Leah Croucher vanished on February 15th 2019 from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England
This case is very strange with several twists and turns that I will try hard to make sense of as we go along. Let's start with the basic details. . .
19-year-old Leah Croucher was last seen by her parents at 10pm on Valentines Day, February 14th 2019 and reported missing the following day when she did not return home from work.
During the early evening of February 14th 2019, Leah made her usual walk back from work but, interestingly during that walk, the 'Location' setting on her mobile telephone was switched off, Something which according to her telephone network service provider Leah had never done before and from that time onwards the location was never turned back on.
At 6pm that evening Leah arrived home, changed her clothes and left the house again wearing a tracksuit, she left on foot and told her mother that she was going to a friend's house for a short time.
By 7.15pm Leah was home again and according to her parents her behaviour seems absolutely normal, but for some reason, she was lying to her mum as it was later discovered that Leah's friend did not see her that evening at all, so for at least 75 minutes of February 14th 2019, there remains a question as to where the 19-year-old went.
She left home at 8am on 15th February 2019 to make her usual journey to work, she was wearing a black padded coat, black skinny jeans, black Converse high top shoes and carrying a small black rucksack. Beneath her coat, Leah was wearing a very distinctive grey hoodie, bearing the logo of a Taekwondo club run by her dad "Stewartby".
At 8.13am that morning Leah Croucher was seen by CCTV walking along Buzzacott Lane, Furzton, Milton Keynes, this is the last actual confirmed sighting of her and at 8.43am her mobile phone was switched off.
Leah should have been at work by 9am but failed to arrive, she had not called in sick or booked any time off so that absence was unexplained.
During that same morning, three separate witnesses reported seeing a girl fitting Leah's description walking by Furzton Lake, The times of these sightings range from 9.30am to 11.30am and all three said that the girl was "visibly upset and crying" whilst talking on the phone, of course, none of the "witnesses" attempted to approach the girl and enquire if she was OK.
Police have never been able to confirm if this was Leah Croucher, but if it was then she had to have been using a different mobile phone, as previously mentioned hers was switched off. Incidentally despite appeals, no other young female has come forward to say that it was them by the lake on that morning.
When 6pm came and Leah failed to arrive home her concerned parents contacted the police and reported her as a missing person and they began to look for the teenager, but there was no sign of her. Local friends were unable to help with any leads so on 17th February 2019 the police held a press conference to officially declare Leah Croucher as missing. During the conference, the police described Leah as white, slim with shoulder-length brown hair and said that she sometimes wore glasses.
The police made hundreds of house-to-house enquiries, made a fingertip search of the area surrounding Furzton Lake and even sent divers down to search the waters, but not a single trace of Leah was found. Further appeals for information were made in the hope that someone would be able to shed some light on the whereabouts of the missing girl, but nothing came.
On 9th October 2019, a woman came forward to say that she remembered walking by the Blue lagoon Lake in Bletchley in February 2019 where she saw a grey hooded sweatshirt hanging from a tree, it had the "Stewartby" logo on it, Police launched a full-scale search at the Blue Lagoon with divers going into the lake and sniffer dogs used to search the woodlands that surround it. The search was declared complete after 10 days, nothing at all was found. I suspect that the woman concerned gave the police a hoax story, something which often happens in these cases.
Leah's parents described her as bright, confident and loving, very much a 'creature of habit', even when she did go out for an evening out she always made certain to be home by 1am. They went on to say that Leah was a family-orientated person who cared greatly for her family and friends.
Unfortunately, all is not as sweet as it first appears; Leah was involved in a relationship with a man that was engaged to be married and had lied to her parents by telling them that the relationship was over, when in fact she is thought to have spent a night with him at a local travel lodge just 12 days before she disappeared. even on that occasion, she lied to her parents, particularly her father as he dropped off at the Jury's Inn hotel in Central Milton Keynes and waved goodbye as she walked off into the hotel. Leah had told her family that she was spending the night at a hotel with two other girls as they were planning "a girly night", drinking, chatting and gossiping.
It was only much later after Leah had vanished that her parents realised they had been lied to when Leah's bank statement came which showed that in fact, Leah had booked into a much cheaper hotel, The Travel Lodge. Unfortunately by the time, this information came to light the CCTV for the hotel had been overwritten so it could not be established who Leah spent the night of February 3rd 2019 with, but it seems likely it was the engaged man. When questioned, none of Leah's friends knew anything about a night in a hotel and had definitely not stayed with her anywhere.
Leah Croucher's mother Claire said that the relationship had begun in 2018 when Leah suddenly began to talk about this man constantly, unfortunately, this man cannot be named here due to legal restrictions.
Mrs Croucher said that Leah was talking about this man all the time, "it was X this and X that, it was quite obvious she had a soft spot for him, She would go to see him in the evenings, paying £13 each way by taxi in order to spend time with him". "It just wasn't like Leah to do that kind of things, she was such a home-loving sort of person and didn't like going out much".
Claire went on to say "Then we found out that he was engaged, I remember saying to her, don't go falling for him, he will never be yours". "We were under the impression that she had finished with him then".
Continuing her story Mrs Croucher said, "I didn't take much notice at the time, but now having had the time to think about things I realise she had become moody, which was totally out of character". "She would sometimes be snappy and would go up to her room and sulk. We just put it down to teenage angsts and didn't really take a great deal of notice".
Police have apparently spoken with the man concerned and ruled him out of any enquiries as he had a solid alibi for the date and time that Leah vanished, although I have to say this doesn't necessarily sit right as there is a big window of time that would need to be accounted for.
Let's be fair, we believe that she had been to hotels with this man before so could easily have started off at a hotel somewhere for a few days, particularly if she stayed in a "cash-paying" place, "no questions asked", so to speak.
One very interesting point here is that her mobile phone records do not show any sign of secret relationship arrangements for clandestine meetings, etc. I am sure that there must have been telephone calls, text messages, maybe messages on services such as Whatsapp, but according to the telephone company there is nothing at all
Mrs Croucher did say that Leah had Snapchat and that she was aware that within minutes of things being posted there they are literally wiped, but I am sure that the police would have been able to recover anything if they felt it necessary, I only wonder if perhaps this teenager had a separate 'secret' mobile phone that she used to contact whoever she was seeing.
I am not sure why but don't think that Leah has come to any harm and is most likely still alive. There is the possibility that she has somehow been abducted and murdered but I really am not convinced. The area where Leah was last seen and known to have walked was a busy area, particularly at the time of morning that she was last seen. The area is used by school and works traffic, both vehicles and pedestrians so I am more than convinced that she has taken off with someone or indeed alone to start a new life.
There was a scenario that crossed my mind in that if Leah had been having a relationship with this 'engaged' man then did his fiance find out, track Leah down, enticed her to a meeting in the belief that she would be meeting her man and then killed her. Whilst no possibility should be ruled out in a serious case like this, I don't think this is a likely outcome.
There are many things that have been hidden in this case and Leah's own father said that he knows that someone from the local community holds key information about what has happened to Leah and in fact, he quite recently threatened to put the name out there if the police don't.
It strikes me as very curious that Leah's family homes were searched, their cars and workplaces, yet "Mr X", the engaged man has never had his home searched, his workplace or car and Leah's parents recently told the local newspaper "The MK Citizen" that police even refused to forensically examine the engaged man's clothing that he wore on 14th and 15th February 2019. Why is that I wonder? Someone is hiding something in this investigation of that there is no doubt.
One other question that does play in my mind is based on a small point, but I feel may be of importance. and that is: On February 3rd 2019 just 12 days before Leah vanished she stayed at a hotel which she had lied to her parents about, she didn't turn off the location on her phone, yet on 14th February whilst on her way home from work she did, she then vanished the very next morning.
I have a feeling that when Leah went out on the evening of February 14th she was supposed to leave then, but something went wrong, hence the reason for her swift return within just 75 minutes. After all, she had lied to her mum in saying that she was going to a friend's house, there had to have been a reason for that.
My gut feeling is there is a great deal that is not in the public eye and there was a great deal happening in Leah's life that her parents knew nothing of. I feel in all honesty she is out there somewhere and I would say to her to get in touch with her family and let them know she is safe, even if she does not want to return home. She will be 21 now of course and very much a woman, not the teenager that left home on 15th February 2019, maybe has a child, who knows.
I have read the tragic news that Leah's brother Haydon committed suicide as he was consumed with the loss of his sister and not knowing what happened to her. He was found hanged and taken to hospital but after two days his family had to make an agonising decision to switch off life support equipment due to multiple organ failure. I am so sorry for the family and my heart goes out to them but this is not the place to discuss that further.
I just hope that Leah makes contact with her family if at all possible and as always in these cases, I will say if anyone does have any information as to Leah Croucher's whereabouts or any information about that may help police on solving this case and getting closure for the family then call Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111
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