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

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I suppose there's the possibility that payment could have gone through with his phone turned off, if it took the card details up front. I'm not really up on these things.
 
maybe he didnt take much with him because he intended to go straight back home

so was he meeting someone to pick something up? had he bought an item to collect in person
or had sold something, was dropping it off....thinking along the lines of gaming accessories or similar
 
MsMiniSleuth said:
Have you watched the video interview with his mother that was posted above last night? I *think* shw alludes to the time she tried calling him.
Click to expand...
Yes I've watched it. I think she's referring to next day she tried calling him, which I think means she didn't realise he hadn't returned home the night he left. I'll have another listen.
 
Assuming he went into the forest, I wonder realistically how far through it he could get before it became too dark to navigate. I think they will find him today or tomorrow. It’s really sad, especially when the UK is coming out of lockdown.
 
Joe Mander (@joe__mander) tweeted at 11:28 am on Thu, Apr 01, 2021:
Police are searching Epping Forest in relation to missing 19 year old Richard Okorogheye, who has been missing for 9 days now, following a confirmed sighting of him nearby on March 23rd. At least two search teams & dog units are searching the area. @itvlondon https://t.co/TvapjxD7bK
(https://twitter.com/joe__mander/status/1377568572415868929?s=03)


Joe Mander (@joe__mander) tweeted at 11:52 am on Thu, Apr 01, 2021:
A helicopter is now circling the area although this appears to be a a media one rather than police https://t.co/7FCC1koM0n
(https://twitter.com/joe__mander/status/1377574696791707648?s=03)
 
I didn't watch all of the video because I got interrupted but one of the major misapprehensions it cleared up for me was that Richard's mother was working a night shift and returned home the next morning. Up until then, I somehow had got it into my head that Richard left the house at about 8.30pm on Monday evening and then she returned home no more than an hour later, cooked him some food and yet somehow didn't realise he wasn't in the house. I now realise they were keeping more or less opposite hours and she left for a night shift at work about an hour before he left for (we now know) the journey to Loughton. My impression is that she tried to phone once she was at work - once at 9.30ish and once at 10ish. At 9.30pm the phone rang but he didn't pick up. At 10pm, it didn't ring. His phone provider later told her that it was turned off although the sim was still active (so not destroyed, for example). She wasn't worried, though, because she trusts him and assumed he was in the neighbourhood and all was well. She arrived back from work at 9ish the next morning, cooked him what she thought would be his breakfast and then went to bed herself. When she got up again at 2pmish on Tuesday afternoon, she saw the food was untouched, tried to get a response from his locked room and then realised something was wrong, called the locksmith, raised the alarm, etc.

So hopefully that clarifies what is known about the phone, and how.

What all this reinforces for me is that Richard was deliberately giving himself the longest possible head start before anyone would raise the alarm. I still think that his route and mode of travel was an attempt to avoid identification on CCTV (likewise keeping his mask on) and that he didn't want anyone to find out where he had gone and what he had done. I'm not saying it was a good strategy, but I can see the rationale.

I'm curious to know what the significance is to him of Epping Forest, if any. Perhaps it's a place he's visited in happier times.

I would love the possible sightings of him to be fruitful, but overall I'm still leaning towards the idea of a self-harm scenario, and if so, given that his route actually has been discovered, I imagine there'll be news of a discovery soon. If not, then perhaps this is a deliberate disappearance from his life. I'm not sure what will be worse for family and friends.
 
tedtink said:
Help Us Find Richard Okorogheye
The Let's Talk Show interviews mum Evidence about her son's disappearance.

Click to expand...
Part transcript -

EJ is Richard's mum -

EJ: Richard on 22nd March, Richard said to me around 7:30pm he was going to see a friend…he was supposed to go there but he didn’t actually turn up there…his hygiene level was dropping and he was a bit withdrawn, not going out to friends…for a year… just me and him and him going to the shop and back…

When did you become worried?

EJ: …when I got to work around 10, I start work at 8 o’clock, 10pm I called Richard, the phone rang a little bit a few times, he didn’t answer the call, around 11pm I called him the phone was not going again so I didn’t have…

So it wasn’t ringing at 11?

EJ: Yes, it wasn’t ringing again, so I didn’t have much worry because I was okay maybe he decided not to charge his phone whatnot, cos I trust him, if he was going far he would have said, the fact I knew he was, I felt he was in neighbourhood I didn’t really worry too much. It’s when I came back from work next day, that I found his phone was not going through at all.

So when you came back the next day did you realise then actually he wasn’t home?

EJ: Yes, his shoes, normally we keep all the shoes by the door, his shoes wasn’t there, the only thing that was there was his slider. So I prepared, when I came back from work I prepared a meal, normally I cook for him, leave the food out, so that when I go to sleep he wakes up he can help himself. But he didn’t, he didn’t get up, he wasn’t here,

So what were your thoughts, when did you really become concerned?

EJ: Around 5. When I got to around 2, 3, I called him he didn’t answer, I called again he didn’t answer, so I went to his room, knocked on the door, he didn’t answer, so I decided okay I need to get a locksmith, in case he’s laying unconscious, something’s happened in there

So was his door locked?

EJ: It was locked, he locks his door because of privacy. So when the locksmith came in they opened the door, he wasn’t there, so I immediately went to his friend’s house to ask if Richard turned up yesterday to the house, and they said they never saw him, at all.

So what did you do then?

EJ: Then I went to the security downstairs to see if he actually went out the building. So there was a footage that showed Richard left home around 8:34 heading to Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury’s. That’s when I knew that Richard actually didn’t go to his friends, he went somewhere else, he went somewhere to meet somebody.

So Evidence when you’ve tried calling him now does the phone just not connect?

EJ: From that Monday to now the phone doesn’t connect at all. It doesn’t, it’s just on voicemail constantly.
 
@Tortoise The phone being switched off at 10pm same day as disappearance was reported on Sky News (TV report) a few minutes before I posted it. I forgot to source at the time.

In the youtube interview with Mum posted a couple of pages or so ago, mum says phone was ringing at approx 10pm but when she tried at 11pm it was off and hasn't been on since. JMO, but I'm wondering if he switched SIM or something (has a 2nd phone?). If his strange journey etc was motivated by wanting to cover his footsteps/tracks that would make sense. JMO/MOO
 
I have no idea what his connection with Epping Forest is, but part of me wonders if he'd bought a bottle of alcohol from the shop (in the black bag) and decided to go to Epping to drink it.

I'm quite familiar with Loughton as I sometimes shop at the Aldi there. If he was on Smarts Road walking towards the forest - depending on which way he went from there the roads are really not pedestrian friendly at all.

Not to mention that Epping Forest is big and it's very easy to get lost, especially in the dark, especially if you're under the influence. None of it sounds good to me.

MOO.
 
Call_me_web_sloth said:
I have no idea what his connection with Epping Forest is, but part of me wonders if he'd bought a bottle of alcohol from the shop (in the black bag) and decided to go to Epping to drink it.

I'm quite familiar with Loughton as I sometimes shop at the Aldi there. If he was on Smarts Road walking towards the forest - depending on which way he went from there the roads are really not pedestrian friendly at all.

Not to mention that Epping Forest is big and it's very easy to get lost, especially in the dark, especially if you're under the influence. None of it sounds good to me.

MOO.
Click to expand...
His mum says he's never been to Epping Forest before.
#RichardOkorogheye's mother has told me she was "shocked and very surprised" to learn her son was seen in Loughton because "he's never been there before".

https://twitter.com/IvorBennett/status/1377557008589676545?s=20
 
Looking again at the cctv from Smarts Lane, RO has his mask on, so I don't think he's eating something from the bag he's carrying. The bag and its contents feels really significant to me, so I'm obsessed with it. If it's one of those little black plastic bags you get in a corner shop and it looks like he's peering into it in one of the stills. In another, the tie-handles appear to be tied up and he's holding it in one hand, dangling down in a way that makes it look quite heavy (i.e. could be a can of coke and a bag of crisps).
I agree with @JuicyLucy 's earlier post in its entirety, especially that RO left on a night when he knew his mum was working nights and he'd get a head start.
 

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Just chucking ideas out here really, but do we know if Richard's family is religious? If he's mentally unwell and not really seeing things clearly, I'm wondering if he's seeing this as a trek east into the wilderness, with some idea of making a grand return on Easter Sunday.
 
Police search for missing Richard Okorogheye continues in Epping Forest and surrounding areas
News • Apr 01, 2021 14:20 BST


Detectives investigating the disappearance of Richard Okorogheye have released CCTV footage of his last known sighting as searches for the 19-year-old student continue at pace.

A range of specialist search officers as well as colleagues from the dog unit and Mounted Branch continue their search in and around Epping Forest in Loughton.

Richard, who studies at Oxford Brookes University, left his family home in the Ladbroke Grove area of Kensington on the evening of Monday, 22 March. He was reported missing on Wednesday, 24 March.

Initial enquiries identified Richard leaving his home and heading in the direction of Ladbroke Grove, W10 on 22 March at approximately 20:30hrs.

Richard was then seen boarding the 23 bus southbound in Ladbroke Grove at 20:44hrs. CCTV footage shows he was wearing all black and had a black satchel bag with a white ‘ADIDAS’ logo, worn across his lower back.

Further enquires have established that Richard then took a taxi journey from the W2 area of London to a residential street in Loughton, Essex. He was captured on CCTV walking alone on Smarts Lane, Loughton, towards the area of Nursery Road and Epping Forest at 00:39hrs on Tuesday, 23 March.

Police are continuing to focus their search for Richard in and around the Epping Forest area, as well as releasing CCTV footage showing his last known movements in the early hours of 23 March.

Detective Superintendent Danny Gosling, Head of the Met’s Central West Public Protection unit, said: “Our search for Richard is continuing at pace today - we are doing all that we can to locate him and bring him home to his family, who miss him dearly.

“Officers have been working tirelessly behind the scenes in an effort to trace Richard’s movements that evening, with assistance from specialist search teams, the Met’s dog and Mounted Branch units and colleagues from other police forces. I have a lot of officers who have requested to stay with the investigation over the Easter weekend, I have a teenage son myself and this strikes a chord. We all want to carry on and all our hopes are that we can reunite Richard with his family.

“Today’s searches are focused mainly in and around the Epping Forest area and local residents will notice an increased police presence while we carry out our enquiries. We have also been making door-to-door enquiries and leafletting the Smarts Lane area.

“The support from the public so far has been amazing so thank you. I am asking everyone to please watch the CCTV we have released - do you recognise Richard or have any information that may help with our enquiries? Please check doorbell cams and dash cam footage and get in touch. No detail is too small.

”At this stage we don’t know why Richard has come to Loughton, there is no clear reason, but we hope our enquiries will help us find out why. Again if you can help with any information about this please contact us.”

Officer can be reached on 101 quoting 21MIS008134. In an emergency please call 999.

Police search for missing Richard Okorogheye continues in Epping Forest and surrounding areas
 
MsMiniSleuth said:
Ivor Bennett (@IvorBennett) tweeted at 2:10 pm on Thu, Apr 01, 2021:

Horses have just joined the search for #RichardOkorogheye in Epping forest. Police told me this will enable rapid visual searches of the wider area while fingertip searches continue near to where Richard was last seen https://t.co/m7NZFLFTnz

(https://twitter.com/IvorBennett/status/1377609334134308869?s=03)
Click to expand...

I can't be 100% sure because the police van is obstructing the view, but this looks like it could be the area where Staples Road meets Earls Path (and Smarts Lane) so fits pretty much exactly with where he was last seen on the CCTV outside the pub. The forested area around there has a few ponds and a long stretch of Loughton Brook (with various crossing points). The main footpath into the forest there runs pretty parallel with the High Street but there's lots of opportunity for deviation down into these little valleys where the brook runs so places to hide/find somewhere off the beaten path. I'm not sure we're looking at a 'getting lost by accident' incident but it is a possibility. However if you're looking specifically at that small area of the forest, I think you can generally hear a road/cars passing so it's likely you could find your way out in a pickle. JMO.
 
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