Backpacker’s naked body found in a cave on side of mountain
Hunt for missing yoga teacher, 23, ends in tragedy
THE naked body of missing British backpacker Catherine Shaw was found on the side of a mountain yesterday, one week after she vanished in Guatemala.
The 23-year-old disappeared in the early hours of last Tuesday, carrying a stray grey and white puppy.
It is believed she hiked up a peak overlooking Lake Atitlan to see the sunrise.
Her body was spotted near a perilous rocky path which leads to the top. Last night it emerged she was found naked.
It is understood Miss Shaw, from Witney, Oxfordshire, was discovered in a cavern near the trail, two miles from her hostel in the village of San Juan La Laguna.
Investigators will now probe whether there was any foul play involved in her death. The tragic discovery came after Miss Shaw’s jacket and the stray puppy were found nearby.
Local mayor Antonio Chavajay said: ‘I’d like to thank the community for coming together. They found the body near the dog, the dog was the evidence of where she was. It is not known how she died. She was found in a very rocky area.’
It also emerged that Miss Shaw had been fasting and had stopped washing in the days before she vanished.
Miss Shaw’s parents had earlier said they were ‘desperately worried’ for her. Her father, David, was last night due to arrive in the Central American country. Former yoga teacher Miss Shaw was last captured on CCTV at 5.23am last Tuesday leaving the hostel, clutching the dog.
On Sunday evening, a search party organised by volunteers and joined by locals, expats and police officers, found her distinctive jacket.
It was discovered two miles from her hostel and 45 minutes on foot up the trail through dense woods.
The woollen pink and cream jacket was found among leaves near a line of avocado trees on the hiking trail near a peak known as ‘Indian Nose’.
Before the body was found, Paco Rosales, who had travelled to Guatemala from Mexico to help find his friend, said he immediately recognised the coat.
The puppy, which Miss Shaw had been carrying around in the days before her disappearance, was discovered in another spot at the top of the mountain on Friday.
‘The puppy was OK, a little undernourished and crying a lot,’ said Amy Farrow, 37, an American former paramedic who had been helping the search.
Meanwhile, the owner of the hostel where Miss Shaw was last seen claimed the young backpacker had given cookies laced with cannabis to guests.
The boss of Eco Hotel Mayachik claimed she herself had fallen ill and had nightmares and hallucinations after trying the biscuits.
The Austrian woman, who did not want to be named, said: ‘They came and put a box of cookies on the bar and said: “Everyone, have some.” I tasted two and an hour later, I was completely under [the influence of] drugs. I think these cookies had drugs in them.’
After the alleged incident the woman claims she told Miss Shaw to leave, adding: ‘I confronted her. She said: “It’s just love. It’s just nature.” The hotel has a strict nodrugs policy.’ Police are understood to be investigating the claims but have been unable to find a cookie to test.
CCTV shows Miss Shaw placing a plastic box at the hostel reception, wearing a long flowing dress at about 1.30pm on the Sunday.
Later footage, taken in the early hours of the following morning, around 1.30am, shows her walking out of the hostel with a large drum known as a Hang, on her back.
Although it had initially been thought Miss Shaw never returned to the hostel, a clip at 3.30am shows her in a hammock outside her room. She is seen leaving again at around 5.30am.
The owner added: ‘My opinion is that she was completely lost and completely on drugs. She didn’t know what she was doing. She did things a normal person would not do at all.’ Miss Shaw’s friend Mr Rosales, 35, said of the jacket: ‘It was one of her favourite items of clothing. It was really warm, that’s why she always kept it.’
It was ‘so normal’ for Miss Shaw to set off at 5.30am to watch the sunrise, he noted, adding that the pair had regularly done this.
Miss Shaw began her trip last September, visiting the US and Mexico before travelling to Guatemala in recent weeks.
In an online post two weeks ago, she described having the ‘most magically spiritual week of my journey so far’ following a visit to a nudist festival in Oaxaca, Mexico.
‘She didn’t know what she was doing’