Forty years after Suzy Lamplugh vanished from west London, detectives say they are running out of time to find the estate agent's body – and the case still haunts them.
The 25-year-old left her office in Fulham at 12.30pm on 28 July 1986 for an appointment with a mysterious "Mr Kipper" at a nearby property. She never returned. Her company car was later found abandoned on a nearby road.
“Met Police detective says Suzy Lamplugh case haunts them as 40th anniversary passes and case set to go inactive.”
Despite one of the largest missing persons investigations in UK history, Suzy has never been found. She was legally declared presumed dead in 1993.
Detective Chief Inspector Teresa Foster of the Metropolitan Police said the case is unlike any other her team deals with: "It haunts myself as the senior investigating officer, and I think that comes down to the fact that Suzy's never been found. With a lot of our cases we do have an answer for the family, we know where they were, we know what happened to them. But with this, Suzy never being found, and it haunts us. We don't have a case like this within my team."
The inquiry is the only remaining Met case that still uses the old 1980s card index system, to ensure no written information from the time has been overlooked.
But time is running out. Foster said the force is set to move the inquiry to an "inactive phase" in 12 months' time. While new information will still be followed up, the team will no longer actively work on the case.
The prime suspect, John Cannan, died in prison in November 2024 while serving a sentence for the 1987 abduction and murder of Bristol newlywed Shirley Banks. Police had presented a file of evidence to prosecutors in 2002, but there was not enough to charge Cannan with Suzy's murder.
No forensic evidence has ever linked him to her disappearance. A sample taken from the headrest of her car was sent to the US for mitochondrial DNA analysis, but no profile could be found. A smudged fingerprint on the rearview mirror also remains unidentified.
Foster said breakthroughs in AI or forensics could hold the key, or people with information may still come forward. She remembered Suzy's disappearance making news even in her small hometown in New Zealand. "Suzy's never being found, and it haunts us," she said.
