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

[SteveH]

Just to clarify so we're all on the same page. Apple have not said it was not registered. Apple haven't commented beyond saying it's difficult with privacy laws to reveal this kind of information. It was the police who suggested it "wasn't registered correctly" whatever that means (note: factually, they're wrong here. It's either registered, or not registered) and since Jack showed his mum that he could find it in the house using Find My to make the airtag give off an audible noise to help find it, that means it was registered. To who? That's the question.

There was a dailymail article about this situation: Catherine (Jack's mother) said that the police's latest statement two weeks ago was that the AirTag had been 'registered to Jack's ex-girlfriend's account' which is why they couldn't locate it.

'But I (Jack's mother) actually contacted her this weekend just to verify that and she said, 'No that's not true, I didn't register it',' Catherine revealed. 'So we just can't get a straight answer.' Link to article here.

Now, assuming the ex-girlfriend is telling the truth and I've got no reason to doubt her, the airtag will be likely registered to Jack's Apple account which means the posts above are right, without the phone, it's useless. And if you had the phone, the airtag may not be far away anyway.

So I'll move onto another part of the story (in the same article) that I find either strange or a total coincidence depending on how you interpret it. Jack set off by bus at 8.20pm and at 10.45pm, he texted his mother that they had moved to a house party in Hotwells. 'All good, keys are safe,' he wrote (source is the article linked above).

Two things stand out. 1) He wasn't originally at the house party, "they" whoever "they" are, had "moved to a house party". And 2) The text to his mother about the keys being safe. To me, it's either total coincidence that he should mention his keys being safe, only for them along with Jack and all belongings on his person to go missing the very next night.

I suppose the point I'm getting to, is that this was a multi layered night with multiple decisions made rather than a simple case where the missing person had no contact with people. Jack was with family, then on the bus (presumably with other members of the public), then with a friend(s) and then at a party with others, then 400 cars in the area. On the surface, it should have been difficult for Jack to go missing in the first place (my objective opinion of course).

Another Mail Article explains a bit more about Jack's movements etc before going to the party:

"Jack was unsure about going to the party because he barely knew anyone there, but his mother had encouraged him to go and meet new people as his friends from home had moved away.

He took the bus from his house in Flax Bourton to Bristol city centre to have drinks with three of his university friends at a Wetherspoons, before all four, two boys and two girls, ventured to a house party hosted by a girl on his law conversion course.

The University of Exeter graduate, who had moved back to Bristol for the law course, stuck with his group at the party on Hotwell Road, but at one point tumbled down the stairs and hit his head.

When a random partygoer joked about him having too much to drink, Jack shoved him in a brief clash, but this did not go further."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13864853/Jack-OSullivan-house-party-disappeared-fight-fell-stairs-missing.html

And this article from Bristol Live explains the difficulties of finding Jack's body if he did go into the river:

"In the first days and weeks of the search for Jack, that involved search teams in boats, divers, bringing in oceanographers to look at tides and river flows. This is not an easy task. Those outside Bristol trying to piece together events and theories from anywhere around the world maybe aren’t aware that the Severn Estuary and the Avon in Bristol have the second highest tidal range in the world.

Twice a day the River Avon and the New Cut fill with sea water that rushes up the Avon Gorge and under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and twice a day that pours out again in a fast-moving flow that includes the River Avon. It’s held back by massive lock gates that keep the Cumberland Basin and the Floating Harbour at a constant level, but these are murky depths too that are regularly emptied and churned with lock gates opening and pumps activating. People fall in the river and often aren’t found for weeks and months, and sometimes aren’t found at all...

Bristol’s rivers, harbours and basins regularly claim people’s lives. They are not always, but often, young men, late at night, who have been out for the evening, and are struggling to get home. A coincidental spate of such tragedies around six years ago led to two things - an unfounded conspiracy theories of a ‘pusher’ in Bristol, and a review of safety around the Floating Harbour. Thanks to better fencing, education campaigns, more cameras and patrols, tragedies are less regular than they were."

The heartbreaking mystery of missing Jack O'Sullivan

Frustration and agony for the family whose son and brother disappeared in Bristol four and a half months ago

www.bristolpost.co.uk

Because a lot of pubs, clubs and other venues in Bristol are right by the water, unlike say in Central London - and that wasn't always the case here either when the docks were an off limits working area with boatyards, warehouses and sheds, railway tracks and goods yards, cranes etc - it isn't perhaps too surprising that people do end up drowning after a night of heavy drinking/drug taking etc,. Sad but not really mysterious.

 

[twomoresmores]

Just to clarify so we're all on the same page. Apple have not said it was not registered. Apple haven't commented beyond saying it's difficult with privacy laws to reveal this kind of information. It was the police who suggested it "wasn't registered correctly" whatever that means (note: factually, they're wrong here. It's either registered, or not registered) and since Jack showed his mum that he could find it in the house using Find My to make the airtag give off an audible noise to help find it, that means it was registered. To who? That's the question.

There was a dailymail article about this situation: Catherine (Jack's mother) said that the police's latest statement two weeks ago was that the AirTag had been 'registered to Jack's ex-girlfriend's account' which is why they couldn't locate it.

'But I (Jack's mother) actually contacted her this weekend just to verify that and she said, 'No that's not true, I didn't register it',' Catherine revealed. 'So we just can't get a straight answer.' Link to article here.

Now, assuming the ex-girlfriend is telling the truth and I've got no reason to doubt her, the airtag will be likely registered to Jack's Apple account which means the posts above are right, without the phone, it's useless. And if you had the phone, the airtag may not be far away anyway.

So I'll move onto another part of the story (in the same article) that I find either strange or a total coincidence depending on how you interpret it. Jack set off by bus at 8.20pm and at 10.45pm, he texted his mother that they had moved to a house party in Hotwells. 'All good, keys are safe,' he wrote (source is the article linked above).

Two things stand out. 1) He wasn't originally at the house party, "they" whoever "they" are, had "moved to a house party". And 2) The text to his mother about the keys being safe. To me, it's either total coincidence that he should mention his keys being safe, only for them along with Jack and all belongings on his person to go missing the very next night.

I suppose the point I'm getting to, is that this was a multi layered night with multiple decisions made rather than a simple case where the missing person had no contact with people. Jack was with family, then on the bus (presumably with other members of the public), then with a friend(s) and then at a party with others, then 400 cars in the area. On the surface, it should have been difficult for Jack to go missing in the first place (my objective opinion of course).

I presume his house key was with the bunch of keys? I wonder if the key comment was in reference to perhaps meaning 'I still have my house key, I'll be able to get in'. I think it's an odd comment, unnecessary to make. More necessary would be that he had indeed lost the keys..... Not that he hasn't lost them.
I'm baffled that maybe people at the party haven't been individually interviewed to help provide a clearer picture of the hours and events leading up to the disappearance.
JMO as always.

 

[infohuntah]

Another Mail Article explains a bit more about Jack's movements etc before going to the party:

"Jack was unsure about going to the party because he barely knew anyone there, but his mother had encouraged him to go and meet new people as his friends from home had moved away.

He took the bus from his house in Flax Bourton to Bristol city centre to have drinks with three of his university friends at a Wetherspoons, before all four, two boys and two girls, ventured to a house party hosted by a girl on his law conversion course.

The University of Exeter graduate, who had moved back to Bristol for the law course, stuck with his group at the party on Hotwell Road, but at one point tumbled down the stairs and hit his head.

When a random partygoer joked about him having too much to drink, Jack shoved him in a brief clash, but this did not go further."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13864853/Jack-OSullivan-house-party-disappeared-fight-fell-stairs-missing.html

And this article from Bristol Live explains the difficulties of finding Jack's body if he did go into the river:

"In the first days and weeks of the search for Jack, that involved search teams in boats, divers, bringing in oceanographers to look at tides and river flows. This is not an easy task. Those outside Bristol trying to piece together events and theories from anywhere around the world maybe aren’t aware that the Severn Estuary and the Avon in Bristol have the second highest tidal range in the world.

Twice a day the River Avon and the New Cut fill with sea water that rushes up the Avon Gorge and under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and twice a day that pours out again in a fast-moving flow that includes the River Avon. It’s held back by massive lock gates that keep the Cumberland Basin and the Floating Harbour at a constant level, but these are murky depths too that are regularly emptied and churned with lock gates opening and pumps activating. People fall in the river and often aren’t found for weeks and months, and sometimes aren’t found at all...

Bristol’s rivers, harbours and basins regularly claim people’s lives. They are not always, but often, young men, late at night, who have been out for the evening, and are struggling to get home. A coincidental spate of such tragedies around six years ago led to two things - an unfounded conspiracy theories of a ‘pusher’ in Bristol, and a review of safety around the Floating Harbour. Thanks to better fencing, education campaigns, more cameras and patrols, tragedies are less regular than they were."

The heartbreaking mystery of missing Jack O'Sullivan

Frustration and agony for the family whose son and brother disappeared in Bristol four and a half months ago

www.bristolpost.co.uk

Because a lot of pubs, clubs and other venues in Bristol are right by the water, unlike say in Central London - and that wasn't always the case here either when the docks were an off limits working area with boatyards, warehouses and sheds, railway tracks and goods yards, cranes etc - it isn't perhaps too surprising that people do end up drowning after a night of heavy drinking/drug taking etc,. Sad but not really mysterious.

Interesting, thanks for the share. I'd either missed that article or forgotten about it (I think I'd forgotten the wetherspoons pub part which has got my attention). I don't want to suggest it's too strange that he went out with friends and ended up at a house party, but at the same time, I can't help thinking it's somewhat suspicious that he was going for a drink with friends (which seemed to be the main plan) and somehow ends up at the house party (with friends, allegedly) and subsequently goes missing.

These lines from the article stand out as being of note: "The University of Exeter graduate, who had moved back to Bristol for the law course, stuck with his group at the party on Hotwell Road, but at one point tumbled down the stairs and hit his head.

When a random partygoer joked about him having too much to drink, Jack shoved him in a brief clash, but this did not go further.""

By all accounts, it sounds like Jack had "too much to drink" (judging by him going to wetherspoons first, then onto the party and then CCTV footage after with him looking potentially drunk and following a very unusual route). I just cannot understand a scenario in which he'd fall, hit his head, have an altercation and the 3 friends (2 female, 1 male) just ....let him walk out the house? It's so odd it beggars belief. Why didn't they call him a taxi? go home with him?

I presume his house key was with the bunch of keys? I wonder if the key comment was in reference to perhaps meaning 'I still have my house key, I'll be able to get in'. I think it's an odd comment, unnecessary to make. More necessary would be that he had indeed lost the keys..... Not that he hasn't lost them.
I'm baffled that maybe people at the party haven't been individually interviewed to help provide a clearer picture of the hours and events leading up to the disappearance.
JMO as always.

From the reports I have read, the airtag was attached to his house key and car key. To be specific, his car key was a Peugeot 208 key (here), his airtag was in a brown case (here) and his house key was a JMA-branded key (here). JMA slices are usually used by locksmiths to make a 2nd/replacement key (for what it's worth, I thought it's worth mentioning). It's pretty reasonable to think his parents owned the house and had the originals and would have had their key cut by a locksmith for Jack.

Agreed on all counts. The people at the party not being interviewed blows my mind. As much as I hate to say it, it's no wonder this hasn't been solved. If you don't gather as much info as you can from people he interacted with prior to him going missing, you're (the police) at a huge, huge disadvantage. The only really relevant info we've got to work with is that he may have been drunk, bumped his head, got into an altercation and seemingly left without his friends, then was seen on CCTV walking an unusual route.

As always, just my thoughts and opinions.

 

[twomoresmores]

Interesting, thanks for the share. I'd either missed that article or forgotten about it (I think I'd forgotten the wetherspoons pub part which has got my attention). I don't want to suggest it's too strange that he went out with friends and ended up at a house party, but at the same time, I can't help thinking it's somewhat suspicious that he was going for a drink with friends (which seemed to be the main plan) and somehow ends up at the house party (with friends, allegedly) and subsequently goes missing.

These lines from the article stand out as being of note: "The University of Exeter graduate, who had moved back to Bristol for the law course, stuck with his group at the party on Hotwell Road, but at one point tumbled down the stairs and hit his head.

When a random partygoer joked about him having too much to drink, Jack shoved him in a brief clash, but this did not go further.""

By all accounts, it sounds like Jack had "too much to drink" (judging by him going to wetherspoons first, then onto the party and then CCTV footage after with him looking potentially drunk and following a very unusual route). I just cannot understand a scenario in which he'd fall, hit his head, have an altercation and the 3 friends (2 female, 1 male) just ....let him walk out the house? It's so odd it beggars belief. Why didn't they call him a taxi? go home with him?



From the reports I have read, the airtag was attached to his house key and car key. To be specific, his car key was a Peugeot 208 key (here), his airtag was in a brown case (here) and his house key was a JMA-branded key (here). JMA slices are usually used by locksmiths to make a 2nd/replacement key (for what it's worth, I thought it's worth mentioning). It's pretty reasonable to think his parents owned the house and had the originals and would have had their key cut by a locksmith for Jack.

Agreed on all counts. The people at the party not being interviewed blows my mind. As much as I hate to say it, it's no wonder this hasn't been solved. If you don't gather as much info as you can from people he interacted with prior to him going missing, you're (the police) at a huge, huge disadvantage. The only really relevant info we've got to work with is that he may have been drunk, bumped his head, got into an altercation and seemingly left without his friends, then was seen on CCTV walking an unusual route.

As always, just my thoughts and opinions.

Yes, the early events of the evening are interesting. However, he's certainly not the first young person to have had too much to drink and he definitely won't be the last. The difference here of course is that he sadly didn't make it home. Thankfully that's unusual. At what point in the evening did things *start* going wrong? Was it that he simply fell into the water and was unable to get himself out? Or did things take a different and relevant turn earlier on?
JMO.

 

[infohuntah]

Yes, the early events of the evening are interesting. However, he's certainly not the first young person to have had too much to drink and he definitely won't be the last. The difference here of course is that he sadly didn't make it home. Thankfully that's unusual. At what point in the evening did things *start* going wrong? Was it that he simply fell into the water and was unable to get himself out? Or did things take a different and relevant turn earlier on?
JMO.

I think (personal opinion coming up) it depends what we count as going wrong. It looks extremely likely that there's much more to the story than has been released publicly. I say that because very few things add up in the case. I've read 100's, maybe at this point 1000's of missing person's cases and this one is up with the most confusing of all of them. Let me explain.

Jack leaves the family house via bus. Goes to a pub with a male and two female friends. At 10.45pm, he texted his mother that they had moved to a house party in Hotwells. 'All good, keys are safe,' <<<< this part (to me) makes for the beginning of the confusing twist to the tale.

1) Who decided and why did they decide to leave the pub and go to the house party? Was Jack a party-going type? Was he venturing outside of his comfort-zone? The many articles I've read online suggest his mother encouraged him to meet new people. But why that night? I could talk about this for several paragraphs but let's move on to the next thing
2) Texting his mother to say his keys were safe. Yes, his father had lost a key recently, and recently he'd showed his mother that the airtag could find missing keys, but to me, that comment is one of two things: some kind of inside joke, or things were already not going well. For Jack to mention keys were safe after he'd got to the party, was he thinking about leaving there and then? Maybe I'm reading too much into it?

The last message Jack sent to his mother was at 1:50 am, telling her not to wait up and that he would take a taxi home. This is the part where things get very, very strange (to me).

Lifted from the Find Jack website:
1:50am Jack sends a message about getting home and says he will get a taxi.
2:53am Jack is seen leaving the party and attempting to get a taxi.
3:24am Jack attempts to call someone who was back at the part

Jack doesn't leave the party for over an hour since telling his mother he was getting a taxi. That in itself raises my eyebrow a little. Another article here says: "There is earlier footage showing that as soon as he left the party address a taxi pulled up outside and dropped some people off. He is seen approaching it and having a conversation with the driver but the taxi was already booked."

Again, this seems very strange. Jack has had over 1 hour to book a taxi at this point and instead approaches a driver (how drunk or disorientated was he at this point? Most people know a private cab isn't going to let you jump in without booking as this is illegal. If I was reading the case for the very first time, I'd add this to the list of things that raise my eyebrow in this case).

Jack reportedly left the party around 3 am and tried calling a friend still at the party at 3:24am. Although the friend called back at 3:30 am, the call dropped after Jack's initial "hello." Again, all of this just gets stranger and stranger. It's now 1 hour 34 mins since Jack told his mother he was going to get a taxi. And now Jack says 'hello' and the call drops? Is this just a bad signal? This is where the case really rings alarm bells.

If we consult the map and CCTV, we know Jack was located near the Plimsoll Swing Bridge at this time, so we can infer that he likely took the call around here. To add to the complexity.... he was walking back TOWARDS the Hotwell area. In effect, he has almost done a full loop (give or take).

Having looked at the EE signal, it shows as "excellent" for 2G/4G/5G in that area. There's no real reason why the phone call should have hung up. Why would have Jack have answered, only to say hello and hang up? It makes no sense.

I could continue on but this is getting a bit long and I'm just throwing out my inner thoughts on the oddities of this case.

 

[twomoresmores]

I think (personal opinion coming up) it depends what we count as going wrong. It looks extremely likely that there's much more to the story than has been released publicly. I say that because very few things add up in the case. I've read 100's, maybe at this point 1000's of missing person's cases and this one is up with the most confusing of all of them. Let me explain.

Jack leaves the family house via bus. Goes to a pub with a male and two female friends. At 10.45pm, he texted his mother that they had moved to a house party in Hotwells. 'All good, keys are safe,' <<<< this part (to me) makes for the beginning of the confusing twist to the tale.

1) Who decided and why did they decide to leave the pub and go to the house party? Was Jack a party-going type? Was he venturing outside of his comfort-zone? The many articles I've read online suggest his mother encouraged him to meet new people. But why that night? I could talk about this for several paragraphs but let's move on to the next thing
2) Texting his mother to say his keys were safe. Yes, his father had lost a key recently, and recently he'd showed his mother that the airtag could find missing keys, but to me, that comment is one of two things: some kind of inside joke, or things were already not going well. For Jack to mention keys were safe after he'd got to the party, was he thinking about leaving there and then? Maybe I'm reading too much into it?

The last message Jack sent to his mother was at 1:50 am, telling her not to wait up and that he would take a taxi home. This is the part where things get very, very strange (to me).

Lifted from the Find Jack website:
1:50am Jack sends a message about getting home and says he will get a taxi.
2:53am Jack is seen leaving the party and attempting to get a taxi.
3:24am Jack attempts to call someone who was back at the part

Jack doesn't leave the party for over an hour since telling his mother he was getting a taxi. That in itself raises my eyebrow a little. Another article here says: "There is earlier footage showing that as soon as he left the party address a taxi pulled up outside and dropped some people off. He is seen approaching it and having a conversation with the driver but the taxi was already booked."

Again, this seems very strange. Jack has had over 1 hour to book a taxi at this point and instead approaches a driver (how drunk or disorientated was he at this point? Most people know a private cab isn't going to let you jump in without booking as this is illegal. If I was reading the case for the very first time, I'd add this to the list of things that raise my eyebrow in this case).

Jack reportedly left the party around 3 am and tried calling a friend still at the party at 3:24am. Although the friend called back at 3:30 am, the call dropped after Jack's initial "hello." Again, all of this just gets stranger and stranger. It's now 1 hour 34 mins since Jack told his mother he was going to get a taxi. And now Jack says 'hello' and the call drops? Is this just a bad signal? This is where the case really rings alarm bells.

If we consult the map and CCTV, we know Jack was located near the Plimsoll Swing Bridge at this time, so we can infer that he likely took the call around here. To add to the complexity.... he was walking back TOWARDS the Hotwell area. In effect, he has almost done a full loop (give or take).

Having looked at the EE signal, it shows as "excellent" for 2G/4G/5G in that area. There's no real reason why the phone call should have hung up. Why would have Jack have answered, only to say hello and hang up? It makes no sense.

I could continue on but this is getting a bit long and I'm just throwing out my inner thoughts on the oddities of this case.

I've been thinking whether the drinks in pub/moving to house party situation is odd (your point 1, though I know you didn't say this was odd). I'm on the fence here. I'm thinking back to my student days and how this situation might have occurred. For me, it could have occurred like this: after meeting in the pub perhaps one or two people who I thought were going to be out, weren't, and that the others' plans were to go to to a house party rather than, say, a nightclub. This never happened for me but I can see how it could.
I've only recently heard about the 'keys are safe' comment and I really can't decide if this is relevant or not.
I can see how he was delayed getting a taxi after saying he would. Easy to get embroiled in chat and the urgency to go home might have gone knowing mum wasn't waiting up.
I agree that his answering the phone with Hello and the line going dead is exceptionally odd. Did the friend try ringing again, do we know?
Interested in any further thoughts .... How are cases like this ever solved, if a body isn't found?
JMO.

 

[infohuntah]

I've been thinking whether the drinks in pub/moving to house party situation is odd (your point 1, though I know you didn't say this was odd). I'm on the fence here. I'm thinking back to my student days and how this situation might have occurred. For me, it could have occurred like this: after meeting in the pub perhaps one or two people who I thought were going to be out, weren't, and that the others' plans were to go to to a house party rather than, say, a nightclub. This never happened for me but I can see how it could.
I've only recently heard about the 'keys are safe' comment and I really can't decide if this is relevant or not.
I can see how he was delayed getting a taxi after saying he would. Easy to get embroiled in chat and the urgency to go home might have gone knowing mum wasn't waiting up.
I agree that his answering the phone with Hello and the line going dead is exceptionally odd. Did the friend try ringing again, do we know?
Interested in any further thoughts .... How are cases like this ever solved, if a body isn't found?
JMO.

So I agree. My thoughts are that moving to the party wouldn't be too unusual if Jack made it home safe (but then, we'd not be here talking about this, as there would be no case I suppose!). It's the fact that he goes somewhere he didn't set out to go and THEN goes missing, That's the distinction (for me). If he went missing after the pub, then at least we could say "ok, it's still bad, but he went missing from where he originally intended to go". Going to the party opens up a realm of possibilities. From everything I read, Jack's mother said he didn't know everyone at the party. Even the guy he allegedly had an altercation with was a stranger. So we've got a drink guy, who has hit his head after potentially falling down stairs in a place with strangers. It just doesn't make for good reading. It does make you wonder if there was more to the party? Hard to know when it doesn't seem like they've interviewed party-goers or released anything more publicly.

So as I understand it, at 3:24am, Jack called a friend who was still at the party. 10 mins later, that friend called back and that's when Jack answered, said "hello" and it cut off.

A BBC article said that no one else at the party (including the friends Jack went with) phoned him back after this and goes on to say his mother called his phone but it rang out.

As far as how do cases like this get solved...sadly some don't. Others they find belongings such as clothing or personal items like a phone, wallet and this can lead to DNA etc. Other possibilities are re-interviewing people (although I'm not sure how many people have been interviewed to "re-interview" people). New appeals or CCTV might help, but considering we're heading towards 2 years of Jack being missing, suddenly finding more CCTV seems increasingly unlikely.

I've got a few theories but even those theories are mainly speculation because it feels like it's turning into a cold case. One thing I will say without meaning to ruffle any feathers is that I note the family have hired some ex-detectives/private eyes and as much as I want to believe they can somehow help, there's also a part of me that wonders if there's some other financial motivations for many of these PI's as this is the second (or third?) set of PI's the family have hired.

Final thoughts for now... the £100,000 reward? Who, what, where did that come from? I don't believe it was from donations from the public. Was Jack or his family connected to people who can put up that kind of reward money? It does seem like there's so much more to the story than the public know.

JMO

 

[SteveH]

So I agree. My thoughts are that moving to the party wouldn't be too unusual if Jack made it home safe (but then, we'd not be here talking about this, as there would be no case I suppose!). It's the fact that he goes somewhere he didn't set out to go and THEN goes missing, That's the distinction (for me). If he went missing after the pub, then at least we could say "ok, it's still bad, but he went missing from where he originally intended to go". Going to the party opens up a realm of possibilities. From everything I read, Jack's mother said he didn't know everyone at the party. Even the guy he allegedly had an altercation with was a stranger. So we've got a drink guy, who has hit his head after potentially falling down stairs in a place with strangers. It just doesn't make for good reading. It does make you wonder if there was more to the party? Hard to know when it doesn't seem like they've interviewed party-goers or released anything more publicly.

So as I understand it, at 3:24am, Jack called a friend who was still at the party. 10 mins later, that friend called back and that's when Jack answered, said "hello" and it cut off.

A BBC article said that no one else at the party (including the friends Jack went with) phoned him back after this and goes on to say his mother called his phone but it rang out.

As far as how do cases like this get solved...sadly some don't. Others they find belongings such as clothing or personal items like a phone, wallet and this can lead to DNA etc. Other possibilities are re-interviewing people (although I'm not sure how many people have been interviewed to "re-interview" people). New appeals or CCTV might help, but considering we're heading towards 2 years of Jack being missing, suddenly finding more CCTV seems increasingly unlikely.

I've got a few theories but even those theories are mainly speculation because it feels like it's turning into a cold case. One thing I will say without meaning to ruffle any feathers is that I note the family have hired some ex-detectives/private eyes and as much as I want to believe they can somehow help, there's also a part of me that wonders if there's some other financial motivations for many of these PI's as this is the second (or third?) set of PI's the family have hired.

Final thoughts for now... the £100,000 reward? Who, what, where did that come from? I don't believe it was from donations from the public. Was Jack or his family connected to people who can put up that kind of reward money? It does seem like there's so much more to the story than the public know.

JMO

I don't find it odd that Jack went with his friends to the party after a few drinks in town. But what I do find odd is all this to-ing and fro-ing between Jack and his mother. She even waited up late to welcome him home. Jack wasn't a kid. He'd been living away from home when he was at Exeter University. Was there something fragile about his state of mind at the time that we don't know about? Why did he mention that his keys were safe? Why did he tell her later that HE was safe? Why did he have to tell her he was going to get a taxi? Why all this stuff on his phone even if it wasn't working properly?

Maybe it's a generational thing. When I was a student in the '70s we'd go weeks without phoning our parents. And I was 17 when I first went to university. When I WAS at home in Bristol I would have done anything rather than phone my parents to come and pick me up or help me out. And I drank like a fish at times. I didn't, and don't, live as far out of town as Jack, but still.

One further thought. If it wasn't him in those last two "unconfirmed" CCTV sightings he could have gone in the river at a point where it was tidal, given the last "confirmed" sighting. I know that point where the river splits in two - you get a great view of the Suspension Bridge and it's just an unkempt grassy area surrounded by mud at low tide and water at high tide. The mystery then would be concerning the activity on his phone.

 

[Normal Norm]

I don't find it odd that Jack went with his friends to the party after a few drinks in town. But what I do find odd is all this to-ing and fro-ing between Jack and his mother. She even waited up late to welcome him home. Jack wasn't a kid. He'd been living away from home when he was at Exeter University. Was there something fragile about his state of mind at the time that we don't know about? Why did he mention that his keys were safe? Why did he tell her later that HE was safe? Why did he have to tell her he was going to get a taxi? Why all this stuff on his phone even if it wasn't working properly?

Maybe it's a generational thing. When I was a student in the '70s we'd go weeks without phoning our parents. And I was 17 when I first went to university. When I WAS at home in Bristol I would have done anything rather than phone my parents to come and pick me up or help me out. And I drank like a fish at times. I didn't, and don't, live as far out of town as Jack, but still.

One further thought. If it wasn't him in those last two "unconfirmed" CCTV sightings he could have gone in the river at a point where it was tidal, given the last "confirmed" sighting. I know that point where the river splits in two - you get a great view of the Suspension Bridge and it's just an unkempt grassy area surrounded by mud at low tide and water at high tide. The mystery then would be concerning the activity on his phone.

Many excellent points in here, IMO.

 

[touch]

IMO, the text where he says he will get a taxi home means he will get a taxi home when he is ready to leave, not that he will get a taxi home immediately. He says "don't wait up" so it sounds like his mum might have offered to pick him up if he needed it, he's letting her know that she can go to bed and he'll get a taxi home at some point later. If he meant he was immediately getting a taxi then it would be odd to me to include the "don't wait up" message.

Something which does seem odd to me though is that his mother said this in an interview:

My instinct was that something was wrong so I went into his bedroom and he wasn't there. I just knew something was really wrong because he had never done anything like that before

But they had a location for him on the 'Find My' app which was 9 minutes drive from their house. They watched his location on the app for 1 hour until his phone dropped network connection then phoned the police to report him missing 1 hour after that. There was clearly a lot of immediate concern for Jack so I don't understand why they didn't make the 9 minute drive to check the location?

 

[infohuntah]

I don't find it odd that Jack went with his friends to the party after a few drinks in town. But what I do find odd is all this to-ing and fro-ing between Jack and his mother. She even waited up late to welcome him home. Jack wasn't a kid. He'd been living away from home when he was at Exeter University. Was there something fragile about his state of mind at the time that we don't know about? Why did he mention that his keys were safe? Why did he tell her later that HE was safe? Why did he have to tell her he was going to get a taxi? Why all this stuff on his phone even if it wasn't working properly?

Maybe it's a generational thing. When I was a student in the '70s we'd go weeks without phoning our parents. And I was 17 when I first went to university. When I WAS at home in Bristol I would have done anything rather than phone my parents to come and pick me up or help me out. And I drank like a fish at times. I didn't, and don't, live as far out of town as Jack, but still.

One further thought. If it wasn't him in those last two "unconfirmed" CCTV sightings he could have gone in the river at a point where it was tidal, given the last "confirmed" sighting. I know that point where the river splits in two - you get a great view of the Suspension Bridge and it's just an unkempt grassy area surrounded by mud at low tide and water at high tide. The mystery then would be concerning the activity on his phone.

Your thoughts are basically my thoughts...the first paragraph specifically. The fact Jack's mother encouraged him to go out and meet new friends makes me think he hadn't been getting out a lot. Could that be why she waited up? But then Jack told her not to wait up. I can't fully explain the message about the keys being safe. As I said in a previous post, perhaps it was an inside joke and he was saying they're safe, unlike his Dad who lost his! Not really sure. There's quite a number of question marks over the events of the evening for me (prior to Jack leaving the party).

IMO, the text where he says he will get a taxi home means he will get a taxi home when he is ready to leave, not that he will get a taxi home immediately. He says "don't wait up" so it sounds like his mum might have offered to pick him up if he needed it, he's letting her know that she can go to bed and he'll get a taxi home at some point later. If he meant he was immediately getting a taxi then it would be odd to me to include the "don't wait up" message.

Something which does seem odd to me though is that his mother said this in an interview:

But they had a location for him on the 'Find My' app which was 9 minutes drive from their house. They watched his location on the app for 1 hour until his phone dropped network connection then phoned the police to report him missing 1 hour after that. There was clearly a lot of immediate concern for Jack so I don't understand why they didn't make the 9 minute drive to check the location?

RE: the text about the taxi home, you could be right. I suppose it's open for interpretation. Jack's mother did offer to pick him up but Jack declined.

The phone location situation is extremely strange. But not just for the reason you described (that's one reason) but the other is that the signal in that specific area is good (fully covered with 2G/4G/5G according to EE and Ofcom stats). What I can't get my head around is the fact that his location showed him as being in the electric substation for such a long time.

Assuming the location is roughly correct, it's closer to his brother's home than anywhere else and is NOT the place you'd go to get a taxi from (it's a narrow road on a steep hill).

Assuming the location is wrong, then I don't believe it'll be wrong by much at all. Since the case broke, I have tested my own Find My location and shared it with family and had them check mine. It has always been accurate to within a few hundred ft to around 20 meters.

This following is,in my opinion, the most important part of my post: (BBM)

Again from the official Find Jack site:

"5:40am Jack’s Find my Phone app says he is at an address at Granby Hill in the Hotwells area, a few streets away from the party that he attended.
6:44am Jack’s phone disconnects from the phone network."

Jack's iPhone was an iPhone 11 which was capable of sending the location when it was off. Now this is what troubles me the most. If the phone didn't share its new location after 5.40am, there's only two things that could have happened. 1) Phone was submerged in water and couldn't send a location anymore or 2) Someone (including Jack himself) would have had to stop the phone sending its location 3) Bad signal preventing the phone from sending a signal (but again, EE's network claims that area has a good, solid connection so I'm discounting this option really, hence why I said only two things that are likely to have happened). The phone didn't go off network until 6.44am, so the phone still had a signal until this point.

MOO.

 

[twomoresmores]

There has been some super contributions to this thread over the last few days and I'm really getting a greater insight into this case from others' recent comments. I am not new to the case as such - it caught my attention as soon as it hit the news - but I've recently come back to it and gaining loads from other web-sleuthers who have studied/thought about it in greater detail.

My Qs/observations from recent comments:
- the messaging with mum that evening does indeed seem a little unusual. Perhaps there's some history there that we don't know about.
- I haven't studied the route Jack walked in detail (and I'm not familiar with the area) but from MSM articles, I gather he seemed to be heading back to the party area? Did Jack know this area of the city at all, I wonder? Was this the influence of alcohol? Or something else?
- I read in the Daily Mail article (attached in a post above) that the friend who phoned Jack after he'd phoned her (and got no reply, hence the return call), that after he'd answered and said a solitary Hello, she'd called back after around ten minutes. This strikes me as odd. Perhaps she was distracted or otherwise engaged at the party but given she was concerned enough to call back (rightly so IMO), why wait nearly ten minutes?? A lot can happen in this amount of time.
- mum's feeling that something was wrong. Just coincidence?? Or again, some past history?
- a poster above commented on mum knowing Jack's location after finding he hadn't come home and that this was around 9 mins away. I agree.... Why didn't they go and look?

IMO this case has loads to go on. Why hasn't it been solved? Where is Jack?? It's not as if there's absolutely no starting points. There's loads that can be investigated and perhaps the police have. I understand we don't and won't know everything. But even so.

JMO.