UPDATE March 22, 2022: Inquest concludes McKeague died after going in the lorry bin. Inquest jurors in Ipswich concluded McKeague died at about 04:20 BST in Bury St Edmunds as a result of “compression asphyxia in association with multiple injuries” and his “death was contributed to by impaired judgment due to alcohol consumption”. McKeague’s parents were happy with the ruling, but if that were my son, there’s no way I would accept it. Why? His body was never found and it is very possible someone put his cell phone into the lorry bin, disposing of the body elsewhere.
UPDATE March 9, 2017: Corrie McKeague: Police ‘confident’ missing RAF gunner will be found in the landfill site
On Sep. 23, 2016, Corrie McKeague, 23, from Fife, Scotland, and a Senior Aircraftman in RAF Regiment’s 2 Squadron stationed at RAF Honington, England, drove from his base to Bury St. Edmunds for a night out with friends.
In the early morning of September 24, 2016, McKeague separated from his friends after leaving Flex nightclub on St. Andrew’s Street. An employee of the club asked him to leave because he had too much to drink. He then walked to nearby Pizza Mamma Mia, his favorite food place, to grab dinner.
At the takeaway, people described McKeague as being in good spirits, even playing rock, paper, scissors with a stranger. He was seen on CCTV at 1:20 a.m. eating his food while walking away from the Pizza Mamma Mia. He passed Grapes Pub, then took a left at Brentgovel Street.
McKeague then walked to Hughes Electrical Store at the corner of Brentgovel and St. John’s Streets, where he laid down in the doorway and slept for two hours. He awoke around 3:00 a.m., responded to a friend’s message, then forwarded an image to that friend from his phone. It was the last time McKeague used his phone.
Around 3:24 a.m., McKeague headed past St. Johns Street towards Cornhill Walk. He walked down a pathway to a loading/refuse collection area behind Greggs Bakery and vanished. CCTV cameras should have recorded McKeague walking back out of the loading area. However, he was not seen on any footage viewed by police.
Police could trace McKeague’s mobile phone from Bury St. Edmunds to the Barton Mills area, near Mildenhall, between 3:24 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., at a speed only a vehicle could travel. His phone turned off at 8:00 a.m. on Sept. 24, 2016. and it has not been used or seen since.
The route McKeague’s phone traveled to the Barton Mills area is the course used by a bin lorry. Police searched the truck but did not find McKeague’s phone.
McKeague’s family has said that all his actions the night he disappeared were typical, even sleeping in the doorway of Hughes. They had also said that he had walked from Bury St. Edmunds back to his base before his disappearance. His family believes he was trying to get back to RAF Honington when he vanished and may have accepted a ride from someone that night; however, there is no evidence to support this theory.
Earlier this month, police released CCTV images of people in the area around the same time as McKeague, hoping the people would come forward with possible information.
There is a £50,000 reward for information leading to McKeague’s whereabouts.
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
This case is bizarre. I’ve spent hours thinking about the different scenarios and asking myself all kinds of questions. I could easily spend many more hours on it. However, for the sake of publishing this post, I will not. 😉
There is a question asking how Corrie got to Bury that night on the website set up for Corrie under FAQ.
This confuses me because his family thinks he may have tried walking back to the base. Why would he do that if he drove himself to Bury? Was Corrie’s car retrieved from the car park? By whom? Did the police search the vehicle?
Most reports I read said that Corrie was at Flex with friends. But in one report, the bouncer who asked Corrie to leave Flex said Corrie was usually with friends at Flex, but he was alone on this night. So, I do not know why he said that when others say he was with friends, including Corrie’s mother, Nicola. The bouncer also said they had a general conversation outside of Flex and Corrie was not upset over getting kicked out. In the first CCTV footage, it does not appear to me that Corrie is highly intoxicated. He’s walking fine for the most part.
There doesn’t appear to be anyone following Corrie in the footage posted above. There must not have been anyone in other footage police have not released, or else they would have released that info, I’m assuming.
In the 2nd video above looks like something or someone has caught his attention because he looks to his right twice as he crosses in front of the camera. Maybe this is his abductor and/or killer? Or was he going behind the building to urinate, a theory many people on the internet agree on. Me, not so much. The main reason is that he was not seen on CCTV coming out of the loading area, and he should have been. Now, there is a chance the cameras did not catch him because they move to point at different locations within their range. I don’t think this is what happened because another CCTV cam would have shown Corrie. But then again, if this was foul play, the cameras should have picked up another person, and apparently, they didn’t.
I also do not think he attempted to walk back to the base. He was not seen on any more CCTV footage in Bury. If he did come out from behind Greggs Bakery, he was in a vehicle. But I would think the car would have been caught on CCTV, too.
I’m curious as to why police have only released TWO surveillance videos. What about the one that shows him sleeping outside Hughes? What about the one of him walking from Flex to Pizza Mamma Mia?
I am wondering about an employee at Greggs Bakery. The bakery opens at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday. The bakers most likely were there before then, like around 3 a.m., maybe. Perhaps someone saw him as he or she was throwing something in the dumpster or in that area, smoking a cigarette, and something terrible happened. Maybe Corrie knew someone who worked there and knocked on a back door. He was let in one of the buildings, something happened, and the killer hid his body until he or she felt safe enough to dispose of it. Maybe they tossed his phone into the dumpster. I don’t know, but what I do know is aliens did not abduct corrie, nor did he slip through a portal to another dimension, although it makes you wonder.
Did the police search the dumpsters behind Greggs for any evidence regarding Corrie?
The people who were in the area that night around the same time as Corrie should have seen him at some point. Security cameras in the area show that it was busy between 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. Plus, Corrie was wearing a pink shirt for Pete’s sake. They had to see something, including Corrie sleeping at Hughes. One person was seen checking on Corrie as he slept. Not sure if this person was interviewed or not, though. I don’t understand why some of the ones seen on CCTV have not come forward. Why not?
I read that three teenagers seen on CCTV near the area, and around the time Corrie was last seen, had been identified and interviewed. They claimed they did not see Corrie that night. How the police decided they were not lying is beyond me.
Let’s talk about his phone. It traveled to the Barton Mills area between 3:24 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. By car, it is about a 24-minute drive, according to Google Maps. What was the bin lorry’s last stop in Bury St. Edmunds? What came from the interview with the bin lorry, I wonder. I could find nothing on that. Did the driver see Corrie at all? Unfortunately, for some strange reason, police have not searched the Barton Mills area. I find this extremely odd because Corrie’sofficials traced Corrie’s phone there.
Corrie’s phone did not shut off until 8:00 a.m., three and a half hours later. I’m guessing that his phone’s battery may have died. Police believe Corrie may have been in this area up until his phone shut off. If so, why was he there? Who drove him there, and why hasn’t this person come forward? Did he kill Corrie?
I don’t think Corrie is alive. I think he would have contacted his family by now, and he hasn’t. The only logical explanation is that Corrie met with foul play after going behind the bakery. It could have been someone in one of the buildings back there, and the killer hid Corrie’s body inside until he could transport and dispose of it elsewhere. Corrie was pretty trusting, accepting rides and asking for rides from total strangers, for example. Maybe someone invited him inside to warm up and have a drink. Then something terrible happened.
I am perplexed by this case. I had a hard time walking away from it so that I could publish it. The case reminds me of Jesse Ross, who disappeared in 2006 while in Chicago for a college trip. Like Corrie, Jesse was not seen on any CCTV’s in Chicago other than the hotel he had just walked out of before he vanished into thin air. Both families have said it was like aliens abducted Jessie. At least, that would be an explanation of what happened to them. Sadly, I believe both met with foul play.
REGARDING LATEST UPDATE (see the top of post): According to The Telegraph, the lorry, which had been due to collect an 11kg load, has since been found to have contained a haul weighing more than 100kg. This means that it is possible that Corrie was in a garbage dumpster all along. That dumpster was taken to the landfill, where police believe they will find Corrie’s remains. Why it took MONTHS to figure this out is beyond me, so that is a little questionable. However, this scenario makes the most sense. The question is: how did Corrie get into the trash dumpster? Did he crawl into sleep? Did someone kill him and dump his body there? I think it’s probably the former. I do not believe he just “fell in” a dumpster.
The police looked at the video to see if the lorry picked up where Corrie was last seen – behind the bakery. Didn’t they already view the video? This investigation seems a little botched. Why didn’t police search the landfill before now? They should have explored it regardless of how much weight the lorry was carrying because a landfill makes a great place to dump a body.
What do you think happened to Corrie McKeague?