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Chris May

Age: 28

Sex: male

Date: 25 May 2015

Place: Troys Farm, Faulkbourne, Essex

Chris May went missing on 25 May 2015 and his body was found three years later hanging from a tree on 13 May 2018 in a wood near Braintree.

He lived in Mount Road, Kelvedon, Essex and his silver Volkswagen Golf car was found abandoned in Troys Chase, Fairstead about 10 miles away two days later on 27 May 2015 at 9pm. The car keys were found in the door pocket and about £50 in loose change was also found left inside.

His body was later found on 13 May 2018 in woodland on Troy's Farm in Faulkbourne, near Braintree, two miles away from where his car was found. However, his post-mortem was inconclusive.

He was last seen at his home in Kelvedon, Essex, on 25 May 2015 and the police said that they were trying to trace his movements between 25 and 27 May 2015.

After leaving his house he called at his father's in Coggeshall at about 9.45am. He was last seen in CCTV footage eight minutes after he left his house.

Following his disappearance, the police used a warrant to search his home for clues.

On 1 June 2015 a letter was sent to the police saying that Chris May was dead following an assault, but the police said they could not identify the author. A detective said, 'The first letter had said that on May 24, a fight had taken place with one of his friends and that he had been badly hurt and his body had been dumped, and the car had been disposed of'. However, Chis May's father said that that could not be true as he had seen him on 25 May 2015.

However another letter was sent to the police saying that the first letter was a hoax and that Chris May was alive but that he was laying low because he owed money. It was also said that two other letters were also sent to the police amongst which it was claimed again that Chris May had been the victim of an unlawful assault and had died from his injuries.

It was said that his body was found hanging from a tree about seven metres above the ground not far from where his car was found and that in his pocket there was a wad of £200 that had been there since the day he vanished.

When his body was found one of his shoes was missing and the police never found his phone. It was suggested that the reason his body was not found earlier was because it had been in a very remote rural location and so high from the gound.

His cause of death was stated as being unascertained decomposed and he was identified by general reference to it being an adult male with facial hear and full sleeve tattoos.

The pathologist added that there was no evidence that his injuries could be linked to any third party involvement.

A detective said, 'We had looked into whether Chris had been killed and his body had been disposed in a field, but nothing suggested third party involvement in his death and there were no suspicious circumstances through the post mortem report and over the course of the investigation'.

Packaging for the rope that he had been hung with was found between the location where his car was found and where his body was later found. The police said that the rope could have been purchased from several shops in the area but that they were unable to determine who bought it or when, noting that no receipts were ever found.

During the earlier search for him an advert was also placed in the Big Issue homeless magazine for information regarding Chris May's disappearance running from 24 August 2015.

The police said that Chris May had been a drug dealer and that he dealt in ecstasy, cocaine and mephedrone and said that they thought that there was a strong likelihood that his death could have been a drugs related murder. They said that he had been actively dealing drugs and thought that the fact that he had been trying to extend his dealing could have led to his murder.

The police added that Chris May was known to them as a drug dealer. They also said that he had been using drugs. A detective said, 'He was either going to make a lot of money or come to harm'.

Chris May had been a fence installer but was due to start a new job with a friend building tennis courts on 26 May 2015, but never showed up.

He was also known as Jay and used to go to the gym at Prested Hall.

On 14 June 2016, a 35-year-old man from Braintree was arrested on suspicion of Chris May's murder and a 25-year-old man from Kelvedon was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, but they were both released without charge due to lack of evidence.

At his inquest in February 2019 it was heard that there was no evidence that he had been murdered and an open conclusion was returned.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.bbc.co.uk

see BBC Drug dealers 'could hold clues' in Chris May murder probe

see BBC

see Mirror

see Essex Live