Found Deceased UK - Leah Croucher, 19, Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, 14 Feb 2019 #4

[WiseOwl]

@WiseOwl your post is great and sums up my thoughts exactly! There is no clear evidence either way that Leah was abducted OR disappeared herself so why then say ~

"My own theory? I think the most likely theory is that Leah has gone of her own accord on her own... I believe it is because of a decision she made herself."

It does seem that they have asked Mr X if there was a relationship and he has denied it and so they've just accepted that at face value and said "ok". Would you not just double check and look into it just to be 100% sure he was telling the truth? Something about this just does not sit right. Like @Skigh says it does look like Mr X is being protected.

Another thing I found interesting was this quote ~

"There is also the possibility that Leah had a second phone and was plotting to vanish - although this is a scenario the family of the quiet, home-loving teenager finds difficult to believe. But location settings were turned off at the eastern part of the lake the previous evening, when she mysteriously slipped out for a short time on Valentine's Day. They were never turned back on. Why?"

So we now know the night before she was again within the vicinity of the lake. So if this was a suicide why not do it the night before? Why come home and order a takeaway?

I looked on google maps and going by the new info out today that there was a sighting of Leah at Teletubbie hill at 8.20am if you put in the premier Inn address (where her phone was switched off at 8.34am) from teletubbie hill it's exactly a 14 minute walk!! 8.20 + 14mins = 8.34am!! I have a gut feeling whatever happened to Leah has something to do with that premier Inn, maybe she was meeting someone there? Also, if that's where her phone location services were turned off the night before then is that not the biggest coincidence???

I have attached a copy of the map and marked Teletebbie hill in red (TTH) and the Premier Inn in purple (PI). Teletubbie hill does not come up on goggle maps as a location so I have entered the nearest road which is loxbeare drive.

I looked up photos of the premier Inn on google maps and it quite clearly has several CCTV cameras one of which looks at though it is pointing directly at the footpath past the lake (if I am incorrect on this please feel free to correct me). I have attached photos from google maps to show what I mean. I also note around the back of the hotel there is a large number of large wheelie bins (just another possibility rolling around in my head).

The police have mentioned going door to door to peoples houses asking for CCTV or sightings of Leah. Yet looking at her route and the time her phone switched she was quite clearly in close proximity to the premier Inn, which is covered in CCTV cameras. Yet nothing has been mentioned about this (they may well have checked it and are just choosing to not to disclose that info) but going by DCI Howards comments he does not feel she was abducted so it seems to be Avenue they are not even willing to look at.

ALL MOO

Great detective work Holly in finding out Teletubbie hill to the Premier Inn is 14 minutes walk. As we now know Leah was seen at 8.20 at TT hill so it seems extremely likely she was at the Premier Inn at 8.34 that morning - possibly meeting someone in the car park?

Do you know if there are any CCTV cameras at the Premier Inn that overlook the car park? I would presume there would be.

 

[HollyHunter9]

Great detective work Holly in finding out Teletubbie hill to the Premier Inn is 14 minutes walk. As we now know Leah was seen at 8.20 at TT hill so it seems extremely likely she was at the Premier Inn at 8.34 that morning - possibly meeting someone in the car park?

Do you know if there are any CCTV cameras at the Premier Inn that overlook the car park? I would presume there would be.

Thankyou! Yes I think possibly the premier Inn as @Firefly444 suggests may be a 'meeting place'. I know if I make arrangements to meet someone, especially if they are driving and I am not, I would say "I'll meet you at premier Inn carpark 8.30" or "I'll meet you outside the premier Inn" rather than arranging to meet by "furzton lake" as the lake is so big it makes sense to pick a recognizable landmark nearby that's easy for both meeting parties to find each other. I do find it an incredibly big coincidence that they have now said her location services the day before were switched off by the lake too. JMO

I did find this CCTV camera which to me looks like it may over look the carpark (although I'm not local so not 100% sure). See attached images from google maps.

 

[Thelastleg]

Any chance there is a mobile signal dead zone around the Premier Inn and her location was blocked automatically rather than intentionally. If so that would narrow down where she went. I agree it is a very contradictory statement

 

[Jenesaisquoi]

Sally’s on fire today...I can almost see the keyboard smoking with all the articles coming out

New video from police shows route Leah Croucher took to work in Milton Keynes before vanishing

 

[HollyHunter9]

Any chance there is a mobile signal dead zone around the Premier Inn and her location was blocked automatically rather than intentionally. If so that would narrow down where she went. I agree it is a very contradictory statement

That's a good point and definitely a possibility. I'm not sure if phone companies can tell if phones lose signals in certain areas? The only info I can find in MSM seems to indicate that the day before her disappearance her location settings were manually turned off (something the phone company says had never been done prior to this) and then on the day of disappearance the phone itself was actually switched off.

Timeline of missing Leah Croucher's disappearance | Daily Mail Online

5.45pm: Leah walks home from work. The location settings on her Samsung phone were switched off in the Furzton Lake area.

8.34am: Leah's mobile phone is switched off.

 

[WiseOwl]

Thankyou! Yes I think possibly the premier Inn as @Firefly444 suggests may be a 'meeting place'. I know if I make arrangements to meet someone, especially if they are driving and I am not, I would say "I'll meet you at premier Inn carpark 8.30" or "I'll meet you outside the premier Inn" rather than arranging to meet by "furzton lake" as the lake is so big it makes sense to pick a recognizable landmark nearby that's easy for both meeting parties to find each other. I do find it an incredibly big coincidence that they have now said her location services the day before were switched off by the lake too. JMO

I did find this CCTV camera which to me looks like it may over look the carpark (although I'm not local so not 100% sure). See attached images from google maps.

Thanks Holly - it does look as if the camera is pointing towards the car park. The police have never released any potential footage from the Premier Inn so I wonder if it was working the morning Leah disappeared? If there is a camera overlooking the footpath then it presumably would have picked up the upset girl who was walking around the lake that morning. Unless of course the footage turned out to be the little black blobs the DCI was talking about earlier!

 

[HollyHunter9]

I'm now thinking if the premier Inn was a "meeting place" could there have been possible sightings of leah with whoever she was meeting, or leah hanging about waiting for someone? Perhaps guests checking out might have seen something but if they were a guest its likely they were not local and after leaving the area never gave it anymore thought. Outside of the MK (and WS of course) Leah's case is not actually that well known. If I were the police I'd be finding out what guests stayed in the premier Inn in the days before, during and after disappearance. Questioning if they saw anything. I would Check the CCTV too.
*Edited for grammar

 

[Thelastleg]

That's a good point and definitely a possibility. I'm not sure if phone companies can tell if phones lose signals in certain areas? The only info I can find in MSM seems to indicate that the day before her disappearance her location settings were manually turned off (something the phone company says had never been done prior to this) and then on the day of disappearance the phone itself was actually switched off.

Timeline of missing Leah Croucher's disappearance | Daily Mail Online

5.45pm: Leah walks home from work. The location settings on her Samsung phone were switched off in the Furzton Lake area.

8.34am: Leah's mobile phone is switched off.

I'm just clutching at straws really. I'm sure it's been looked into and phone being switched off was deliberate. I wonder if there is away to check other numbers that were connected to the same mast and then location switched off around the same times.

 

[Skigh]

Be interesting to know if any of Mr X's relatives worked at the Premier Inn.

 

[HollyHunter9]

I'm just clutching at straws really. I'm sure it's been looked into and phone being switched off was deliberate. I wonder if there is away to check other numbers that were connected to the same mast and then location switched off around the same times.

Thats a really good idea too! Although, after DCI howards recent comments I feel this is something they are not open to looking into if they don't believe a 3rd party is involved.

 

[WiseOwl]

I too felt really uncomfortable after reading DCI Howard’s comments, and somewhat disappointed. It goes without saying but I cannot possibly imagine what the family have gone through during these past 2 years. As I mentioned above, his comments are a bunch of contradictions. If DCI Howard actually believes in his own theory, and if it’s the case that they have looked into every possible scenario apart from the one involving Mr. X, then could this explain why this investigation has since made no breakthroughs? Thank you for these great observations @HollyHunter9 @WiseOwl.
The fact that there have been no witnesses and no persons of interest but we know for certain there was a romantic relationship involved, one that DCI describes as “unrequited love”, then this in itself is a huge contradiction.
I agree with what @WiseOwl has pointed out here too that TVP have no evidence to support either scenario, although they hold strong theories that all exclude the possibility of Mr.X and seem to be pinning this theory of Mr.X all on the Croucher family which I do not agree with at all. It’s just as logical as any other theory, if not more so as this affair was described as the only “anomaly” in Leah’s life at the time by those closest to her. At it was the day after Valentine’s Day.

I also notice that it states in this article that the phone location services were switched off on the EASTERN side of Furzton lake on 14th February 2019, day before disappearance, when Leah went off for an hour 15 minutes. This information although small actually changes a lot as we also know it went off at the north end on day of disappearance. The possibility of a trusted meet up scenario is unfortunately seeming more likely. IMO. EDIT:Thank you @HollyHunter9 for pointing this out! This definitely seems significant.

I also wonder how thorough they investigated the days leading up. They have now since today appealed towards taxi drivers or any sort of logistic drivers, which to the best of my knowledge has not been done before. I also think this is significant. Source: Fourteen minutes and a single square mile of Milton Keynes - that's the crux of the baffling Leah Croucher case

“If you are a taxi driver or delivery worker, please check your schedule for that day. Were you in the area? Did you see anyone resembling Leah or anything unusual happening? A scuffle or skirmish? A girl with long brown hair getting into a car? A girl looking upset?”


Definitely think if the family have not already, should consider the idea of a PI @HollyHunter9 likewise with the idea of giving this to another police force to review @Skigh

Totally agree with you Firefly on the contradictions of the DCI, he says he has an open-mind on the case but seems to dismiss any connection to Mr X. Why not consider this theory along with every other possibility?

I too wonder how thorough the police were in investigating the days leading up to Leah's disappearance and as for asking taxi driver's now if they can remember anything from two years ago is too little too late IMO.

 

[WiseOwl]

Be interesting to know if any of Mr X's relatives worked at the Premier Inn.

It would also be interesting to know if any of his family or friends stayed at the Premier Inn on the night of 14 February. Maybe 'X' himself stayed there that night?

 

[Jenesaisquoi]

They had dogs involved in the initial searches, iirc. Wonder what the outcome of that was.

 

[HollyHunter9]

It would also be interesting to know if any of his family or friends stayed at the Premier Inn on the night of 14 February. Maybe 'X' himself stayed there that night?

Yes that would be interesting to find out! Is this the sort of thing a private investigator would be able to find out? Would the hotel give out that info?

 

[WiseOwl]

Yes that would be interesting to find out! Is this the sort of thing a private investigator would be able to find out? Would the hotel give out that info?

The hotel would give out that info to the police and also possibly a PI. It would depend however on how long the Premier Inn kept their records for.

Going back to the evening before Leah disappeared, we know she went out for 75 minutes so would she have had enough time to walk to the Premier Inn and back from her home?

 

[Frivolous]

The hotel would give out that info to the police and also possibly a PI. It would depend however on how long the Premier Inn kept their records for.

Going back to the evening before Leah disappeared, we know she went out for 75 minutes so would she have had enough time to walk to the Premier Inn and back from her home?

More than enough time. According to google directions it is about 31 minutes to and back from Quantock Crescent to the Premier Inn Milton Keynes (Furzton Lake) .

62 minutes in total, leaves 13 minutes. Could have walked faster or slower. But again, there would be some time left within that 75 minute time frame. Perhaps she was picking something up or giving something? 13 minutes isn't so long

 

[HollyHunter9]

The hotel would give out that info to the police and also possibly a PI. It would depend however on how long the Premier Inn kept their records for.

Going back to the evening before Leah disappeared, we know she went out for 75 minutes so would she have had enough time to walk to the Premier Inn and back from her home?

I've just done a quick google search and if the night before she walked to the Premier Inn from her home address it says walking would take 31mins there and 31mins back which leaves around 15mins for a quick meeting with someone. So it's tight but is possible.

The other theory is: did someone pick her up in a car and drive her there? Again looking at google maps a car journey from Leahs home address on Quantock Crescent to the premier Inn is only a 5 minute journey.

 

[HollyHunter9]

More than enough time. According to google directions it is about 31 minutes to and back from Quantock Crescent to the Premier Inn Milton Keynes (Furzton Lake) .

62 minutes in total, leaves 13 minutes. Could have walked faster or slower. But again, there would be some time left within that 75 minute time frame. Perhaps she was picking something up or giving something? 13 minutes isn't so long

You beat me too it! But exactly the same as my thinking. Whether she walked or was picked up there was definitely enough time! IMO

 

[Skigh]

More than enough time. According to google directions it is about 31 minutes to and back from Quantock Crescent to the Premier Inn Milton Keynes (Furzton Lake) .

62 minutes in total, leaves 13 minutes. Could have walked faster or slower. But again, there would be some time left within that 75 minute time frame. Perhaps she was picking something up or giving something? 13 minutes isn't so long

It is possible she went to see if someone she knew was there with someone else.

 

[HollyHunter9]

It is possible she went to see if someone she knew was there with someone else.

@Skigh you read my mind! I was then thinking the exact same thing! What if she wasn't meeting anyone but checking if someone was staying there? With someone else? That's why it wasn't very long? Walked there, quick check for someone's car in carpark, hang about looking for a bit, then walked home again?