No foul play in death of Nelson teen, says coroner
A coroner has delivered her ruling on the death of a Nelson teenager who was missing for seven years before his distinctive orange car was found in Nelson Harbour.
Deputy chief coroner Anna Tutton found Leo Lipp-Neighbours’ death to be self-inflicted, and suppressed all other details around the case.
The findings were released yesterday.
Lipp-Neighbours, a talented Canterbury University engineering student, went missing from his Washington Valley flat in the early morning of January 24, 2010, after spending the night in town with friends. Following his disappearance, posters of Lipp-Neighbours and his distinctive orange Toyota Corolla station wagon were plastered around the region.
Friends and family searched for years for the teenager, and the mystery around what had happened to him was the source of speculation and rumour.
It was solved when his car was found by divers in Nelson Harbour off Wakefield Quay in 2017.