'We have nothing': police stumped by disappearance of Briton in Pyrenees
Almost three weeks have passed since Esther Dingley disappeared in the Pyrenees mountains on the French-Spanish border, and police in both countries admit they are no closer to finding her.
French gendarmerie captain JeanMarc Bordinaro’s frustration was palpable. “Normally at the beginning of an inquiry we have something to go on, but we have nothing,” he said by phone. “Absolutely nothing.”
Was it possible the British hiker had an accident in the mountains? Did she meet someone who had done her harm? Had she chosen to disappear? Bordinaro said nothing was ruled out, but so far he had no answers.
“We have searched a very large area – 28 sq km in all – with specialist mountain teams, with dogs, with helicopters all along the route she said she was taking, and there is nothing. It’s not a particularly difficult route and at the time she was on the mountain the weather was good,” he said.
“If she deviated from her itinerary and went off piste, she could have had an accident, fallen into a crevasse, and if that’s the case …” He paused. “With the snow, it’s possible we won’t know until the spring.”
For six years, Dingley, 37, and her partner, Dan Colegate, 38, had been living the adventure of a lifetime, hiking around Europe. The couple, who have been together for 18 years, left good jobs and their Durham home to take to the road in a camper van after Colegate nearly died following surgery, three weeks before they were due to get married.
They have entertained friends, family and random strangers with tales of their travels on their blog, EstherandDan.com, a Facebook page and in books. Recently they were joined on their travels by five dogs.
Dingley was last seen on 22 November in the Luchonnais region of southwest France. She had gone off for a month’s solo hiking while Colegate remained in the Gers in south-west France, housesitting in a farmhouse.
“We realised that during the coronavirus we had not been apart from each other for a year, so decided to each just do our own thing for a bit. This whole thing has been really good for us individually and our relationship; we are genuinely happy now,” Dingley told the BBC days before she disappeared.
On 15 November, Dingley wrote on the couple’s Facebook page that she was in Benasque, Spain. “This opportunity for me was the chance to go off for some time on my own in the mountains … Grateful for the fact it happens to be a very warm November and a route straight from the camper [van] up to an amazing 2800+m peak … Mix of hiking and trail running to clear the mind,” she wrote.
On 19 November, Dingley said she had been forced to change her plans because of bad weather and had accepted a lift back to her camper van from another hiker, whom police have yet to identify.
Dingley parked the van in Benasque on 21 November and was planning to stay at a mountain refuge on the Sunday night, but police said there was no sign she had arrived there. She contacted Colegate by WhatsApp the following day to say she was on the Pic de Sauvegarde, a 2,738-metre range straddling the French-Spanish border. That was her last known communication.
One minute, the fitness fanatic who described herself as someone who
“loves coming up with crazy ideas which become our greatest adventures” was posting selfies from a mountain peak amid spectacular scenery. The next she had disappeared without trace.
Colegate, who says his partner was often out of contact when hiking, raised the alarm three days later, when an immediate search was launched.
Since then French and Spanish police have been forced to suspend their searches because of bad weather. Both say they are now looking at other possibilities. In France, a judicial inquiry has been opened.
“It’s complicated because we have no element of evidence and that means no hypothesis can be ruled out,” Bordinaro said. “We don’t know if she fell, met someone with bad intentions, or has disappeared voluntarily. We don’t even know if she was in France.”
It is the same story on the Spanish side. The Spanish civil guard told the Guardian there had been no developments but that all possibilities were being considered. “The search for the missing person is ongoing and all possibilities remain open until she is found,” said a spokesperson.
Dingley’s aunt Elizabeth Wolsey Morgan previously told the Mirror that her niece was “a strong girl, and the thing is, the longer it goes on, you wonder has she been kidnapped”, adding: “I feel so helpless. There’s nothing really to go on, nothing concrete. If she had an accident, they would have probably found her. It’s terrible waiting for news. I feel like I’m living a night
mare, waiting to wake up.”
Retired teacher Kim Prior, from Hilgay in Norfolk, who illustrated a set of children’s books that the couple wrote about their five dogs, described Dingley as “warm and friendly”.
Prior, 65, first made contact with her at the start of the year and kept in touch through emails and phone calls. They last spoke two months ago, when Dingley and Colegate were in Switzerland. “She was just so full of enthusiasm. Trying to get these books out was their main goal before Christmas,” Prior said.
Three weeks after her disappearance, Dingley’s friends and family will be hoping that one phrase on her blog is prophetic. It reads: “Not all those who wander are lost.”