Was RAF man who vanished into thin air abducted by terrorists?

RAF serviceman Corrie McKeague was final seen in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on September 24

A younger man in a pink shirt, with fingers buried within the pockets of his modern white denims, strolls jauntily by way of the centre of the cathedral city of Bury St Edmunds.

He stops, appears round, and decides to show proper, previous a few hanging baskets. 

Then he disappears right into a cobbled loading space instantly behind a department of the Excessive Avenue bakery Greggs.

It's three.25am on Saturday, September 24, 2016, and these grainy CCTV photos (circulated by Suffolk Police) present the final identified actions of 23-year-old serviceman Corrie McKeague. 

He was reported lacking the next Monday, round 48 hours later, after failing to report for obligation at his close by airbase RAF Honington. That was virtually 4 months in the past.

Since then, McKeague's disappearance has confounded police, transfixed newbie sleuths and sparked one of the baffling manhunts in current reminiscence. 

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McKeague was reported lacking the next Monday, round 48 hours later, after failing to report for obligation at his close by airbase RAF Honington. That was virtually 4 months in the past. Grainy CCTV photos (together with the one above, circulated by Suffolk Police) present the final identified actions of 23-year-old serviceman

At its centre is a single, unanswered query: how may a grown man, strolling by way of the centre of a city geared up with quite a few CCTV cameras, vanish into skinny air?

Police say it's nearly unimaginable to stroll quite a lot of yards from the spot the place McKeague was final seen with out being caught on digital camera.

There was no apparent manner, at the moment of night time, to cover from view by coming into an adjoining constructing. And detectives can discover no proof to recommend he was taken away in a automotive or different automobile. 

A workforce of personal investigators, employed by the household, and paid for through a crowd funding marketing campaign which has raised tens of hundreds of kilos, has been unable to elicit productive clues

Exhaustive searches of each the Suffolk city and the encircling countryside have failed to ascertain his whereabouts.

An enormous PR marketing campaign, adopted by a whole lot of hundreds of messages on Fb and Twitter, has led nowhere. Appeals for witnesses on radio and TV have come up clean.

A workforce of personal investigators, employed by the household, and paid for through a crowd funding marketing campaign which has raised tens of hundreds of kilos, has been unable to elicit productive clues.

This week, the plot thickened when it emerged that McKeague (who had been described by kin as 'fortunately single') is to grow to be a father: a 21-year-old native girl referred to as April Oliver advised the BBC that she shouldn't be solely his girlfriend, however is 4 months pregnant along with his baby.

So what occurred to the lacking RAF man? And the place are the clues that may clear up his disappearance?

WHAT SOLID FACTS DO WE HAVE SO FAR?

A 'gregarious' character who 'beloved to be the centre of consideration', in response to his mom Nicola Urquhart, the RAF Regiment gunner had organized to spend Friday night time in Bury St Edmunds with mates from his digs on the airbase. Nevertheless, he missed his organized elevate.

So at 10pm, he drove to city, parking his BMW Z4 sports activities automotive in a pay-and-display automotive park on Robert Boby Approach, subsequent to Waitrose. At 10.10pm, he phoned his brother Darroch. They spoke for roughly half-an-hour whereas McKeague consumed a number of alcoholic drinks in his automotive.

At 10.50pm he joined buddies on the close by So Bar, earlier than strolling to a big department of Weatherspoon in Bury's former Corn Alternate constructing. At half previous midnight, the social gathering adjourned to the Flex nightclub. On the entrance, supervisor Ben Manning mentioned he had requested McKeague if he was inebriated, to which the serviceman replied 'sure', and mentioned 'I really like you', earlier than 'stumbling' inside.

He stayed for simply half-an-hour, earlier than being ejected by doorman Will Hook as a result of he had 'consumed sufficient alcohol' and was drawing consideration to himself.

McKeague agreed 'amicably' to depart, says Hook, and left the nightclub, changing into separated from his mates.

His subsequent cease was Pizza Mama Mia, a quick meals joint round 500 yards away the place he jovially performed 'rock paper scissors' with a fellow buyer, earlier than ordering two burgers, a kebab, and a portion of chips.

At 1.20am, police CCTV cameras confirmed him strolling previous the close by Grapes pub, en path to the doorway of retailer referred to as Hughes, the place he sat all the way down to eat and subsequently fell asleep. A passer-by later prodded him to test he was OK.

Round 3am, the serviceman awoke and checked out his cell phone, a Nokia Lumia 435.

At three.08am, he despatched a textual content message to a buddy, containing an image of a earlier night time out. He then obtained to his toes and was filmed for the ultimate time, strolling into the world behind Gregg's, at three.25am.

Someday later (the police received't say precisely when), cellular information information his telephone was within the neighborhood of Barton Mills, a city 12 miles north-west of Bury. It was transferring at a velocity constant to that of a automobile, police say. 

At roughly 8am, the telephone stopped transmitting, suggesting it had both run out of battery, been turned off, or destroyed. It has not been recovered.

WHY WASN'T HE SEEN AGAIN BY CCTV?

The search initially centered on hypothesis that he had tried to stroll the eight miles again to his airbase, with police saying: 'He's identified to go on nights out along with his mates and make his manner again to wherever he's primarily based on foot.'

A significant search and rescue operation was mounted, with groups scouring miles of rural verges amid fears that he might need both fallen right into a ditch, or been thrown into one after being hit by a automobile.

However to no avail. As soon as CCTV started to be absolutely analysed, nonetheless, it grew to become obvious that the possibilities of him having wandered out of Bury undetected had been extraordinarily distant.

There are 61 police cameras within the city, together with dozens extra belonging to companies and personal residents. They comprise greater than 1,100 hours of footage of the interval, which have now been carefully studied by investigators.

None of them present him leaving the loading space behind Greggs, which police have described as a 'horseshoe', or passing alongside any close by avenue. Some cameras are fastened, whereas others rotate.

As soon as CCTV started to be absolutely analysed, it grew to become obvious that the possibilities of him having wandered out of Bury undetected had been extraordinarily distant

Whereas they don't present whole protection of each doable exit route for the whole time, police say it's 'extremely, extremely unlikely' that McKeague may have left city on foot with out being filmed.

'We will't be 100 per cent positive, however we've analysed every little thing, from whether or not an individual may squeeze alongside a wall undetected, to whether or not they may run down a specific avenue when the digital camera was rotated in a sure course,' I'm advised.

'There are some gaps in protection, however they're tiny. There's not more than a 1 or 2 per cent likelihood that he walked away, even when he was making an attempt to not be seen.'

Strolling dwelling would additionally appear a curious alternative, on condition that he wanted to return to city by 9am to forestall his BMW from getting a parking ticket. A extra smart choice might need been to sleep within the automobile.

What's extra, the path to RAF Honington (the place Prince Harry inspected fellow servicemen two years in the past) would both take him by way of a sequence of villages, or alongside the verge of the busy A134 twin carriageway. But no witnesses report seeing him.

COULD A BIN LORRY HAVE CRUSHED HIM?

Every week after McKeague vanished, police recognized a bin lorry belonging to waste agency Biffa which was one in every of simply 4 automobiles seen on CCTV footage across the 'horseshoe' space in the course of the hours he went lacking.

As well as, the lorry's subsequent itinerary had taken it to a recycling centre close to Barton Mills, at across the time the serviceman's cell phone was within the space.

There have been a number of reported instances, lately, of intoxicated folks falling asleep in refuse bins earlier than being crushed in garbage vehicles that come to empty them.

So it was initially feared that McKeague had met with a tragic accident. Nevertheless, the lorry was fitted with a weighing system, which information how a lot waste it collects, in order that shoppers are billed accordingly. This confirmed that the recycling bin it emptied exterior Greggs contained lower than 15kg of fabric. McKeague weighs round 85kg.

Detectives have checked the calibration of the system and say it's correct. In addition they say it's unimaginable for McKeague to have hitched a journey on the automobile with out being detected.

His cell phone was not discovered on the recycling centre the place the lorry was unloaded. Different bins within the space had been emptied a number of days after he went lacking. They had been forensically examined earlier than Christmas, however nothing was discovered.

A pair extra bins, in a loading bay reverse the 'horseshoe', haven't been examined. It's doable, if extraordinarily unlikely, that he may have accessed them with out being seen on CCTV.

WAS HE TAKEN BY ISIS TERRORISTS?

Bury is simply half-an-hour's drive from RAF Marham, the place two males of Center Jap look — armed with a knife — tried final July to abduct a serviceman who was jogging alongside a rural lane.

He escaped after knocking one in every of his assailants to the bottom as they tried to tug him right into a folks provider. The kidnap try happened on the identical day that Isis launched a video calling for assaults on Britain and different international locations within the coalition bombing the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.

Round a fortnight after McKeague's disappearance, his mom mentioned the potential of an identical kidnap 'has been talked about by police and it's not one thing they'd rule out'.

Detectives mentioned they had been maintaining an open thoughts on this entrance. Nevertheless, as time handed, it was deemed more and more unlikely.

First, Islamic terrorists have a tendency to say duty rapidly however no group or particular person has finished so on this case.

Second, there was no apparent manner such an attacker would have identified that McKeague was within the Armed Forces until he was adopted from his base

Third, and maybe most significantly, police quickly tracked down every of the three different vehicles which had been within the space across the time he vanished. They've spoken to all of householders and imagine there's nothing untoward of their presence.

DID HE JUST GO ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE?

Initially, one chance was that McKeague had determined to do a runner from the RAF. With that concept in thoughts, his uncle Tony Wringe, a former serviceman, issued a message through Forces TV in early October saying: 'If it's for any motive that you just're now AWOL, it's a storm in a tea cup. We've all been there.

'We've all finished dumb stuff in our service time, however in a fortnight from now this can simply be a bar story. So get in contact.'

Associates, nonetheless, say McKeague was pleased along with his job and having fun with RAF life.

His brother Darroch, who spoke to him on the night time he vanished, noticed no indicators of unhappiness. Certainly, Corrie was planning for the long run, having booked aircraft tickets to go to household in Scotland at Halloween.

'When you picked a contented dialog between me and him that was it,' says Darroch.

Extra importantly, McKeague made no apparent preparations to vanish. His pet pet, a seven-month-old cross-breed referred to as Louell, was left in his bed room on the bottom, alongside along with his passport.

There was no exercise on his financial institution or bank cards, and his electronic mail and social media accounts comprise no proof of him making any such plan.

WAS HE LURED INTO A HONEY TRAP?

Match, vivacious, assured and handsome, McKeague had a vibrant love life. 

Having break up from one girlfriend, an actress referred to as Chloe Fox, in 2015, he was lively on the courting web sites Loads of Fish and Tinder. Like many younger males, he would repeatedly chat up ladies in bars and nightclubs.

Did an tried romantic advance backfire? Did he anger somebody's boyfriend on the night time he went lacking?

Having break up from one girlfriend, an actress referred to as Chloe Fox (pictured left with him), in 2015, he was lively on the courting web sites Loads of Fish and Tinder. Like many younger males, he would repeatedly chat up ladies in bars and nightclubs

Or, extra sinisterly, may somebody have used an internet courting platform to lure him right into a harmful scenario through his cell phone?

In late November, McKeague's mom Nicola, a police liaison officer, speculated as a lot, saying: 'Corrie was single and on courting websites. He had met ladies inside a brief interval of assembly on-line.

'However maybe he was tricked into assembly somebody who wasn't who they claimed?'

An extra complication: this week's revelation that McKeague was courting April Oliver, 21, who says she is having his baby.

She says they weren't in an unique relationship, nonetheless, and he doesn't appear to have identified she was pregnant.

To additional complicate issues, it was revealed this week that McKeague was courting April Oliver (pictured with him), 21, who says she is having his baby

DID HE HIDE A GAY OR BISEXUAL SECRET?

McKeague, who previous to becoming a member of the RAF skilled as a hairdresser, had a behavior of disappearing throughout nights out with mates, generally for hours at a time. This has led to widespread hypothesis that he was secretly bisexual, maybe utilizing homosexual courting apps on his cell phone to rearrange informal encounters.

If this was the case, he might need fallen sufferer to a homophobic assault, or have been lured right into a scenario which led to him being robbed, assaulted, and even kidnapped.

Nevertheless that also doesn't clarify how he vanished with out hint.

Furthermore, the suggestion has been roundly denied by his household, who put an announcement on their web site this week saying: 'If Corrie was homosexual, he can be probably the most fabulously proud homosexual man strolling. He wouldn't care who knew. He can be telling everybody.

'Corrie is extraordinarily assured in his personal sexuality. He has no points with it in any respect. Corrie shouldn't be homosexual. Is he enticing to different males? Sure. Does he like that spotlight? Sure. However he isn't homosexual.'

EATEN BY PIGS, FELL DOWN A HOLE, ABDUCTED BY ALIENS?

Police this week re-searched buildings adjoining to the 'horseshoe' space, together with a department of Superdrug and Greggs, however to no avail.

The absence of credible proof about his destiny has duly spawned a slew of untamed conspiracy theories, lots of that are aired on Fb.

These have ranged from the unlikely suggestion that he tried to stroll dwelling, however wandered onto one of many many free vary pig farms en route, the place he was eaten by the animals, to hypothesis that he someway engineered his personal disappearance by vanishing down a storm drain and sneaking out of the centre of city through a sewer.

Others surprise if he by chance stumbled upon a drug deal, or someway managed to evade detection by CCTV cameras by drunkenly crawling out of the centre of city (after which leaping right into a automotive which provided him a elevate).

His cell phone's obvious look 12 miles away has sparked a number of theories involving a theft, whereas the presence of highway works on the town has additionally prompted hypothesis that he someway fell right into a gap within the highway and disappeared.

Then there are inevitable contributions by supposed clairvoyants, together with feedback by people who imagine in the potential of alien abduction. And with each passing day, the sense of thriller about this perplexing case appears to deepen.

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