Found Deceased UK - Susan McLean, 61, U.S. tourist, Aberfeldy, Scotland, 17 May 2015

[hippy hippy]

This image shows the police searches round garden centre, then in a long line down from wood line behind garden centre to Pitilie Farm and all around farm. I'm told there were about 20 searching in a formed line, very methodical.

 

[hippy hippy]

This is a pic of picnic area on Crieff Road. I have drawn in purple the walks I have done entering the woods on a walkers path at two obvious points that she would see if she had come up this far. From both paths you can easily become lost as they peter out, are not marked and eventually become quite overgrown. I lost my way once and had to follow a deer fence to eventually find Crieff road. Trees here are so tall and dense pine that you can lose sense of direction when oath fades away

 

[hippy hippy]

Yellow circles are garden centre, then picnic area. Forgot to add that!
I guess I could move my whole focus further south. Very daunting though. Might need to advertise for a search buddy. Have asked around people I know who have some afternoons free, but no one seems hopeful of finding her ... So I guess lack of interest in looking. I do understand that, but I am out walking everyday anyway so I might as well continue.

 

[Advocate4]

hippy hippy -- are you letting someone know where you are headed, when you are leaving, etc., before you go out? Just thinking of the risks (falling, injury, etc.) and that someone should be expecting to hear from you "by dark" or whatever you think is a good time frame.

And adding my profound Thanks to you for all you are doing ... you're one in a million!

 

[hippy hippy]

Thank you Advocate4 for looking out for me! I am being safe, someone always knows roughly where I am and I carry a good map and a cell that gets good reception most places, and of course the noble canines . Almost got run over by a stag yesterday evening in fact, it just jumped into the path in front of us. They sure are big. Evening time is when they get a bit braver so you come across a lot more.

 

[Eqs]

Getting caught back up on this thread today... the maps are so helpful! Thanks hippy hippy for all your hard work and for keeping us updated.

I'm wondering what is to the north east of the farm circle on the map? I know that probably seems like an unlikely direction, but seeing as that was the last area she was seen in and has been the least search, it is possible... we're all assuming she continued south on that road, but from the map it looks like there are a few roads that go off in other directions. Am I seeing that right? Like hippy hippy said, nothing about this whole situation makes much sense, so the likelihood is that we are missing some important detail. Some event may have taken place (I have no idea what) that caused Susan to take a route that perhaps doesn't make sense to us. Perhaps she saw something that is no longer there that made her decide to take a route other than what we would assume.

Another question... How big is the Loch south of town? It seems like if she fallen into the water and been taken by the current, she may have ended up there. I'm wondering if the Loch is too large to be searched. I would imagine so.

 

[Portabella]

Hippy Hippy, You state she was offered a ride twice, was this offer extended from the same person? I am wondering because if they stopped and asked her and she shook her head NO, then they came back after a bit (the same man) and asked her again, she may have gotten spooked, and as rural as it is, may have opted to cut across the countryside to get off the road. Just curious....if the same person, can you find out where it was they contacted her the second time, you might want to search from there....Just a hunch. IMHO

 

[CoverMeCagney]

It looks to me there is a gap/track through the woods S/SE of the garden centre. Is it an old railway line?

 

[hippy hippy]

Eqs, you ask about the loch south of the town and. Assume you mean the one by the roadside on Crieff Road? The divers have been up there. Also it is used regularly by fisherman, quite shallow, no currents. A body would have come up to the surface by now I think. Not sure exactly where you mean by tracks north and NE of Aberfeldy? Could you please be a bit more specific, and then I will try to answer your query.

 

[hippy hippy]

Covermecagney, there are many gaps and thoroughfares throughout these woods and forests. The long, wider and straighter gaps are for huge electricity pylons. The more shaded rifts are logging tracks. This is all forestry grown to be cut, generally the pine is cut down after twenty years growth and trucked away so that explains the many many thoroughfares. As you can probably understand, looking for someone lost out there is a mammoth undertaking and I do understand why the police are no longer present. S that's why I was so keen to learn of Susan's state of mind when she left to try to figure out How she might have made choices that evening.

 

[hippy hippy]

To Portabella
I asked my neighbour very directly about this whole lift incident and he told me both he and the boss made statements to the police about this, that she was offered a lift twice, that both times she just shook her head and did not talk at all. Both men were on that Crieff Road that evening. so my guess is that either the boss offered her twice, once on his way into town, and again on his way back up to work, OR he offered her a lift and then my neighbour offered her a lift. Just can't squeeze anymore out of him. I guess this is because he may be fed up with people in the town discussing it at the beginning. Now of course, no one talks of Susan Mclean really. As for where on that road it happened, it was several locals with connections to the farm who said it was b the farm. But rumour is no good here. She may have walked up to the garden centre, then walked back to town same way she walked up. There's always that option, isn't there.

 

[Satchie]

I was just reviewing an old case on Websleuths and it made me think of Susan. This other woman went out for a short walk and never came back. There was a big initial search for her but then it died down. Speculation on this forum was rampant, particularly that she had been killed by her husband, been abducted or had an accident. Finally she was found, hanging from a tree in a brushy area. Turned out that, although capable of great happiness, she had fallen victim to the mental illness of depression and anxiety, and was unable to acknowledge it or seek help. She had left a note, though it was somewhat ambiguous, and that fact hadn't been revealed by police or the family.

My feeling is that something similar has happened in this case, this is why there is little information and the family has left. Don't want to be a downer, but suicide is 4 times as common as homicide for people her age. Perhaps the family holiday was an attempt to 'cheer her up', and when it didn't work she was overcome by despair.

Just my 2 cents on this sad case.

 

[Sillybilly]

Thank you Advocate4 for looking out for me! I am being safe, someone always knows roughly where I am and I carry a good map and a cell that gets good reception most places, and of course the noble canines . Almost got run over by a stag yesterday evening in fact, it just jumped into the path in front of us. They sure are big. Evening time is when they get a bit braver so you come across a lot more.

And evening is when Susan was on her walk. Wondering if perhaps she encountered a stag. Although rare, it is not unheard of. There was a case in Fort William, Scotland in 2013 where a woman was gored by a stag (also another case in November 2013 in Wales). Google maps is showing Aberfeldy only about 2 hrs from Fort William.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-gored-neck-giant-stag-holiday-Highlands.html

 

[hippy hippy]

Hi Sillybilly
Yes I mentioned the possibility of Susan being hit by a running stag much further up thread and I used that example in fort William to illustrate this very real danger. I think I also mentioned this in a direct message to a poster. We are overrun by deer here, all over the Highlands, and that's why earlier I kept have misgivings about searching a certain area of open ground because from the hilltop I could observe between 4 and 6 stags hanging out together. They'd never approach me, it would have to be sheer chance that they decide to run in my direction having caught my scent and been startled but not knowing where I am.

I have accepted that I am looking for a body, and this search is only to bring closure to her family. I can't accept she is hanging from a tree. Probably she will be stumbled upon by a logger but while the weather is decent, I shall keep looking.

 

[Missing Susan]

I think the leads from the motorist encounters in front of Pitilie Farm would be worth further clarification. Whatever they said made the police think it was worth the trouble to intensely search that area. I know you have tried very hard.

Hi, no it doesn't seem logical she would walk up that road, but what part of this story is logical? She left the lodge in the evening in a place she doesn't know, left her phone behind, and if she did realise that she had left it behind, she should have returned for it, she was wearing unsuitable footwear and exiting the resort on the dangerous road as opposed to the quiet street at the back. None of it makes any sense, especially in light of the personal information we have received from posters here who know her and rate her as a sensible, outdoorsy person....

Your generous efforts have inspired me to try and be more proactive. I'm sending you a private message, you have my gratitude and I hope to get you more info.

 

[Aloysius]

Is 6 weeks today. Can't find any news anywhere, what's the word on the street?!

 

[Traymar]

Is 6 weeks today. Can't find any news anywhere, what's the word on the street?!

Wondering the same. So quiet suddenly.

 

[antibarbie]

Is 6 weeks today. Can't find any news anywhere, what's the word on the street?!

Hi Aloysius,

I'm afraid as time goes on its harder to "create" stories on a subject, hence it becomes quieter after the first month or so.

 

[Aloysius]

Hi Aloysius,

I'm afraid as time goes on its harder to "create" stories on a subject, hence it becomes quieter after the first month or so.

I'm guessing if the family are less than forthcoming then it's hard to find out anything else about her anyway! I would still be interested to know where they were in the week before they reached Aberfeldy, why Aberfeldy, where had they planned to go next and, most intriguing, where they were before they went out to dinner that Sunday evening. Anything really to make her more 'real', if that makes sense.

Who were the family members who came over for a couple of days to support the family and is there a well known reason why Susan wasn't friends with either of her sisters on FB?

On one Susan's friends posted photos of the family that were taken at the beginning of the holiday and I wondered why those uptodate photos weren't used on her missing details - they were the most recent.

When the police are quiet I always hope it's because they're working on a hunch and waiting on intelligence reports/phone logs etc , so it suits their purpose for the case to slowly fade from people's memories while they build their case. My fear is that without a body and a good reason to request the aforementioned information, she is just seen as another woman of a 'certain age' that's probably wandered off and ended up under some shrubbery, by some stones and there's no-one making tearful appeals for action in the media that puts the police under the spotlight so we wait for discovery of the body and see what happens then. Knowing that the longer it takes to find her that, unless there are obvious signs of trauma, the harder it will be to actually establish her COD and determine whether it was natural, accident or foul play.

 

[azure]

I'm guessing if the family are less than forthcoming then it's hard to find out anything else about her anyway! I would still be interested to know where they were in the week before they reached Aberfeldy, why Aberfeldy, where had they planned to go next and, most intriguing, where they were before they went out to dinner that Sunday evening. Anything really to make her more 'real', if that makes sense.

Who were the family members who came over for a couple of days to support the family and is there a well known reason why Susan wasn't friends with either of her sisters on FB?

On one Susan's friends posted photos of the family that were taken at the beginning of the holiday and I wondered why those uptodate photos weren't used on her missing details - they were the most recent.

When the police are quiet I always hope it's because they're working on a hunch and waiting on intelligence reports/phone logs etc , so it suits their purpose for the case to slowly fade from people's memories while they build their case. My fear is that without a body and a good reason to request the aforementioned information, she is just seen as another woman of a 'certain age' that's probably wandered off and ended up under some shrubbery, by some stones and there's no-one making tearful appeals for action in the media that puts the police under the spotlight so we wait for discovery of the body and see what happens then. Knowing that the longer it takes to find her that, unless there are obvious signs of trauma, the harder it will be to actually establish her COD and determine whether it was natural, accident or foul play.

For Susan's horsey friends who are trying to be proactive, the Chronicle of the Horse, Horse Nation/EventingNation and similar websites/publications in the UK might pick up an appeal by a friend or former student of Susan's. Definitely worth a shot.

ETA: I have a contact at EventingNation but I only know the scant details about Susan that have been in the media. If someone who knows Susan better wants the contact info, PM me.