LEAH MYSTERY
How Leah Croucher’s ‘murder’ left her brother so heartbroken he took his own life after teen, 19, disappeared
COPS battled to find missing Leah Croucher for three YEARS before human remains were tragically discovered today.
The horror case began when 19-year-old Leah told her family she was going to see a friend on February 15, 2019 - but was never seen again.
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CCTV showed the then 19-year-old walking along a road in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire at about 8.15am that day.
No more sightings of Leah were reported - until February 2020, when witnesses told of a "crying" woman matching her description spotted on the day she vanished.
The was seen texting near Furzton Lake between 9.30am and 11.15am on February 15.
That's hours after Leah was last spotted on CCTV - and after her phone left the network, never to be used again.
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And an image - uncovered by web sleuths - shows a person dressed entirely in black at Furzton Lake at 10.51am that day.
The figure appeared to have a rucksack exactly like Leah's when she vanished.
Now - months on from that breakthrough - cops searching for Leah confirmed they had found human remains and a murder probe has been launched.
Officers rushed to the property in Furzton in Milton Keynes two days ago after receiving a tip-off from a member of the public.
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The property is yards away from those final sightings of tragic Leah.
It was there that they also found a rucksack and personal possessions belonging to Leah.
Thames Valley Police said it is "likely to take some time" to identify the body.
Leah's family have been informed the development.
Weeks after their daughter's tragic disappearance in 2019, emotional Claire and John Croucher told how they lived through months of turmoil trying to figure out where Leah has gone.
Timeline of Leah Croucher's disappearance
- 8.15am, February 15, 2019: CCTV shows Leah Croucher walking along a road in Furzton - believed to be in the direction of her work;
- 9.30am - 11.15am, February 15, 2019: Witnesses describe seeing a "crying" woman matching Leah's description texting near Furzton Lake;
- 10.15am, February 15, 2019: An image - taken at 10.51am that day - shows a person dressed entirely in black at Furzton Lake.
In heart-breaking scenes, Claire said: "We are not even surviving anymore, we are just existing."
Months later, the family were hit with a new heartbreak when Leah's brother Haydon Croucher, 24, after being "tortured" by not knowing what happened to his sister.
He was found hanged at his flat in November 2019 by his mum Tracey Furness - the day before the nine-month anniversary of Leah's disappearance.
Their heartbroken mum told how she would cancel Christmas that year because "sadness keeps on coming with the force of a truck".
Older sister Jade, 26, added: "Leah I know in my heart that there is nothing in this world that would stop you from being at his funeral.
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"What or who is stopping you from being here? Are you in heaven with Haydon? Are you looking after one another? Will you ever come home to us?
"The sad truth is - we just don’t know but the loss that I feel from you being missing for 10 months feels the same intensity as grieving, that’s for sure.”
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