Found Deceased UK - Richard Okorogheye, 19, Oxford Student, Ladbroke Grove, West London, 24 March 2021 #2

[JuicyLucy]

Thanks

Any medics on the thread? My lay understanding is that a clothed person out in that temperature wouldn't really be at risk of hypothermia. But with sickle cell, I guess it could be very different?

BBC main evening news has just shown an interview with a Richard's mother. She said she does not believe he was suicidal. And also mentioned that if he had a sickle cell crisis, he would become incapacitated to the point of being unable to move.

She also said that he was well capable of turning up at hospital if he felt one coming on

(Sorry, no link as that's from broadcast, not the website)

So many variables, many of which are unknown/unknowable, such as his medical history, his drug regimen, what the ambient temperature at home was, whether he'd had alcohol, exactly what weight his clothing was (it looked thin but could have been microfleece, for instance), wind chill factor on the night he left home, etc. However, all that said, my feeling is that if he had just walked around for a while and then gone home again, he would probably have been fine with some rehydration and pain relief. However, cold water is another matter and if it can be demonstrated that he entered the water voluntarily, then that is the strongest indication yet imo that this was genuinely a suicide, caused by deliberate provocation of sickle cell crisis, triggering a cascade of biochemical changes that will have first caused pain and difficulty moving limbs, then difficulty breathing, followed probably by seizure and stroke.

I am personally still very sceptical, though, that he travelled all the way to an unfamiliar location and then walked an appreciable distance in the pitch black to a particular body of water, when there were others he would have passed along the way, in order to execute such a fundamentally simple plan.

 

[Wendy101]

I still think moms instinct is correct. He met with an online “friend” and was murdered.
Autopsy results pending??

 

[Sarahlou]

I still think moms instinct is correct. He met with an online “friend” and was murdered.
Autopsy results pending??

There were no signs of trauma and the police don't suspect a third party to be involved..
Yes we will find out more after all the results are in but there's nothing to suggest this was murder.

 

[Inthedetails]

This is unpleasant, but I am recalling a suicide of two sisters in NYC. They entered the Hudson River from the shore. There is a bridge over the river where people have jumped to their deaths nearby, but the girls chose instead to tape their legs - which I'm assuming not only kept the two young women together but also prevented instinct from taking over and saving themselves - and enter from the shore.

I mention this to say that not all suicides follow the same script or adhere to statistics. What might not make sense to us might have made sense to Richard. And just because we haven't heard of a particular way doesn't mean it didn't happen.

jmo

 

[Sundried]

I wonder how much they would be able to recover from his mobile phone once it’s found after potentially being in the water for this long

 

[se92_00]

I still think moms instinct is correct. He met with an online “friend” and was murdered.
Autopsy results pending??

I agree. She has been fighting since day 1 and I can’t see her stopping until further investigation is done.

Hasn’t she now also said that he didn’t have the money for a cab that far? I really do believe someone else may have paid for the cab

 

[infinit]

I wonder how much they would be able to recover from his mobile phone once it’s found after potentially being in the water for this long

Heh. Something I am somewhat qualified on. Odds are worse as time goes on assuming it is in the water. A couple of weeks in murky water starts to put it in a state where it becomes unlikely to be repairable but there are other variables such as water pH and even at what angle the phone enters the water if it's turned on that determine that. There are still things that can be tried assuming the storage is relatively intact and you can attempt to transplant components e.g. : Forensic smartphone analysis using adhesives: Transplantation of Package on Package components - ScienceDirect

 

[KHA]

I agree. She has been fighting since day 1 and I can’t see her stopping until further investigation is done.

Hasn’t she now also said that he didn’t have the money for a cab that far? I really do believe someone else may have paid for the cab

I haven’t heard his Mum say anything about the taxi fare, although I haven’t heard/seen everything she has said. However, this is from a Met police statement, excerpt from The Telegraph:


“...over the last few days we've conducted a number of inquiries in relation to his mobile phone activity and also his financial activity.

As a direct consequence of that we are able to identify that Richard paid for a taxi from west London which brought him here (Loughton)”

So it seems the cab fare was paid from his own bank account.

 

[Cuko]

I really don’t know now if she is unwilling to accept it or she knows more...

I suspect the former. Suicide of a son or daughter must be the hardest thing in the world for a parent to accept. I’m not a parent but I can only imagine that a mum or dad would be tormented by unanswered questions and very possibly feelings of self-recrimination or guilt, no matter how unjustified those feelings might be. All of this would make acceptance nigh on impossible in the immediate aftermath of the event.

 

[se92_00]

I haven’t heard his Mum say anything about the taxi fare, although I haven’t heard/seen everything she has said. However, this is from a Met police statement, excerpt from The Telegraph:


“...over the last few days we've conducted a number of inquiries in relation to his mobile phone activity and also his financial activity.

As a direct consequence of that we are able to identify that Richard paid for a taxi from west London which brought him here (Loughton)”

So it seems the cab fare was paid from his own bank account.

I hadn’t seen that so thanks for sharing. However, do we know that it was definitely paid for digitally and not with cash? If paid for with cash this still means it may not be his own

 

[KHA]

I suspect the former. Suicide of a son or daughter must be the hardest thing in the world for a parent to accept. I’m not a parent but I can only imagine that a mum or dad would be tormented by unanswered questions and very possibly feelings of self-recrimination or guilt, no matter how unjustified those feelings might be. All of this would make acceptance nigh on impossible in the immediate aftermath of the event.

I agree. The whole thing is devastatingly sad. And unfortunately Richard has left so many very likely unanswerable questions. As a mother who didn’t see her son as able to do such a thing, it will be hugely difficult to accept. I do wish maybe Richard could have left something for her to help her understand and give her a bit of closure. That is of course if this is suicide. I believe it is. But you never know.

 

[KHA]

I hadn’t seen that so thanks for sharing. However, do we know that it was definitely paid for digitally and not with cash? If paid for with cash this still means it may not be his own

If they have looked into his financial activity and confirmed the cab was paid for, that would suggest that is it clearly shown in a statement, paid directly from his bank account.

 

[sundaaaay]

This is unpleasant, but I am recalling a suicide of two sisters in NYC. They entered the Hudson River from the shore. There is a bridge over the river where people have jumped to their deaths nearby, but the girls chose instead to tape their legs - which I'm assuming not only kept the two young women together but also prevented instinct from taking over and saving themselves - and enter from the shore.

I mention this to say that not all suicides follow the same script or adhere to statistics. What might not make sense to us might have made sense to Richard. And just because we haven't heard of a particular way doesn't mean it didn't happen.

jmo

Exactly. RO may have entered the forest with no plan, just determined to not come back out, with the pond being one of his successful attempts. It only seems weird to walk into a forest at night because we can’t interpret his state of mind. If he was depressed he may not have felt that fear.

 

[Sundried]

I mean this with the greatest respect but I think perhaps mum didn’t know her son as well as she thinks she did. That’s not a terrible thing and quite normal I would say. That coupled with the fact shes utterly heartbroken and finding it difficult to accept. I appreciate the cause of death hasn’t been confirmed but I’m not sure the police would be holding anything back given the backlash they have received over how the initial missing report was handled if there were any signs of foul play.

 

[ST3anonymous]

I agree. She has been fighting since day 1 and I can’t see her stopping until further investigation is done.

Hasn’t she now also said that he didn’t have the money for a cab that far? I really do believe someone else may have paid for the cab

Reminds me of Noah Donohoe’s mother who was adamant from day 1 there was foul play. She had the police play her down and seem like she was overreacting. Now it seems she was right all along.

 

[JuicyLucy]

If they have looked into his financial activity and confirmed the cab was paid for, that would suggest that is it clearly shown in a statement, paid directly from his bank account.

That wouldn't necessarily explain where the money actually came from, though - if she is saying he didn't have much.

 

[tedtink]

BBC Interview........

Richard Okorogheye: Mother does not believe son took his own life.
'He loved life, he had plans, he had aspirations'

 

[se92_00]

That wouldn't necessarily explain where the money actually came from, though - if she is saying he didn't have much.

Agreed. Someone could have wired him the money weeks ago?

 

[tedtink]

There are 5 stages of grief.
The 1st is shock & denial, it's a common defense mechanism in order to buffer the initial shock whilst one is facing a hurtful situation.
It's natural & usually temporary, the response helps someone to emotionally navigate through the initial pain.

 

[KHA]

That wouldn't necessarily explain where the money actually came from, though - if she is saying he didn't have much.

I would expect the police to have looked to see where money had come from.