About 4 years ago on Boxing Day a woman disappeared in Newcastle. Her husband woke up and she wasn't there. The police found her on CCTV in the early hours walking from her home in her pyjamas and a waterproof jacket and hiking boots into the city- about 3 or 4 miles away. She walked along the quayside where the bars and hotels are and disappeared where there was no CCTV. She didn't look ill or anything- was walking quite energetically. The police were sure she had gone into the river but despite really thorough continual searches by divers, radar, coastguards, police for about 3-4 weeks could not find her. The police kept saying 'there is no evidence she left the small area next to the river where she was last seen on cctv going towards'.
People online behaved so badly- speculating about what might have happened: husband had murdered her, neighbour had murdered her, she had got into a car to leave her life behind with a man she'd met, she'd had a stroke and was lost, a brain haemorrhage, was drunk, had arranged to be picked up in a boat by her secret lover, had been murdered by a man leaving a bar or a hotel, had had a mental breakdown and was hiding in some pigeon crees, had been buried in an allotment. The posts on Facebook were disgusting . Locals were mainly very loyal and supported the family- who were very grateful for that- there were some nutters of course like the man in the boat who sppointed himself 'Captain Save-the-Day'.
People came from all over the country to see where it had happened, to walk the stretch of river, to take photos. People were googling her family home and posting photos. They all knew someone who knew her and had said xxxxxxxx. Rival Facebook groups sprang up. People began arguing with each other (calling each other 'hun' in their rows). A man was taking people out on his boat on the Tyne to search the river- the police had to ask him to stop. They were all river experts knowing she could not possibly have been in the river with all the searching and not been found.
It didn't matter what the police said or did, people just would not shut up with their stupid speculation.
Her family were so dignified.
Eventually, the gawkers and armchair detectives lost interest, the tragedy tourists stopped coming, the press lost interest and it was forgotten about.
About 4 months later her body was found floating by someone on the other side of the Tyne about a mile downstream exactly where the real river experts had predicted it would eventually be found. It emerged she had suffered from depression and low self-esteem but the police had not released the info publicly.
There is a lesson here but, as usual, it will not stop the idiots continuing with their criticism and speculation.