Missing women and no body suicides: Time to rethink the narrative?

Introduction

Richard Satchwell was recently found guilty of murdering his wife Tina at their home in Youghal, Co Cork in March 2017. He had reported his wife missing 4 days later with the story that she had left their home while he was out shopping and he had returned to find her mobile phone and her dogs. He later noted she had left with two suitcases and 26,000 euro in cash. There was a deterioration in their marriage. Over the years he would make numerous media appearances and appeals for her to return home. In one statement he made to the police at the time he said she was suffering from an ‘undiagnosed psychiatric condition’, ¹ which he believed had been slowly getting worse over the years, and he further alluded to her ‘depression’. In November 2023, her body was discovered in her home wrapped in black sheeting and buried beneath the stairs which had been covered in concrete. After the discovery of her body, he changed his narrative to one that he was the victim of domestic abuse and was defending himself when she attacked him. He had subsequently overpowered her and this led to her death.

The involvement of psychiatric conditions or mental health is relatively common in missing person cases. However, statements about mental health and past mental health issues can be exploited by killers as the primary reason why a woman has gone missing when, in fact, she has come to harm at the hands of a person known to her. This often leads to delays and misinterpretations of a case and the loss of vital evidence. In recent research conducted on missing murdered women ² and long-term missing women in the republic of Ireland, ³ it was noted that suicide was frequently considered early on in an investigation as the primary reason for the disappearance. In Ireland nearly one-third of all long-term missing women cases were initially considered to be suicide. ³ It is more concerning when there is a case of a no body suicide, defined here as a missing person who is presumed dead, but whose body has never been located. This can have a devastating effect on family life but it also has legal implications regarding property and financial affairs. The recent Civil Law (Presumption of Death 2019) Bill ⁴ allows the families of missing people to declare them to be dead which means that families no longer have to wait 7 years to deal with estates. It can also bring a marriage or civil partnership with the missing person to an end.

Suicides are associated with psychiatric illnesses, but suicides may result from other stressors such as relationship problems, legal issues, loss of home, recent or impending crises and lack of social support. ⁵ Domestic abuse and coercive control are known major factors in the suicide of women. To accurately determine cause and manner of death, a body is needed and scene investigation and evidence; in cases where a woman has gone missing and is later presumed to have committed suicide none of these are available. There is a frequency of cases in Ireland where women are believed to have entered water either by jumping from a height or walking into the sea; this is often based on items recovered at the cliff top that is, clothing or a car parked nearby. And a history of mental illness. Four cases from the republic of Ireland set out below highlight a similar and concerning narrative.

Case 1

A 37-year-old married mother of one was admitted to St Patrick’s Psychiatric Hospital in Dublin on February 5, 1998, for treatment for a severe mental illness. ⁶ On May 14, 1998, she left the hospital and was captured on CCTV walking out of the building. She has not been seen since. Six days later her clothing was recovered at Bray Head in Co Wicklow. It was presumed that she committed suicide. She had been previously hospitalised with depression prior to her getting married and having a family. In 1986 and 1987 she had attempted to take her own life. However, she appeared to have made a complete recovery, remaining on medication until her pregnancy. She gave birth to her son on January 16, 1998. After the birth she had suffered from post-natal depression, and from suicidal thoughts and was taking anti-depressants.

In 1994 she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was in remission. She also had a couple of episodes of epilepsy, normally associated with alcohol and fatigue. Overall, the staff at the mental health unit confirmed she had a ‘death wish’ and had expressed her desire to die on a number of occasions. ⁷ There were contradictions between statements made by her husband and GP regarding their marriage compared with that of the victim. He stated that they had a ‘short and happy marriage’, this was also the view of her GP who stated the marriage was ‘perfectly alright’. ⁶ However, the victim made several strong statements to staff at the hospital regarding her marriage, noted in her records that she was worried about her marital situation and saw suicide as an option if her marriage did not work out. She felt that her depression was related to her marriage problems. She also stated that if somebody gave her cyanide she would take it and not be sorry about dying. ⁷

In the weeks before her disappearance further statements were recorded by nurses saying she had ‘a vague plan in her mind’ and ‘knew she would eventually drown’. ⁷ She said she had bought 70 paracetamol tablets with ‘overdose in mind’ and had considered jumping into the river while at home. In April she felt depressed and was still suicidal. She felt she had ruined her life and had no dignity left. In the days before she vanished, she went to a beach in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, drank a half bottle of brandy and contemplated drowning herself.

Her husband had phoned the hospital earlier that day to say she had wanted to throw herself into the river that morning. When she returned to the hospital that afternoon, nurses noted her low mood and suicidal ideation. She informed them she had had a bad weekend and should never have married her husband.

Three days before her disappearance her notes recorded her saying it was ‘death or back to marriage’. ⁷ Staff noted that although she remained depressed, her condition fluctuated dramatically at times. She was legally declared dead following the 7-year period and in 2006 her husband brought an action against the hospital in the high court for damages. He subsequently lost his case.

Case 2

In December 2011, a 36-year-old went missing after leaving her place of work in Dublin city shortly after receiving a call from her partner. She was picked up on CCTV later in day, appearing uncoordinated in her movements. She appears to walk up and down the same streets for hours and all within easy reach of her workplace. Her partner claimed she did not answer any of his calls during the rest of the day. She is thought to have lost her phone at 3:30pm, it was the time of the last call. She rang Gardaí five times during the day initially stating she was suicidal. Her mobile phone was found near the Grand Canal at 5:30pm and handed into Garda station. A second phone was later recovered at her place of work. Her last sighting on CCTV was at 7pm on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. Her partner claimed that she was meant to meet him on the other side of the city at 6pm. But she never showed up. She was never seen again. Her handbag and bank cards were recovered a few days later by Garda divers from the river Liffey. Her partner only raised the alarm the next evening. At the inquest, her partner claimed she had an alcohol problem, and he believed she ‘stumbled to her death into the river Liffey’. ⁸ It was the coroner’s belief that she most likely died from drowning on the day she disappeared. An open verdict was returned.

Case 3

A 33-year-old woman went missing in Dublin on 14 December 2010. She was reported missing by her sister on December 17th who described her as ‘not happy’. ⁹ She was last heard in her apartment by her flatmate on the morning of her disappearance. Her flatmate believed she was depressed and that her mood had worsened in the weeks before her disappearance/death. Her sister stated that she suffered from back pain, and she had left her job 7 months earlier because it was too stressful. She had no financial problems but had stopped seeing her friends in the year before her disappearance.

When gardaí checked her laptop, they found that she had researched drowning hotspots in Dublin and the effects of cold water on the body. The victim was last seen on the evening of the 10th as she withdrew money from an ATM machine and hailed a taxi at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in the city centre to Howth. A witness placed her on the East Pier in Howth just after 8.30pm. She was never seen again.

An inquest was held as the family wanted to see her death recorded. ‘We are of the opinion that she went into the water at Howth and there is no suspicion of foul play from any third party, she took her own life by suicide’. However, with no witnesses to the incident or any note or message left signalling her intent to take her own life, the coroner stated the evidence did not satisfy the legal test for a verdict of suicide. However, suicide is the ‘most likely explanation’. ⁹ Open verdict was returned.

Case 4

In January 2009, a 46-year-old GP went missing from her holiday home. She was last seen the evening before by her husband and children. Husband said he noticed she was not in bed during the night and in the morning when he awoke at 9am. This was not unusual. He noticed her car was missing and presumed she had gone for a walk. Later in the morning her car was found on the beach near their home. Keys in the ignition and a pair of sandals in the footwell of the driver’s side. Her doctor’s bag was in the boot. No body was recovered from the water or the surrounding area. Three letters were later recovered in the house addressed to her children along with her mobile phone, wedding and engagement rings. From the outset it was taken for granted that this woman had committed suicide due to her having suffered from depression and taken medication in the past. Three years later she was declared dead using the presumption of Death Act 2009, an application submitted by her husband. Interestingly it was the first case to apply the new legislation in Northern Ireland in reducing the period of 7 years–3 years in declaring the death of an individual. In the words of Mr Justice Deeny ‘There is not the slightest suggestion of any foul play in connection with the disappearance of this lady as will appear from the circumstances I will describe’. ¹⁰ Ten years later in 2019 the Gardaí received an anonymous letter informing them of where her body was located. They carried out excavations, but nothing was recovered. ¹¹

Discussion

These cases highlight the primary issue of overwhelming belief by the authorities and families that the women took their own lives based wholly on their mental health history, coupled with lack of forensic investigation and analysis, (i.e. fingerprints, fibres, handwriting comparison) which may or may not have showed discrepancies or brought to light other concerns. Also, these cases raise some uncomfortable questions that should have warranted more scrutiny at the time regarding the state of relationships, the contradictions and inconsistencies in statements concerning the victim, family and medical personnel. A lack of CCTV, lack of witnesses, the ability to leave a mental health unit and travel over 22 miles to the supposed suicide spot, which further raises the question, why not use the River Liffey, which was close by, if her desire to jump in a river and drown was so strong? What mode of transport did the victim use to get there? Hospital is located minutes from main train station. A woman leaving her job and withdrawing from friends does not automatically signal depression nor does chronic back pain. This may hint at problems in other areas of her life. A woman who contacts police in a distressed state on five occasions throughout the day and yet is only reported missing 36 hours later? Why the lack of concern if the victim had an alcohol problem and did not show up for a preplanned meeting? The leaving of clothing, footwear, handbags and a vehicle as the only indicator that the individual may have entered the water? Why visit a holiday home during the week? Why were children out of school given that term had resumed the previous week after the Christmas break? Why only letters left for the children with the same message?

The possibility of scene staging needs to be seriously considered alongside the available evidence in such cases. Staging is defined as ‘a conscious criminal action on the part of an offender to thwart an investigation’. ¹² Crime scene staging can be both physical, such as altering evidence, and verbal as in making a missing person report to police as in the case of Richard Satchwell (above). The literature on homicides staged as suicides describes manipulation of the body and the scene to create a misleading narrative. Careful police work and forensic analysis are required to reveal the truth, sometimes many years later. This is even more challenging when no body is recovered and especially if there was minimum police and forensic investigation at the time of disappearance.

A woman’s poor mental health and wellbeing can indicate a strong motive for suicide, but this needs to be meticulously investigated where water and drowning are indicated. It is precarious to keep making the presumption that a body is lost to the sea. The complexities surrounding mental health can be advantageous to a potential killer, allowing concealment of a crime. But also, with the new legislation that enables family members to apply for a presumption of death order as this hastens the process of declaring a missing person dead and can facilitate financial gain and new partnerships. In certain cases, suicide may not be the true and most likely explanation.