Corrie McKeague, 23, vanished after a night out in Bury St Edmunds in September and has not been seen since. Photo / Supplied
Corrie McKeague, 23, vanished after a night out in Bury St Edmunds in September and has not been seen since. Photo / Supplied
Police have released CCTV footage in the hunt for potential witnesses after a member of the British Air Force vanished on a night out three months ago.
Corrie McKeague, 23, from Scotland was living at a Royal Air Force base in Honington in the South East of the UK when he went missing in September.
The young man had been out drinking with friends when he was asked to leave a nightclub and separate from them. CCTV footage shows him ordering food at a pizza shop and talking to strangers before walking off alone.
He slept in a doorway for around two hours before being seen walking into a loading bay area behind a bakery around 3:25am.
"It has been proven that an individual cannot leave the area on foot without being seen on CCTV, but Mr McKeague was not caught on camera again," the BBC reports.
The missing soldier has completely stumped local police who have spent more than 1000 hours searching CCTV footage, the surrounding countryside and following up leads in the area.
They have tracked down a man in the pizza shop wearing a T-shirt with the word "Death" on it but have not made any arrests in the case.
That's despite a nationwide appeal from his mother, brother and uncle, who have gone on television to appeal for anyone that knows anything.
A Facebook campaign dedicated to finding him has attracted more than 80,000 followers while crowd-funding efforts have raised $40,000 and the family has offered a reward.
Despite major publicity, the search has failed to yield results three months into the painstaking investigation.
Police are hoping the new pictures during the two-hour window between 3:15am and 5:20am will jog someone's memory.
Detective Superintendent Katie Elliott said they want to find every person in the area at the time as someone could "unknowingly hold a clue."
"It should be stressed that these are just potential witnesses and it's possible they may not be aware that they may be able to assist but we are trying to rule out possibilities and therefore we do need to speak to you," she said.
"It has been a painstaking process first to go through the footage - hundreds of hours worth - and then to identify those in the area. All the work we have done is being checked and re-checked and this remains a complex inquiry, which we continue to work on to progress so we can find Corrie and give his family the answers they need."
One of the people police want to speak to. There is no suggestion they are involved. Photo / Supplied / Suffolk Police.
FAMILY LOSES FAITH
The fate of the young man who initially trained as a hairdresser before switching to fitness and the air force has left his family scrambling for answers.
His mother has said she has "lost faith" in police and not ruled out a "third party" being involved.
On the night in question he was due to go out with friends but they left earlier due to a misunderstanding, according to the BBC. He caught up with them later before splitting again when he was "amicably" removed from a nightclub.
The RAF base at Honington reported him missing when he didn't not show up to a parade. His mother said he would have ordinarily been treated as AWOL but was deemed a missing person immediately, thought to be due to extra security following a prior incident and because it was "out of character."
Earlier it was believed McKeague's phone could provide an early clue as mobile phone data showed it had moved from Bury St Edmunds where he was last seen to the Barton Mills area around 20 kilometres away.
However the search of a rubbish truck showed it had not picked up anything over 15 kilograms, ruling out the fact his body may have been moved along with it. The phone has not been found.
Chief Inspector Steve Denham of Suffolk Police said they're still urging people with information to come forward.
"This behaviour is totally out of character for Corrie and we are very concerned for his welfare," he said.
