think he was either mugged/hit by a car on his way back / enticed into a car or house/ Or got in a renegade taxi
.. Doesn't look like his phone left the area…
If he was taken by car they could’ve just chucked his phone out the window & took off.

I think the falling in the water option is not impossible but dosent really fit & is just lazy. Someone should get the same model/year phone on the EE network and put it in the river near the last cctv sighting and see what it does.