The Mysterious Death Of Britt Lapthorne

A news report from a Croatian online newspaper -

"There are more and more leads and indications that some Dubrovnik police officers are deeply embroiled in the case of the mysterious death of Australian Britt Lapthorne....."

www.nacional.hr...

(I apologize to the original poster if this has already been posted/referenced)

Why in the world would you want to go to Croatia, isnt it known that they kidnapp women to sell into the sex trade or whatever else they do when they kidnap women/kids. After watching Hostel myself i realized that stuff like that probably is going on. I feel really bad for this family and especially Britt. The whole story sounds like a scary movie. I bet those two guys are really police and they do this to tourist/or unsuspecting women. A women commented that it seemed very organized. So I wonder if that means the people who work at the bars are in on it also. In hostel wasnt like the whole town in on it? And isnt it really easy to tell if a video has been edited. Video Analyst can tell when a UFO clip has been edited. But also a lot of the women were able to get away, So why was Britt not able to get away, her father commented she had good street smarts. And wasnt she in a group of 5women what happened to those other women she was with.

This is very scary stuff. Kinda like the Natalie Halloway case, but in a differant part of the world.

I've spent time in that part of the world as more than a visitor. Parts of Croatia are have fabulous scenery and it's incredibly cheap as a tourist destination. Fairly civilized compared to some neighbouring countries.

But like a lot of places, local regions are pretty autonomous, with minimal central government connections.

Unattached girls disappear with alarming frequency in Mediterranean/Adriatic coastal countries like Croatia. France as well.

They're vulnerable as no one threatening can immediatley question or intimidate the local enforcement.

This may escalate to an international incident embarrassing the central government which relies on tourism. Someone may get thrown out or prosecuted for involvement to satisfy criticisms.

They'll make noises about clamping down on the problem, then things will resume as before, a little extra caution taken for a while.

Life is cheap in many parts of the world, and laws are just an inconvenience.


Mike

Seems like if your gonna travel in places like that it would seem plausible to have a tracking chip installed under your skin.

ya know, for the rich white caucasion type people.

Hi there

I'm originally from Hungary (just north of Croatia), now living in another part of the world.
In December 2008 a French girl named Ophelie Bretnacher, studying in Budapest, Hungary, disappeared without (at the time) a trace. Street cameras recorded her walking towards a bridge over the river Danube in the centre of town, and she never walked off the bridge.
The story in some ways is similar to Britt's: Ophelie's parents accused Hungarian police and government officials of not treating the disappearance as seriously as they should, and the father made plenty of media appearances.
There were theories about kidnapping, about suicide...
Two months after the disappearance the girl was found in the Danube. Autopsy reports say she drowned, with no sign of physical harm other than natural decay.
The parents took the body home to France for a second autopsy, which didn't reveal any further details.

The reason I'm quoting this case is to point out the similarities and give my explanation for them: the behaviour of the parents in both cases shows mistrust towards foreign police, blaming officials, taking the body home for a second autopsy, expressing their suspicions in the media.
This gives me the impression that parents who have just gone throught the terrible shock of losing their child in a less developed country than theirs ill be very far from objective when discussing the case.

The second similarity is the girls themselves. In both cases they were girls from first world countries where the disappearance caused strong public uproar and sympathy. If there was organized crime behind their (supposed) abduction, the gangs doing it are indeed quite unprofessional. When well-off French and Australian girls disappear there is bound to be great international attention following the investigation. It's in the gangs' interest to kidnap girls that nobody would be missing too much: girls who ran away from home, girls who are willing to do things for money, and so on.

This is not to say there isn't crime in those countries. It could've been a local gang in Britt's case, or a suspicious boyfriend behind Ophelie's death. And yes, there is corruption within police.

But it's not like if you're a rich blonde travelling to Croatia or Hungary, you'll be kidnapped by an organized maffia just waiting for you. I really don't think organized crime would profit much from abducting girls like these ones.
And to people living in the West, these countries will always seem more dangerous than they really are...

Sorry for the long post....

Unfortunately this is being played on the same audience appeal as the Natalee Holloway disappearance in Aruba.

Pretty young Western blonde murdered on holiday. Undercurrent suspicion of white slave market. Family traumatized and pushing for an investigation.


When a Philippina domestic girl disappears or her body is found mutilated - no news, no investigation, no one really cares. Her suffering family just lost their breadwinner.

This first hit me back in the 80s here in Toronto. The pretty blonde who got killed in a restaurant robbery was front page for weeks. High school prom photos, parents and friends interviewed, flowers sent, wailing and lamenting from the whole city.

The Korean waitress killed in a gangland restaurant shooting two days before, nobody knew or cared about. Zero coverage. No pictures, no floral wreaths.

Mike








[edit on 16-4-2009 by mmiichael]

reply to post by cosmetic_plague there's something about the judge in this case that doesn't sit well with me. has anyone done any investigating on him? his personal life?

I, along with many people on here, have had serious doubts about this case since I first heard about it. And having dealt with a fair few Croatians through work, they have told me how corruption runs rife back home, and how easy it is to get away with things if a few dollars change hands. So having heard about the police and possible corruption links came as no suprise at all to me.

We will most likely never know what happened to her, and I will put good money on that. Because cases like these fade from the public eye after a year or 2, never to be solved, unfortunately.

Although in a way, I must agree with Linux Fan. When it happens to a pretty white girl, the media frenzy is off the scale, but when it happens to a minority, or someone who is seen as lower class, no one seems to give 2 #s about it. And after a while, I was honestly getting sick of hearing "Britt Lapthorne this, Blah Blah Blah that, Britt Britt Britt!!"

It's not that I don't feel sorry for her or her family, far from it, it is just that I get very easily annoyed by how media blow things WELL out of proportion and stick to the 1 thing repeatedly, when there are other event's, just as bad, happening world wide.

And that's my 2 cents.

Originally posted by isa75
Why in the world would you want to go to Croatia, isnt it known that they kidnapp women to sell into the sex trade or whatever else they do when they kidnap women/kids. After watching Hostel myself i realized........

You don't travel much abroad, eh?
I bet you're not from Europe either.
Because here everyone knows how beautiful Croatian seaside is and how that lame Hostel movie is sooooo full of c.r.a.p...lol.

Originally posted by NatalinaEx

Lord only knows how many other cases of abduction have taken place in this same area.

If you mean unexplained/supicious deaths of tourists in Croatia then only 5:
Britt Lapthorne, Irena Mlakar, Viera Malovikova, Andrew John Modistach and Peter Anthony Rushton.
And that's as in "only lord knows" how many years.

"Only 5" - because that's (at least for me) not enough for some Hostel organized torture/killing theory.
There is always a risk you'll end up dead when visiting foreign countries alone, drunk and naive, you know.

P.S.: I'm not from Croatia, in fact i'm from a country Croats hate very much in recent times. Croats will know where i'm from, no doubt

I'm just sick of this case bacause Australians made it into some big international conspiracy theory while someone from my country (who just wanted to sail across the world alone in his boat) is probably still - after few months - rotting near their coastline, because they didn't have a few hours of time to check him if everything is OK.
Should I post a 10 posts conspiracy theory about his case here too? I can...

[edit on 16-4-2009 by xul]

reply to post by TerribleTeam2 what you say about her being a pretty white girl is true and i'm sure she came from money also. as for the poor minority, do you consider Obama to be a minority? he's not pretty or white. that being said, are you talking about money or screaming race? anybody can be somebody if they wanted to, sadly some prefer to do nothing and take an easier route by screaming race.

Originally posted by xul

P.S.: I'm not from Croatia, in fact i'm from a country Croats hate very much in recent times. Croats will know where i'm from, no doubt

You are from Slovenia obviously But I dont hate you, really. I think your government doing us a big favor by blocking us from entering the EU, even the reasons for that are debatable. Its sad but most people do hate you. They are manipulated by government and the media. And you know very well mentality of people from our area. The best example is from '91.-'95. People are so easy to control and mislead.

[edit on 16/4/09 by CoolMemberOfATS]

I think this thread may have gone off course because of something I pointed out. There's no racial consideration in the death of this unfortunate lady. I was remarking that when a pretty young Western girl dies in mysterious or terrible circumstances it gets inordinate media and public attention.

Worldwide tens of thousands of young women die in horrific circumstances every year. But our media chooses to focus on a tiny handful when the stories have some morbid sensationalistic appeal to middle class Westerners.

As a journalist I know once wryly commented "50,000 African girls being horribly murdered is not a story, but a cheerleader being murdered is."

We should think why only certain stories are covered so extensively and why they catch our interest.


Mike

I'm not convinced that the evidence supports any sort of mystery here. It is not unheard of for a young woman visiting a club to come to grief at the hands of some predatory criminal. She may have become sufficiently intoxicated so as to impair her judgment. She may simply have caught the eye of a malicious stalker who attacks her. The plot need not go any deeper than that.

Britt was seen to be intoxicated at the club. She may not have realized how much the drink had affected her - it happens, especially to those who don't drink often. Her drinks may have been spiked with some drug, to enhance the effect. Whatever happened, her condition could well have led her to make a tragic decision to trust someone who wound up killing her.

I don't see that the Croatian police were necessarily at fault. Britt was a tourist, one who was traveling and backpacking. She had been seen with some men. It is not unreasonable for the police to figure she may have gone home with one of them, perhaps to spend a day or two with him. Her "disappearance" could end at any moment, when she left him to resume her travels. A young, foreign traveler who drops out of sight momentarily must be a common occurrence in places where there are many tourists flowing through town.

There is nothing the least bit suspicious of an autopsy not revealing the cause of death in a body that has decomposed. Any marks of violence or injury would be destroyed by the decomposition, unless the bones were also affected. Unless some bone was broken, or damaged by a bullet or something, examination would be inconclusive.

My guess is that if the police were at fault, it was in trying to cover up negligence or incompetence, not some conspiracy with sadistic gangs who kidnap young people and kill them.

It appears that Britt either was targeted by some predatory killer who chose her over some other potential victim; or that she may have tried swim or take some other risk while feeling the effects of drink, and drowned as a result. There is no clear evidence of foul play, much less of a conspiracy involving the authorities.

reply to post by isa75


You couldnt be more wrong, Dubrovnik has reported not even a murder a year., better than most cities can report...it is pretty much the holiday destination of Europeans, if you dont go to Croatia you are missing possibly one of the most beautiful places in the world, and the people are really nice. It's like saying dont go to NY because they had a murder....ppfff


I think it was someone posing as police (or a officer) who knows? but there are maniacs everywhere, and it s because there ARE so few killings in this area (coupled with police incompetence, but lets face it they dont really know how to manage murders) I think its made such big news.


There has NEVER been a market for women being kidnapped and sold to slavery, you are confusing it with another country.
Croatia isnt even Eastern Europe , it is next door to Italy and further west that Greece....It would be a shame to miss out on a place like that because of wrong information.

Regarding this case Kryties, this has been release by the Lapthorne family today.


news.ninemsn.com.au...

UPDATE

From Sydney Morning Herald - 20th April, 2009

Britt Lapthorne's body 'weighed down'

Backpacker Britt Lapthorne's body was immersed in water from the time she went missing in Croatia and her body was weighed down, a Victorian autopsy has found.

While the results of the autopsy have not been officially released, Ms Lapthorne's parents have revealed details to News Ltd.

Ms Lapthorne, 21, of Melbourne, went missing from a nightclub in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik on September 18 last year. Her badly decomposed body was found in a nearby bay on October 6.

A report completed by the Victorian coroner late last year found Ms Lapthorne had been in the sea for the entire time she was missing and that there were marks on her remains from contact with marine life that dwell on the sea floor, News Ltd said.

A pathologist told Ms Lapthorne's family her body should have surfaced within three days, but it was not until 18 days after she disappeared that her remains were discovered, News Ltd said.

Her father Dale Lapthorne said there was a "strong" chance his daughter's body was weighed down and surfaced only once it had decomposed.

But he said the coroner had not drawn any conclusions from the findings.

"Her body most likely floated only hours before she was discovered," Mr Lapthorne said, after months considering the report.

"The high traffic in the area and the location - it should have been found earlier if it was floating.

"It was amazing she was found," Mr Lapthorne said, because when she was found there was little tissue to enable the body to float.

Mr Lapthorne said he believed his daughter met with foul play and that only people who knew the area well and knew how to hide or dispose of a body could have committed the crime.

The Croatian police investigation remains open.

So, there is striking evidence to suggest foul play - being that the body seems to have been weighed down upon entering the water. This strongly refutes any case of possible suicide or accidental fall from a cliff.

I will continue to post updates to this thread as they become available.

reply to post by Kryties


Wow, that is startling evidence. Now I get why the police don't want to search the area again, that is, if they were involved. A diver might find what they used to weigh her down with.

Originally posted by zazzafrazz

if you dont go to Croatia you are missing possibly one of the most beautiful places in the world, and the people are really nice.

There has NEVER been a market for women being kidnapped and sold to slavery, you are confusing it with another country.
Croatia isnt even Eastern Europe , it is next door to Italy and further west that Greece..

Agree with what you say about the country. Beautiful, friendly, civilized.

The Mediterranean and Adriatic are a laxly patrolled inland sea with coasts on many countries with different cultures and economies.

Port and tourist towns on the Northern European side have long had a bad history of heavy crime and corrupt local enforcement. Drug smuggling is the primary activity. Women disappearing is not all that common, but it happens much more so than other places.


Mike

i'm sick of this Brit crap.

poor girl was murdered by some psycho and that is all.
and now all of sudden we are some kind of Hostel movie state where you kill and rape tourist...?

all of you critics from "developed" countries tell me how many murders you have in your state and how many police have solved?

BTW we must have 5000 Brit's to equal Guantanamo - and that's on national level - kidnap, torture, murder
hypocrits

Originally posted by Dinamo
i'm sick of this Brit crap.

From your post I assume you live in Dubrovnik, or at least Croatia? While you may be sick of hearing about it over there, we sit back here wondering why your police force is so obviously either covering something up, or is the most inept police force on the planet.

poor girl was murdered by some psycho and that is all.

Quite possibly yes, but the fact that many things just do not add up about this case, including the connection with your police force, is why extra attention is being brought upon this case.

and now all of sudden we are some kind of Hostel movie state where you kill and rape tourist...?

If you had've actually watched Hostel you would know that the killings are performed by a secretive group of men doing it under everyone's noses. Never at any point was it implied that the whole city, or even the whole country, was involved in any way.

Oh and I made a clear point of saying that it was simply a theory.

all of you critics from "developed" countries tell me how many murders you have in your state and how many police have solved?

I cannot give you any statistics on Australia at this present time but I know for a fact that many cases go unsolved. The difference here is that this particular case has been stranger than most from the start - beginning with either complete ineptness or a cover-up from the Croatian police force.

I get your point though, this occurs in many other places other than Dubrovnik, to many other people. But stop and think about this for a second: If someone were to manage to solve this case, and it turns out that it is some form of Hostel type situation, think about how many more lives will be saved if the perpetrators are caught? I would suggest hundreds, possibly even thousands.

I hope you will begin to see this case a little differently now.

A body found at Boninovo Cape at 6:20pm on Monday is that of a missing Finnish resident of Dubrovnik who disappeared at 2pm that day. According to the police, their investigation and an autopsy have confirmed that Juha P. Parkkonen, 32, died accidentally. Police assume he slipped and fell off a cliff. Parkkonen arrived in Dubrovnik as a tourist on 16 April with a friend who reported he had disappeared. The friend said they had been drinking all day and that Parkkonen went to urinate and didn’t return, according to the Javno website. Boninovo Cape is the same place where Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne’s body was found last October.

Source

Maybe the same unfortunate accident happened to Britt.

[edit on 22/4/09 by CoolMemberOfATS]