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December 2, 2005

kate osborne, missing

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A friend just sent me this very sad 2003 Guar­dian article about a mutual old friend of ours, Kate Osborne. She was a real sweetheart when I knew her, back as a tee­na­ger in Edin­burgh:

The parents of a Bri­tish woman who disap­pea­red in mys­te­rious cir­cums­tan­ces from her home in Bali two months ago along with her Peru­vian boy­friend arri­ved on the island yes­ter­day with two Bri­tish police offi­cers to look for their daugh­ter.
Patrick and Liz Osborne, from Car­lisle, Cum­bria, admit the situa­tion is sus­pi­cious because they are con­vin­ced Joanna Kate Osborne, 35, would have rung home on her birth­day, May 13, if she could and would never have left her 18-month-old wei­ma­ra­ner dog Mai­sie without making pro­per arrangements.

Turns out the boy­friend was a bit of a drug dea­ler. Great. Turns out he used to beat her up on occa­sion. Terri­fic. Turns out she wouldn’t leave him because “She loved him”. Won­der­ful.
Her parents have set up a web­site if any­body has any news of her whe­rea­bouts.
I know. The Guar­dian article reads like a scene from that Leo­nardo DiCa­prio movie, “The Beach”. Stran­gely enough, the movie’s pro­du­cer, Andrew Mac­Do­nald, was also part of the same young, private-school Edin­burgh gang from that time.
The last time I saw her, just over fif­teen years ago, she had just finished college. When I first knew her she was just a wee, pretty child, but had since blos­so­med into this really beau­ti­ful young woman. Even back then, she was ada­mant about fore­going the “staid, boring, upper-middle class lives” that she had been rai­sed around, pre­fe­rring to opt ins­tead for a life of adven­ture in fara­way pla­ces. And that’s exactly what hap­pe­ned.
Poor Kate. I only found out about it yes­ter­day. I can only offer my dee­pest con­do­len­ces to her family. Poor Mr and Mrs Osborne.
Very, very sad.
[BBC UPDATE, published six months later:]

Her parents, Patrick and Liz, have issued a sta­te­ment in which they accep­ted their daugh­ter has pro­bably been killed.
The sta­te­ment said: “After an exten­sive inves­ti­ga­tion into the disap­pea­rance of our daugh­ter Kate, we are now for­ced to conc­lude that she has been murdered.”

One Response to “kate osborne, missing”

1. genechin says:

   December 10, 2005 at 1:47 AM

   Hmm, gone mis­sing in Bali. Very pos­si­ble that she is mur­de­red. If not, I hope she would be found soon. And if yes, I hope they will find her body soon and hope that her soul will rest in peace.