Body found in search for missing teen
POLICE searching for a missing 19-year-old student have found a body in a pond.
Richard Okorogheye, who has sickle cell disease, had been missing since he left his family home on March 22.
He was picked up on CCTV walking towards Epping Forest in Essex in the early hours of the following day. The Met said inquiries were under way to identify the male body which was discovered yesterday.
Scotland Yard said: ‘On the afternoon of Monday, April 5, the Met was informed by colleagues from Essex Police that the body of a man had been found in a pond in Epping Forest.
‘Detectives investigating the disappearance of 19-year-old Richard Oko
‘Family supported by officers’
rogheye are aware. Richard’s family are being supported by specially trained officers and kept updated with developments.’
Mr Okorogheye’s mother, Evidence Joel, of Ladbroke Grove, west London, has previously said she could think of no reason why the Oxford Brookes University IT undergraduate would have visited Epping Forest.
She added: ‘I will never give up hope he will come home to me.’ Miss Joel said that when she phoned police to report her son missing and suggested they check CCTV near their home, she was told they did not have the resources.
She said: ‘I was expecting assurance. My son was missing and it broke my heart.’ Miss Joel also told Sky News she feared he had been groomed online by someone who was holding him against his will.
Before his disappearance Mr Okorogheye had told his mother he was struggling to cope with the pressure of university and was going out to meet a friend – but left his wallet, jacket and medication behind.
The student had been shielding throughout the pandemic because of his condition, which causes unusually shaped red blood cells, and had only left the house to go to hospital for regular blood transfusions. Mr Okorogheye boarded a bus in Ladbroke Grove at 8.44pm, before taking a taxi from the W2 area of London to a residential street in Loughton, Essex.
He was last seen on CCTV walking alone towards Epping Forest at 12.39am on March 23.