Mystery deepens in case of missing hiker after strange sighting
The disappearance of missing hiker Esther Dingley has taken a mysterious turn after a witness claims to have seen someone sleeping in the British woman’s van 10 days after she was last seen.
Ms Dingley was climbing the Pyrenees mountains on the border of France and Spain on November 22 when she vanished.
Her partner, Daniel Colegate, was several hours away at a farm in Gascony, France. His last contact with her was a mountaintop selfie she sent to him from the peak of Pic de Sauvegarde.
Ms Dingley, an experienced hiker, had set off on a solo trek in the couple’s camper van, which she parked in the Spanish town of Benasque on November 16.
A local dog walker - identified only as Lucia - claims she saw a figure in the van twice on the night of December 2 after noticing a light inside the van was on.
“I saw someone sleeping in the back of the caravan car and I couldn’t believe it,” Lucia told the MailOnline.
“Everyone in Benasque knows about the missing English girl. And I knew that was her van. It is the only camping car that is British.
“I first saw the light on when I took my dog out at about 7pm. It seemed a bit strange.
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“Then I took the dog out again at about 10pm and I took a closer look. I could see someone asleep in the back of the van. They were lying down. They were not moving. They were lying quite still.”
Lucia said she took photos and reported her sightings to police, but claims they “weren’t interested” in her pictures or her story.
Three days after spotting the figure in the car, the vehicle was impounded by authorities.
When asked about the incident, Spanish police initially claimed the person in the van was a forensic investigator, but have since declined to comment.
Boyfriend questioned three times over Ms Dingley’s disappearance
Police have questioned Mr Colegate for a third time over his partner’s disappearance, but stress that he is a witness and not a suspect.
“We want to investigate all possibilities. We do not rule out any line of inquiry,” French lead investigator Capitaine Jean-Marc Bordinar told the MailOnline.
“But it does not seem probable that Esther suffered an accident, and it is not credible that she was eaten by a bear or that she has fallen into a lake.”
Ms Dingley, 37, and Mr Colegate, 38, had been documenting their travels around Europe for the past six years, uploading videos to social media and blogging about their adventures.
On November 29, Mr Colegate shared with their Facebook fans that Ms Dingley was missing.
“I'm broken. Shattered to report that my beloved Esther, the person who taught me how to feel, is missing,” he wrote.
He has since told his followers that he has been asked to stop posting updates and photos on social media at the request of investigators.
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