UK UK - Elizabeth Chau, 19, & Lola Shenkoya, 27, West Ealing, 1999/2000

Lola Shenkoya

Age at disappearanace: 27

She gave no indication that she was unhappy or was planning to leave home. Lola's last steps have been traced to Ealing Broadway. After finishing work, at around four that afternoon, Lola went to Ealing to do a bit of shopping. This was the last time anyone has seen or heard from her and her family are becoming increasingly worried and ask her or anyone with news to call.

Lola suffers from sickle cell anaemia and can become very ill. Lola is an American/Nigerian and she lived in Chicago for some time. She is 5ft 5ins tall, black of a slim build with brown eyes and brown shoulder length hair. When last seen Lola was wearing a long black coat, a velvet blue hat, blue jeans and black patent leather shoes.

http://s10.zetaboards.com/usedtobedoe/topic/1000712/1/


23 December 2000

Detectives are questioning a man about the disappearance of two women in London, who are feared to be victims of a serial killer.

The 55-year-old suspect was arrested for attempted murder over an attack on a third woman in Ealing, west London, the same area where the two women went missing.

In the most recent incident the man is alleged to have posed as a television researcher to trick his way into the woman's home and try to strangle her.

Ms Shenkoya, an American-born computer graduate, disappeared on 3 January. She was last seen getting off a bus outside a Burger King near Ealing Broadway Underground station, where the driver remembered her as the only passenger to wish him a happy new year. She suffers from anaemia and without medication can become very ill. Ms Shenkoya is known to visit Internet cafes in Ealing and South Kensington regularly.

The man being questioned yesterday at a police station in north London was arrested on Thursday for an attack on a woman at a house in Windermere Road, Ealing, on 31 October. The man had called once at the woman's home two weeks earlier, pretending to be looking for a room to rent for his daughter.

On the second visit he said he did not want the room but that he worked for a television company and was making a programme about people who rent their rooms. He distracted the woman and faked an interview using a tape recorder, and even suggested that she could earn £250 per hour if they filmed in her home.

But when she walked towards the kitchen the man put a net curtain cord around her neck and tried to strangle her. The woman managed to fight him off and ran for help.

http://s10.zetaboards.com/usedtobedoe/topic/1000712/1/

2 January 2011

Miss Chau, from Vietnam, left Thames Valley University in Ealing at around 5pm on Friday 16 April 1999. She was seen by a friend in Ealing Broadway at 5.30pm and last sighted walking past Ealing Police Station just after 6pm. She is described as 5ft 2ins tall, slim, with brown shoulder length layered hair.

Police said Miss Shenkoya, who was a devout Christian, went missing from Ealing on Monday 3 January 2000 after spending the day working as a temp at Entertainment UK in Perivale.

She was last spotted getting off a bus outside a Burger King near to Ealing Broadway Underground Station and is described as black, 5ft 5ins tall, slim with brown shoulder length hair.

http://s10.zetaboards.com/usedtobedoe/topic/1000712/1/
 
Her name was actually Lola Shenkoya, a Nigerian lady who I met in the first week of university. She lived on the floor above me, and in our 2nd and 3rd years we shared a house with two other close friends. I considered her my best friend.

When her younger sister phoned in utter panic at some ungodly hour of the morning to tell me she was gone, I wasn’t concerned. It wasn’t like Lucy had never disappeared before. She had a condition, sickle-cell anemia, and a deficiency in self-worth. More than once she’d ended up in hospital on a morphine drip, at first in too much pain to be able to contact her friends, and, when she was able, not bothering because she didn’t think that we’d be worried.

The first two disappearances happened in our 1st year at university, and again in the third. We thought she was staying with friends that we’d heard of, but had never met, and that she’d simply not told us. I have no idea why she thought we wouldn’t worry. I don’t remember her having a self-esteem problem.

When something has happened twice before and turned out for good, it’s difficult to get worried when it happens the third time. In addition, I’m not someone who immediately thinks the worst.

By the way – sickle-cell anaemia (I’ve reverted to UK spelling for this commentary) is a congenital disease that only affects those of black, African origin. (this a politically correct term in Britain). The blood cells are deformed into a sickle shape and cannot carry oxygen properly. This limits the sufferer in how they can exert themselves, and can cause great pain when tired, or stressed.

This time, it was only after we’d called all her friends, and all the hospitals in the city twice, that we realized she really was gone. That night was one of the worst nights of my life.

After that came the questions. The detectives in my living room, asking me everything about her; the last time I saw her, her friends, her personality, her health, her mental state, her shoe size. And the calls. Us calling the detectives; the detectives calling us. The news that other young women had disappeared in that area of town, and yet they had nothing; no leads, no traces, no clues.

Ah, the questions. Hours and hours and hours of being asked things by detectives, on two separate visits. It’s a challenge, because you have to speak slowly – someone writes down every word you say, and you have to read and sign each page to certify that their records are correct. It almost makes you feel like a suspect under the ‘everything you say will be taken down and may be used in evidence against you’ law. It’s also quite intrusive – the questions are very personal, and when you have to answer about someone else, who was by nature a very private person. It’s very awkward, as is finding exactly the right words to use. It’s so difficult to try to describe the very heart of someone to people who’ve never met her. And I desperately I wanted Lola to be represented in full truth.

Other than the other disappearances there were, and have continued to be no leads. Not a thing. It truly is as if she’s just disappeared. No traces. As far as we know, she left the house to go to work, leaving her key with her sister. Her sister was out when she returned, but Lola phoned from a public call box to see if she were asleep, or had music on, and couldn’t hear the doorbell. She left a message on the answer phone, her sister’s name spoken with great exasperation. That is last we know.

More questions, there were always more questions, but never any answers.

We never mourned her. There was no funeral, no chance to say goodbye. I never sat in a room and talked and laughed and cried about her. There was always a glimmer of hope that she’d return. So instead she slowly faded from my life. Her sister and most of our friends moved away. Even the photo of us at graduation now resides in a drawer somewhere, its frame broken, the empty space on the shelf now occupied by grinning nieces and nephews. Memories slipping away. But now I am reminded, I once more find myself wondering where in the world she is; if she’s dead or alive; happy or sad; whether she still thinks about me or not. Wondering at what point in my life I stopped missing her.

And again I’m back to me. I did have a photo of us four housemates from Uni, but the frame was damaged, and I suppose it is packed away somewhere now. I also liked the metaphor of the hole that the absence of one person creates being filled by new memories of other people. I’m not the most people oriented person you’ll ever meet, but Lola made a huge impact upon my life. I learnt so much from her. She taught me to listen. She taught me wisdom beyond both our years. And yet she faded. But I want to remember, and that’s why I wrote this story – as a memorial, a reminder for me. So whenever I think of this, I think of Lola.

http://with-apostrophe.livejournal.com/20121.html
 
May 10, 2004

A 48 year old man was arrested this morning by Detectives in connection with the disappearances of Elizabeth Chau and Lola Shenkoya. He has been taken to a north London police station for questioning.

Police investigated possible links between Kunowski and the disappearance of the two women and missing teenager Milly Dowler.

In May 2003, Kunowski was convicted of a rape that he committed in Acton in September 2002. He received nine years imprisonment at HMP Belmarsh who submitted Kunowski's DNA to the national database.

This was identified as that found on Katerina's clothing, as she lay in the living room of her house in Iffley Road, Hammersmith. Kunowski was sentenced to a whole life order term imprisonment. The judge ordered he be kept in prison until he dies.

http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/shared/concrime49.htm

11 May, 2004

A serial rapist jailed for killing a 12-year-old girl has been bailed by detectives investigating the disappearances of two women

Kunowski, who has a history of sex attacks, was jailed for life in March for the 1997 murder of 12 year old Katerina Koneva.

Kunowski had been freed by a judge in his native Poland and fled to Britain to continue his 30-year career of preying on young girls.

Kunowski had committed 39 offences in Poland in which most of his victims were sexually abused after arriving home alone and often choked into unconsciousness.
---
Ms Shenkoya, a temp with Entertainment UK in Perivale, west London, could not get into her house because her sister, who had the only key, was out on 3 January 2000.

She then took the E2 bus and got off at Ealing Broadway underground station.

A Christian who often stopped people in the street to preach, police fear she may have arranged to meet someone and come to harm.

Police have dredged rivers and canals but have found nothing belonging to either woman.

Despite fears that the women may have been murdered, Scotland Yard said the disappearances are still being treated as missing persons investigations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3702597.stm
 
5th December 2006

THE DISAPPEARANCE of an Ealing teenager more than seven years ago is the subject of a new television documentary which aims to uncover the mystery.

Thames Valley University student Elizabeth Chau vanished on April 16, 1999, after handing in an assignment then going for a drink at the student union bar.

She was last seen by a friend walking down the Uxbridge Road towards her house in West Ealing at about 5.30pm and later spotted on CCTV cameras walking past Ealing police station just after 6pm.
---
Her disappearance has always been linked by police to that of another Ealing resident, Lola Shenkoya, a 27-year-old who vanished from Perivale on January 3, 2000.

Police believe Miss Shenkoya returned home sometime between 4pm and 4.30pm from Entertainment UK where she worked as a temp.

She was unable to get into her house in Swyncombe Avenue, Ealing, because her sister, who had the only key, was not at home.

It is believed she then caught the E2 bus from Northfield Avenue where she got off outside the Burger King on Ealing Broadway. She too has not been seen since.

On May 18 this year police searched wasteland behind a row of shops on the Uxbridge Road looking for the bodies of the two girls.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police leading the search, said: "Searches have been ongoing for the last couple of days, beginning on the 18th.

"It is part of the investigation into the missing girls Elizabeth Chau and Lola Shenkoya. There have been no significant developments in the search and nothing has been found as yet.

http://www.ealingtimes.co.uk/news/1057693.i_miss_her_every_day/
 
Thank you for posting the excerpt from Livejournal although I admit I'm a little surprised to find it here. I wrote this many years ago - the "story" it alludes to was a piece of fiction I wrote about the very real experience of having someone close to you go missing: and what is quoted here was letting people know what was behind the story.
Thank you to all the contributors for the whole topic. I hadn't been aware that the police had officially concluded that Lola was killed and by whom.
Its strange finding this just a few days before the 20th anniversary of her disappearance. I don't think about her often and the last time I did an internet search I believe this thread didn't exist.
 
May 10, 2004

A 48 year old man was arrested this morning by Detectives in connection with the disappearances of Elizabeth Chau and Lola Shenkoya. He has been taken to a north London police station for questioning.

Police investigated possible links between Kunowski and the disappearance of the two women and missing teenager Milly Dowler.

In May 2003, Kunowski was convicted of a rape that he committed in Acton in September 2002. He received nine years imprisonment at HMP Belmarsh who submitted Kunowski's DNA to the national database.

This was identified as that found on Katerina's clothing, as she lay in the living room of her house in Iffley Road, Hammersmith. Kunowski was sentenced to a whole life order term imprisonment. The judge ordered he be kept in prison until he dies.

Man Arrested in Connection with Missing Ealing Woman

11 May, 2004

A serial rapist jailed for killing a 12-year-old girl has been bailed by detectives investigating the disappearances of two women

Kunowski, who has a history of sex attacks, was jailed for life in March for the 1997 murder of 12 year old Katerina Koneva.

Kunowski had been freed by a judge in his native Poland and fled to Britain to continue his 30-year career of preying on young girls.

Kunowski had committed 39 offences in Poland in which most of his victims were sexually abused after arriving home alone and often choked into unconsciousness.
---
Ms Shenkoya, a temp with Entertainment UK in Perivale, west London, could not get into her house because her sister, who had the only key, was out on 3 January 2000.

She then took the E2 bus and got off at Ealing Broadway underground station.

A Christian who often stopped people in the street to preach, police fear she may have arranged to meet someone and come to harm.

Police have dredged rivers and canals but have found nothing belonging to either woman.

Despite fears that the women may have been murdered, Scotland Yard said the disappearances are still being treated as missing persons investigations.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Rapist bailed over missing women

Do I understand this right, Kunowski was never charged?
 
Do I understand this right, Kunowski was never charged?

As far as I am aware no one has been charged with disappearance of Elizabeth or Lola. There is simply zero evidence to tie it to anyone without knowing slight details of what really happened to them or finding their remains. It could have been Kunowski, or Bellfield or anyone else for that matter.
 
Thank you for posting the excerpt from Livejournal although I admit I'm a little surprised to find it here. I wrote this many years ago - the "story" it alludes to was a piece of fiction I wrote about the very real experience of having someone close to you go missing: and what is quoted here was letting people know what was behind the story.
Thank you to all the contributors for the whole topic. I hadn't been aware that the police had officially concluded that Lola was killed and by whom.
Its strange finding this just a few days before the 20th anniversary of her disappearance. I don't think about her often and the last time I did an internet search I believe this thread didn't exist.

Thank you for joining us here and thank you for writing your memory of Lola in the first place. You have shown us what other reports did not, how Lola truly was, her struggles, her illness, her real life.

20 anniversary just passed, may there be some movement in their cases very soon.
 
I dont think anyone linked this particular missing person case with lola, elizabeth and Iwona but her name is Christine Aguda she was 26 when she disappeared from Islington, north London since 20th February 2001. Prior to her disappearance, Christine worked as a waitress in a West End hotel.
she is not believed to have taken any personal belongings with her when she went missing and there has been no contact or trace of her since. Her family in Kenya are anxious about her disappearance. She may have been fairly new to the country although not 100 percent sure. She went missing around seven months after Iwona Kaminska. Interesting to say the least.
 

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I dont think anyone linked this particular missing person case with lola, elizabeth and Iwona but her name is Christine Aguda she was 26 when she disappeared from Islington, north London since 20th February 2001. Prior to her disappearance, Christine worked as a waitress in a West End hotel.
she is not believed to have taken any personal belongings with her when she went missing and there has been no contact or trace of her since. Her family in Kenya are anxious about her disappearance. She may have been fairly new to the country although not 100 percent sure. She went missing around seven months after Iwona Kaminska. Interesting to say the least.

Thank you for mentioning missing Christine Aguda. Never heard of her case. She is missing from central East London and other girls are missing from West London, not that it would exlude anything though. Christine lived in UK since 1996. Articles mention that she was borned in Kenya, however most of the people I have found with surname Aguda are all from Nigeria, hence I wonder if she was married when she disappeared...

It is fustrating that there is absolutely nothing out there about her case, unfortunately the same as in most of the UK cases.

Link to Christine Aguda details - Aguda , Christine 20 Feb 2001

Christine - Missing People
 
Thank you for mentioning missing Christine Aguda. Never heard of her case. She is missing from central East London and other girls are missing from West London, not that it would exlude anything though. Christine lived in UK since 1996. Articles mention that she was borned in Kenya, however most of the people I have found with surname Aguda are all from Nigeria, hence I wonder if she was married when she disappeared...

It is fustrating that there is absolutely nothing out there about her case, unfortunately the same as in most of the UK cases.

Link to Christine Aguda details - Aguda , Christine 20 Feb 2001

Christine - Missing People
i wonder if kunowski, bellfield or any other serial killers were active around north london/central london during 2001? islington is quite close to ealing just takes about 44 min not too far. We dont know where she went missing but i assume she may have been on her way to work or on her way back home? i wonder where her last location was? she didnt take any personal belonging with her and her disappearence is most likely out of character. I wouldnt put it past me she met with foul play most likely the same man responsible for lola and elizabeth disappearance. What is interesting to note both lola and liz are people of colour just like Christine who all vanished without a trace in a space of two years but like you said there isnt much info on Christine until than is all speculation.
 
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The Doe Network: Case File 2572DFUK
Case File 2572DFUK

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''Elizabeth Chau
Missing since April 16, 1999 from West Ealing, England, United Kingdom
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

    • Date Of Birth:
    • Age at Time of Disappearance: 19 years old
    • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'3"
    • Distinguishing Characteristics: Asian female. Vietnamese. Dark shoulder length hair and brown highlights; brown eyes. Slim build.
    • Clothing: A dark purple V-neck jumper, a sleeveless black body warmer, jeans and brown ankle boots.
    • AKA: Liz
Circumstances of Disappearance
Thames Valley University student, Liz, disappeared on 16 April 1999.
That afternoon, Liz handed in an assignment, then went for a quick drink with a friend at the Student’s Union, leaving at 17.50.

Liz was last seen walking down Uxbridge Road toward her home in West Ealing. She was last seen by a friend in the town center. Her image was captured by a closed-circuit TV camera outside the local police station.
Despite efforts by her family and police to find Liz, nothing has been heard from her since.

When she disappeared, she left behind her clothes and all her possessions, including her passport. Since her disappearance, no money has been withdrawn from her bank account.
Another young woman from Ealing went missing several months after Elizabeth. Lola Shenkoya, a 27-year-old graduate in computer technology, also vanished in the town center. The two cases are strikingly similar''

Lola Shenkoya - Unsolved Murder 2000 - Ealing, West London - Lola Shenkoya Unsolved Mysteries UK
''Lola Shenkoya
Age: 27

Sex: female

Date: 3 Jan 2000

Place: Ealing, West London


Lola Shenkoya was last seen in Ealing on Monday 3 January 2000.

At the time she had been working for Entertainment UK in Perivale as a temp and was thought to have left between 4pm and 4.30pm.

It was thought that when she had got home to Swyncombe Avenue, W5, she had not been able to get in as her sister had the only key and had been out.

Lola Shenkoya was thought to have then caught an E2 bus from Northfield Avenue outside Northfields Underground Station and gone to Haven Green where she had got off outside the Burger King restaurant close to Ealing Broadway Underground Station in the early evening. However, she was not seen again.

She was described as black, 5ft 5in tall, slim, and with brown shoulder length hair. At the time she had been wearing a long black coat, a grey scarf, a velvet blue hat, blue jeans and a pair of black patent leather shoes.

Since her disappearance her bank accounts have not been accessed.

In May 2004 a man was arrested in connection with the disappearance of both Lola Shenkoya and Elizabeth Chau. Elizabeth Chau also disappeared in Ealing the year before and has never been found. It was thought that they were both murdered.''
 
I strongly believe Elizabeth was murdered by Andrzej Kunowski aka “The Beast” She fits exactly the type he would prey on (slim petite, young looking, Asian) and he was committing crimes in the area she went missing. His style was to stalk and pounce on his victim. I would imagine he stalked her and ran up and grabbed her near to where she lives, possibly even when she was putting the key in her door. If I was to look more closely into this I would be asking the following key questions:

Would someone have been home when Elizabeth returned? Ie im trying to establish if it possible an attacker could’ve pushed his way into her home without anyone else there.

Which route would Elizabeth have taken home? Did she pass any parks, any alley ways, abandoned properties that she could’ve easily been dragged into?
Was it daylight or dark outside?
Where was Andrej (the beast) living at the time Elizabeth went missing?

Did andrej have access to a vehicle at the time Elizabeth went missing? Was there any land? Disused space? Churches, Derelict properties Near to where Elizabeth’s took her route home


 
Disappearance of student last seen handing in her uni work

The Elizabeth Chau case is still being publicised which is great (article from 5 days ago)

In response to Londongirl2020 - it would not have been dark in UK April 6pm. It would have still been daylight.

Although Andrej is the main suspect in this case, it looks like the family suspect she may still be alive from the article. Which wouldn't be unheard of what with trafficking ect. She could have been trafficked.
 
Disappearance of student last seen handing in her uni work

The Elizabeth Chau case is still being publicised which is great (article from 5 days ago)

In response to Londongirl2020 - it would not have been dark in UK April 6pm. It would have still been daylight.

Although Andrej is the main suspect in this case, it looks like the family suspect she may still be alive from the article. Which wouldn't be unheard of what with trafficking ect. She could have been trafficked.
Welcome to Ws @ Resourceress, Thanks for the much needed fresh article!
 
A different potential perp is referenced in this 2016 article..
Sister: I Think Bellfield Killed Two Other Girls
''Ann-Marie Bellfield, his paternal half-sister, wants police to look into the disappearances of student Elizabeth Chau, 19, in April 1999, and US-born computer graduate Lola Shenkoya, 27, in January 2000 - who were both last seen in Ealing, west London.

"At that time, Levi Bellfield had a clamping business in West Ealing, which was in the area that they disappeared from, and I do believe somehow he is linked to those cases," she told the Daily Mirror.

She said he rang her while on remand in prison for the murders of Ms Delagrange and Ms McDonnell and said the police were trying to pin the other two cases on him, bhttps://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3892932/levi-bellfield-milly-dowler-now/ut insisted he had nothing to do with them.

Describing him as a "monster" and "cruel and unfeeling", she continued: "I do believe he is capable of anything."
......................................................................................................................................
Although this article states he only targeted blond females,, imo, speculation.
The life and crimes of serial killer Levi Bellfield - who murdered Milly Dowler

 
A different potential perp is referenced in this 2016 article..
Sister: I Think Bellfield Killed Two Other Girls
''Ann-Marie Bellfield, his paternal half-sister, wants police to look into the disappearances of student Elizabeth Chau, 19, in April 1999, and US-born computer graduate Lola Shenkoya, 27, in January 2000 - who were both last seen in Ealing, west London.

"At that time, Levi Bellfield had a clamping business in West Ealing, which was in the area that they disappeared from, and I do believe somehow he is linked to those cases," she told the Daily Mirror.

She said he rang her while on remand in prison for the murders of Ms Delagrange and Ms McDonnell and said the police were trying to pin the other two cases on him, bhttps://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3892932/levi-bellfield-milly-dowler-now/ut insisted he had nothing to do with them.

Describing him as a "monster" and "cruel and unfeeling", she continued: "I do believe he is capable of anything."
......................................................................................................................................
Although this article states he only targeted blond females,, imo, speculation.
The life and crimes of serial killer Levi Bellfield - who murdered Milly Dowler


Levi Bellfield is a very likely suspect. He used to follow buses for single females to get off bus and would ambush them from his car. He would then leave their bodies in wooded areas.

If he can be placed in West Ealing then it would be quite unlikely if it was an additional murderer.

Unlikely he would ever admit to it though.
 

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