Missing for a year: what happened to the soldier who vanished into thin air?
After a year of pain and grief for his family, a £1.2m investigation and still no answers, the nation is left wondering…
On Friday 23 September 2016, Corrie McKeague did what many young men do; he went on a night out, enjoyed a few drinks and got a takeaway on his way home. Yet, in the early hours of the next morning, something went horribly wrong. Despite a £1.2 million police investigation, he hasn’t been seen since, leaving his family and loved ones distraught.
‘I can’t even begin to describe it,’ said his mother, Nicola Urquhart. ‘It’s all you think about; about Corrie, what we’re going to do, how we’re going to cope.’
Without a trace
Corrie, 23, from Fife, was a member of the RAF. His mum describes him as ‘gregarious’, ‘funny’ and someone who ‘ loves to be the centre of attention’. On the night he went missing, he’d driven 10 miles from his base, RAF Honington in Suffolk, to the market town of Bury St
Edmunds, to meet five fellow servicemen. He was wearing a pink Ralph Lauren shirt, white trousers and brown Timberland boots.
The friends ended up in a nightclub called Flex. Around midnight, bouncer Will Hook asked Corrie to leave. Hook later confirmed that, although he believed Corrie was too drunk to stay on the premises, he wasn’t misbehaving and left ‘amicably’.
Corrie then headed to his usual takeaway, Pizza Mama Mia, where he played a game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’ with a stranger. Leaving around 1.20am, he was captured on CCTV falling asleep in the doorway of Hughes Electrical Store for a couple of hours.
Awake again, Corrie was filmed standing up, looking a little dazed, then wandering into a loading-and-collection area, known as the Horseshoe. He hasn’t been seen since.
Out of sight
It’s been proven that you can’t leave the Horseshoe without being seen on CCTV – yet, after being reported missing on Monday 26 September, when he missed a work parade, he wasn’t found there.
One of the first theories was that Corrie had fallen asleep in one of the bins, which had then been disposed of in a nearby landfill site. This was backed up by the fact that Suffolk Police said he was known to ‘sleep in rubbish on a night out’. Also, his mobile signal was traced to nearby Barton Mills, 14 miles from Bury St Edmunds, after following the truck’s route.
This is what Nicola, 48, believes happened, but she isn’t convinced he climbed into the bin voluntarily.
‘I struggle to believe Corrie would do that,’ said the former police officer. ‘He’d already slept for an hour-and-a-half. I know Corrie has never slept in a bin in his whole life.’
There was initial confusion
No answers
over the bin in question. Reports that it only weighed 11kg, meaning it would be impossible for Corrie to be inside, were found to be incorrect. In fact, it weighed 116kg. Police eventually agreed to search the landfill site in February this year. However, though 6,400 tonnes of rubbish were sifted through over 20 weeks, nothing has been found.
Other theories emerged – Corrie tried to walk home, somehow avoiding the CCTV cameras, or got into someone’s car, either voluntarily or not.
During the investigation, it was discovered that Corrie and his partner of five months, April Oliver, had joined the FabSwingers website. Corrie is far from the only person to disappear without explanation. ‘Each year, 250,000 people are reported missing,’ says Amy Walker of UK charity Missing People. ‘The majority will, thankfully, return or be found within 24 hours. Only two per cent will remain missing for longer than a week. For the families left behind, life can feel unbearable as they wait for days, or even years, for news.’
Nicola is devastated by the not-knowing. ‘It would give us some kind of peace to get answers, but I’m not holding out hope for that. I hope he’s found. It’s what we’ve always wanted – to find him.’
She’s not the only one Corrie left behind. Since he went missing, girlfriend April, 21, discovered she was pregnant with his baby and gave birth to a daughter, EllieLouise, in June this year.
The month before, April posted on Facebook, ‘I miss and love Corrie with every part of my body… your daddy would be proud of you, my little one, and would love you as much as I do. Corrie will be a part of both of us for ever.’
‘The search for Corrie remains a live and active investigation,’ insisted a spokesperson for Suffolk Police. But will his family ever find out the truth? l Contact Missing People for free by phone or text on 116 000, or email the charity at 116000@ missingpeople. org.uk