GAIA POPE, DISAPPEARED NOVEMBER 7, 2017, SWANAGE, DORSET, United Kingdom, BODY FOUND NEAR DURLSTON COUNTRY PARK, SWANAGE, NOVEMBER 18, 2017.
On November 18, 2017, the body of Gaia Pope, 19, was finally found by police in Swanage, Dorset, on the south coast of the U.K. She had been missing for 11 days.
Six days into the search for Gaia, Dorset Police announced they had arrested two people on suspicion of murder — a woman, 71, who was terminally ill and required an oxygen bottle to breathe properly, and a man, 19. Then another man, 49, would be arrested. All were members of the same family who had known Gaia for years. They were subsequently released, without charge. For reasons unknown and false leads, the police were convinced that the family had murdered Gaia.
Clothing had been found on November 16, but Gaia’s body remained undiscovered for a further 2 days. The area had been searched several times before by ground searchers, sniffer dogs and a FLIR equipped helicopter.
The Dorset Police were heavily criticized for focusing on arresting individuals rather than focusing on the search for Gaia. As of February 2021, the investigation into what went wrong is still awaited. Family members were sure the investigation and official search had been badly botched.
Gaia looks to have succumbed to stress caused by post-traumatic stress disorder after a sexual assault, paradoxically undressed on a cold November night, and died from hypothermia. But many questions remain about this troubling case, like how was her body missed after so many searches and why the authorities were so convinced that family members had murdered her.
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