Esther Dingley Biography – Wiki
Esther Dingley was a British woman who disappeared while hiking in the Pyrenees in November 2020. On July 23, 2021, part of her skull was found by some mountain runners near a track. On August 9, 2021, her partner Daniel Colegate found her other remains.
Age
Esther Dingley has died at the age of 37-years-old.
Boyfriend
Dingley and his partner, Dan Colegate, met while studying at Wadham College, Oxford. They started walking around Europe in 2014, living in a motorhome and posting their experiences on a blog. They began their journey after Colegate had depression and chronic fatigue from Dingley, their wedding was canceled, and Colegate nearly died of necrotizing fasciitis that he had contracted during surgery. On the day of Dingley’s last known communication, which was with Colegate on November 22, the lifestyle of the two was described on the front page of the BBC News website. The BBC story, written while Dingley had gone on a solo trip, includes a contemporary interview with Colegate and also with Dingley. Other articles about his journey and lifestyle appeared around the same time. On the Colegate and Dingley website, where Colegate’s self-published books can be purchased, Colegate said he was in charge of publicity for the couple.
Missing
Dingley and Colegate completed an 80-day uninterrupted trek through the Alps on the Via Alpina in late October. They temporarily settled in a borrowed rural house in Gascony. Six days later, Dingley decided at short notice to go on a solo trip in the caravan.
On November 21, Dingley walked from Benasque in Spain and planned to spend the night at Refugio Vénasque in France. It is unclear if he, in fact, spent the night there. On November 22 at around 4 p.m., Dingley sent short text messages to Colegate via WhatsApp while he was atop Pic de Sauvegarde. Colegate then made a video call to Dingley that lasted about 90 seconds. Three days later, on November 25, Colegate reported Dingley missing, who said this was the day Dingley was due to return to the rural home in Gascony after his solo trip. Colegate has not confirmed the reason for his reliance on his return after the many extensions of his solo journey. Dingley is not known to have contacted anyone else during these three days. Colegate says that during the period when Dingley traveled alone, he stayed 100 miles away in the borrowed country house in Gascony.
The Haute Montagne Gendarmerie Squad confirmed they were looking for Dingley. Search teams and a helicopter were deployed for the search. Colegate went to Luchon to participate in the search for Dingley.
A witness claimed to have seen someone sleeping in Dingley’s trailer ten days after his disappearance. This claim was later dismissed by the Spanish police because they left a light on by mistake after searching the caravan.
In early December 2020, authorities announced that the search had been stopped due to heavy snowfall.
In February 2021, Colegate said he was convinced that Dingley was “caught against his will” and that “someone was involved.” He also suggested that Dingley may have been killed by hunters.
In the spring and early summer of 2021, the physical search for Dingley in the Pyrenees was resumed by both Colegate alone and by French and Spanish authorities.
Colegate is represented by LBT Global. LBT Global changed its name from the Lucie Blackman Trust, and announced a planned expansion of its activities, in the days leading up to Dingley’s disappearance following her separation from the Blackman family.
Body Discovered on a Mountain Pass in France
On or around July 23, 2021, human remains were found in the area where Dingley was last seen. On July 30, 2021, after DNA testing, the remains, part of a human skull, were confirmed to be from Dingley. On August 9, 2021, Daniel Colegate, Esther Dingley’s partner for 20 years, found the rest of his body.
The French police chief who led the search for Esther Dingley has revealed how her boyfriend ‘roamed the area up and down’ for days until he found her body. Captain Jean-Marc Bordinaro said Dan Colegate focused on the rocky terrain near where part of his skull had been found last month, locating his body about 400 meters from the remote peak of Pic de la Glare, which extends to both. sides of the border between France and Spain in the Pyrenees.
His skull was found 600 meters further south down a winding road that experienced hikers have described as “treacherous.”
The 37-year-old woman’s body has now been taken to the French city of Toulouse, where pathologists are checking for broken bones, which would support the researchers’ theory that she died after a fall.
Forensic officers are also examining Esther’s phone, a £ 270 Redmi Note 9 Pro, in the hope that images stored in memory or signals sent from the device could help police solve the mystery of her death.
Captain Bordinaro said the distance between the place where the body and the skull were found was ‘100 meters in a straight line’, but in reality, the mountainous terrain on the rock-strewn path meant they were 600 meters apart.
In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Captain Nordinaro defended the search team against him for failing to locate the body before Ms. Dingley’s 38-year-old partner.
Since the snow melted in the vast search area, Mr. Colegate has traveled hundreds of miles searching for the body of his girlfriend.
Police sources and the French prosecutor responsible for the case have blamed recent bad weather for the inability to locate the body on rough terrain.
Prosecutor Cristophe Amunzateguy said strong winds and rain prevented the use of drones and a helicopter in the search.
Captain Bordinaro, the chief of police in St. Gaudens, said Colegate was in the best position to locate the skeletal remains at the 2300-meter-high peak.
“Dan had walked the area up and down, considering Esther’s abilities,” he said.
“He is a good hiker, a professional, and has already hiked in the Alps.”
He blamed ‘terrible weather’ for not having found Esther’s body before Mr. Colegate identified it.
“We had already searched this area this winter with a helicopter and on foot, but the snow had hampered us, our search was unsuccessful, especially since it is very rough terrain.
“In recent weeks, we have not looked specifically in this area again. Spanish researchers had surveyed this sector but on the Spanish side.
Esther Dingley’s body was found on the north slope of the Pic de Gléré.
Her skull was discovered not far from the port of Gléré, about 100 meters from where the rest of her body was found. It is a very mountainous area.
“The most likely hypothesis is that the skull was moved by an animal.”
Search teams headed to the area by Colegate on Monday found Ms. Dingley’s gray backpack and a bottle of water. Her yellow carp has not been found.
Police recovered her mobile phone, a £ 270 Redmi Note 9 Pro, and sent the camera to forensic officers for examination.
The phone was turned off for much of the hike to save battery life, but police hope that the images stored in memory and the signals sent from the device may contain clues to the case.
A source told the Sun: ‘Phones are always crucial to solving cases like this. That is why the device will be picked up by the forensic officers working on the case.
“When it comes to the ongoing investigation, it is without a doubt the most important team.”
The Oxford graduate had set out to walk alone from the Porte de la Glare to the Port de Venasque, a walk that follows the border between France and Spain.
He parked the couple’s caravan in a parking lot in Benasque, Spain, on November 21 and began the solo hike from the Spanish town of Benasque to Pic de Sauvegarde, a mountain in the Pyrenees.
