Found Deceased GUATEMALA - Catherine Shaw, 23, British backpacker, 4 March 2019

I think it’s also interesting to note that her friend e mentioned she was sad the last time she saw her. She had been fasting, not showering and giving away her possessions. It was reported very quickly that they thought it was foul play. And now I see they are thinking maybe it was a fall. It seems like a lot of details were put out so quickly before her body was even removed. I hope they get a good trusty worthy autopsy.
 
maybe i'm getting too cynical with age, although i think it's more about watching/reading too much news, too, but i'm skeptical about this. i do not think it makes a whole lot of sense that it would have been an accident, unless she starting stripping off her jacket and scarf along the way (2 miles?). ok if she was tripping out, she possibly did this, but... why didn't the puppy fall down with her? it was so small, surely she was holding it the whole time, especially if she was close to the edge! and where are the rest of her clothes? if she was naked when she was found, her panties, possible bra, and any other garments would be right there, or along that same trail, right? hmmm. terrible that a woman can't feel safe exploring the world. makes me so angry.

BBM

This is exactly what I posted very early on. If she fell why didn't the puppy end up with her?
It was very tiny and hard to believe she would let it just follow along near steep cliffs.
 
RIP Catherine. Fly high beautiful girl. My condolences to her family and friends.
BBM

This is exactly what I posted very early on. If she fell why didn't the puppy end up with her?
It was very tiny and hard to believe she would let it just follow along near steep cliffs.
The puppy could be the reason she fell. What if she put in on the ground and it got too close to the ledge? She might have gone to grab it and tumbled over without the dog? I don’t believe this is foul play. Fasting, eating drug laced cookies and doing a grueling hike in the dark with little to no sleep, all contributed to an unfortunate accident. JMO of course.
 
RIP Catherine. Fly high beautiful girl. My condolences to her family and friends.

The puppy could be the reason she fell. What if she put in on the ground and it got too close to the ledge? She might have gone to grab it and tumbled over without the dog? I don’t believe this is foul play. Fasting, eating drug laced cookies and doing a grueling hike in the dark with little to no sleep, all contributed to an unfortunate accident. JMO of course.
RBBM
Excellent point. Or she could have tripped over the puppy as well. Heck..she could have been holding the pup and when she started to fall, have thrown her forward to save her. Farfetched, I know. But there are lots of possibilities why the puppy didn't fall with her. JMO
 
RBBM
Excellent point. Or she could have tripped over the puppy as well. Heck..she could have been holding the pup and when she started to fall, have thrown her forward to save her. Farfetched, I know. But there are lots of possibilities why the puppy didn't fall with her. JMO
Exactly. We will probably never know. I hope someone keeps the puppy in honor of Catherine. I love that she went to a foreign country and looked after one of their dogs.
 
Exactly. We will probably never know. I hope someone keeps the puppy in honor of Catherine. I love that she went to a foreign country and looked after one of their dogs.
I posted this earlier to cheer you (and me and others) up.

And this is nice to know.

Amy F "(by the way, the baby girl pup is with us now thanks to our team tracking her down)"

Finding Catherine Shaw
 
The other thing is that being found yesterday, she must have been dead up there for nearly a week!. Given the temperature and humidity of central America I wonder what the condition of her corpse was found in. She may have been already extensively decomposing, (not a nice thought I know). That will make the diagnosis of a postmortem much more difficult to acertain I'd imagine.

Yes absolutely. My first thought when I read the initial assessment of authorities yesterday that she showed signs of being beaten, was that these were most likely normal discoloration caused by decomposition.

Whether the autopsy in Guatemala is done thoroughly and correctly or not, if I were her family I'd have a second autopsy performed back in the UK.

As for the laced cookies, so far we only heard that story from the hostel owner right? And even she was just assuming that she felt high and spaced out because of the cookies. There has been a lot of confusing reporting in this case from the start. So I reserve judgement for now regarding this accusation. It might be as the hostel owner says, or not.

I pray this turns out to be an accident. It made me so terribly sad yesterday to think she was attacked while enjoying nature and caring for a little puppy.

And this is nice to know.

Amy F "(by the way, the baby girl pup is with us now thanks to our team tracking her down)"

This is great news! It's what I hoped would happen. That little one was up there likely without a scratch to eat or water for days. Very glad they are taking care of it.
 
As sad as this all is, I’m hoping it was an accidental fall, and she ended her days doing what she loved. Initially, I thought it was foul play, but after reading all of your thoughtful posts and timelines, I really think she fell. Hugs and peace to her family and friends.
 
Her death may even be suicide. She left the hostel in the middle of the night, returned, briefly slept for about 2 hours then went back out again to go up the mountain trail.

So we know she was fasting, eating and giving out laced cookies, and may have stipped naked on the summit while discarding her clothes in various places on the way. This is not normal behaviour to be expected from a 23 year old woman, she may have had depression or had something plagueing her mind. None of us may ever know but its a possibility.

Could this have driven her to leave the hostel in the middle of the night to trek up to the summit and leap from the lookout to her death?. If that was the case then at least it was her choice.
 
There is a lot of speculation from fall to foul play and it is very likely it could be either, IMO. She could have stripped down, piece by piece, heading up to watch the sunrise and met foul play as certain spots are known for bandits, or perhaps someone saw her nude and had their own ideas and things went down hill from there?

On the flip side, it was clear she was in an off state of mind and perhaps due to her mental and physical state lost balance, fell, or passed out?

And there is still a part of me that wonders if she intentionally walked off the edge of the cliff becoming one with the sunrise?
She had been traveling for 6 months, was the gap year coming to an end? Then what? It can be a hard transition. It was for Leanne Bearden.

The hotel owner is still not ok, and states: 'My opinion is that she was completely lost and completely on drugs. She didn't know what she was doing. She did things a normal person would not do at all.'

Her parents are trying to deal with their daughter's death including the SM frenzy and speculation with photos being shared of their nude, deceased daughter. At any random time, that photo could land before their eyes. That is heartbreaking.

I wonder if the forensics suggest something nefarious, the parents will still believe that it was a peaceful death for their hearts? Local owners rely on the tourist capital, they don't want the area riddled with fear and rumors either. Sure there are bandits, but the area isn't known for crime on tourists. Will we even know the truth?

Unless there is some definitive arrest or confession, I think there may always be rumors surrounding her death. MOO

Per some updated articles:

The news comes as her family refuted claims by local media that she had been raped and murdered, as investigators continue to assess whether there was any foul play.

They asked for restraint over claims of an alleged leaked police report which stated she may have been raped and murdered.

Forensics officers are still seeking to establish a cause of death.

A statement from the Lucie Blackman Trust on behalf of her family said: 'She was very much a nature lover and adored sunrises, so it seems quite conceivable that she went up the mountain to greet the sunrise, shedding clothing as she went, and due to her lack of intake of food and fluid may have passed out or fallen, causing the wounds to her body.

'Whilst of course at this stage we do not know the full facts, and cannot rule anything out until we do, it is wrong to assume and of course confirm that she was raped and murdered by a mystery assailant when such facts are not evident.'



British backpacker dead in Guatemalan highlands fell 300ft and NO signs of sexual violence, say cops | Daily Mail Online

Response to 'intense speculation' surrounding backpacker's death
 
Building off of your comment @Hjp

First psychotic breaks are known to happen in the early twenties. Speculating that she was consuming drugs - The drugs could have triggered a psychotic episode.

Depending on what drugs and how much she could have been in a drug induced psychosis. That would also explain some of her actions, even if they weren't THAT abnormal for her, it was still off.

If drugs were involved, how much did she consume and could they have been cut with something? MOO
 
Last edited:
Uh it seems my post was removed. It was the direct link to the post written by rescuer Amy F on the Find page. It was not a link to Amy's personal page and this is not a private post. Amy wrote it on the Find page.

In any case, since someone was not able to find it, on the Find page linked in other posts above, at the top click on "Posts". Then Amy's post is the second or third post down on the page.
 
As sad as this all is, I’m hoping it was an accidental fall, and she ended her days doing what she loved. Initially, I thought it was foul play, but after reading all of your thoughtful posts and timelines, I really think she fell. Hugs and peace to her family and friends.


I too hope this is the case, for everyone's sake <3
 
Building off of your comment @Hjp

First psychotic breaks are known to happen in the early twenties. Speculating that she was consuming drugs - The drugs could have triggered a psychotic episode.

Depending on what drugs and how much she could have been in a drug induced psychosis. That would also explain some of her actions, even if they weren't THAT abnormal for her, it was still off.

If drugs were involved, how much did she consume and could they have been cut with something? MOO

The UK independent reports here...

Body of English woman found dead in Guatemala showed signs of trauma, doctor says

....that a full postmortem analysis would be conducted on Tuesday with a conclusion set for the end of the day.

If the results of the postmortem are not held back like they were with Grace Millane it is possible that what exactly happened will emerge tomorrow together with the results.

Personally I am in agreement with Elainera, If I was the Shaw family I would want to get a second postmortem conducted on Catherine here in the UK when she is flown home just to be absolutely certain.
 
There are so many murders in Guatemala that the experts at INACIF (the forensic teams) should be able to do an autopsy and conclude the cause of death. My bigger concern would be are we getting the truth? Tourism is a big money maker in Guatemala and there is already a US travel advisory to not visit Guatemala unless you have to. If a Guatemalan is murdered little is noted but a tourist is murdered in a tourist area is a different story The press was full of reports last night that this was a murder and now the story has changed. Maybe it was an accident. I am sure of INACIF's competence in doing an autopsy but not so much in getting the real truth about what happened.

Same is true for Hawaii. The Tourist Industry brings big money to the islands. The Charli Scott murder made this point clearly.
 
Same is true for Hawaii. The Tourist Industry brings big money to the islands. The Charli Scott murder made this point clearly.

Same with lots of second/third world tourist countries I guess. Thailand springs immediately to mind - much as I love the place I am very sceptical about tourist deaths and cover ups there.
 

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