Police began their appeal for information on the disappearance of Suzanne Pilley on May 6th 2010. In fact she had been missing for 2 days and police now believe she had been murdered on the day she went missing.
On May 4th Suzanne left her home in West Edinburgh and took 2 buses into town where she did some shopping at a Sainsbury's store in Rose Street and made her way to work. She contacted her parents via text at about 0840, which was normal and according to all reports, her movements that morning were routine.
However, Suzanne never reached her work in the city's Thistle Street, a short walk from the store where she had shopped.
Police scoured hundreds of hours of CCTV images and footage and found various images of Suzanne as she made her way towards her work at Infrastructure Managers in the city's Thistle Street. The final image of her was taken a 0855 outside the building, alerting police to the fact that she had indeed made it to the premises where she worked.
Taking into account the evidence that they had, Lothian and Borders police announcedon May 19th that they had now upgraded this case to a murder investigation.
Detecive Chief Inspector Gary Flannigan said, "Tracing Suzanne to Thistle Street on the morning she went missing is hugely significant in terms of this inquiry. It further proves this was a routine morning for Suzanne, and she was following her usual patterns - we suspect she may well have made it to her office as normal. This development means we are treating this as a murder investigation. The quality of the image is such that it needs specialist enhancement but we are satisfied through the clothing, its colour and the time scale in which the image was recorded that it is Suzanne."
On May 20th police then announced that they were looking for a body in the Argyll forest. They appealed to members of the public to report if they had seen a silver family car on unclassified roads within the Argyll forest. They gave specific times.
Police asked that people try to remember that on May 5th they saw a silver family car on unclassified roads in the Argyll forest between the hours of 1300 and 1530 and again between 1900 and 2100.
Police announced that they believed Suzanne had been murdered in the basement of her work place by a colleague.
Her parents, Robert and Sylvia, said, "As a family we still live in hope of good news, and would still appeal for people up and down the country to stay vigilant and look out for Suzanne. We have, however, been kept informed of the way the police inquiry has been progressing, and deep down we do suspect something more sinister has happened. Suzanne would never put us through this kind of worry intentionally, so we can't help but think she has come to some harm. Words can't describe just how devastated we are at this time, each day we are overwhelmed by worry."
As the search went on reports surface on Friday 21st of an ex-lover of Suzanne's who had been interviewed by police.
David Gilroy, a colleague of Suzanne's had also been her lover. Mr Gilroy, married and father of two, had met Suzanne through their jobs at Infrastructure Managers. They had began an affair which saw Mr Gilroy leave his family home and live with Suzanne in her flat in an area in the west of Edinburgh.
Mr Gilroy told reporters on Friday 21st that he had been interviewed by police and he said, "I last saw her four weeks ago and purely had a discussion about the return of possessions of mine and about me continuing to assist with completing her flat, which I was doing as a friend."
Mr Gilroy was also at pains to point out that he had gone to talk with police voluntarily. He had previously spoke with police and his house was searched.
When asked if he had killed Suzanne he answered, "It is not the case. Police will do their investigation and time will tell. I have nothing to answer to."
He also decided to add,"I have assisted police with enquiries. That's the extent of things. Suzanne and I had a relationship until January of this year when I moved back to the family home with my wife and children. That's when the relationship ended. Police asked me to voluntarily go back today [Friday], which I did, as they are doing with other people."
However, despite saying that he hadn't seen Suzanne in four weeks police now report that they have reason to believe that David Gilroy and Suzanne Pilley argued on Sunday May 2nd, two days before she disappeared.
The argument is said to be over the fact that Suzanne was now in a new relationship with Mark Brooks, a restoration worker whom Suzanne had met online.
It's thought that Ms Pilley tried to confirm his relationship with Mr Gilroy and tell them theirs was over. An argument ensued.
It's also believed that the affair went on after January.
This morning Lothian and Borders police were called to a robbery at the home of David Gilroy. The ex-lover of Suzanne Pilley claimed that his Silverknowes home was robbed at 0600 and that robbers took "a Wii, phone, lap top, various things from the house."
He said, "When my wife got up this morning the back door had been broken in. We heard a small noise but nothing major."
He was asked if he thought that this break in had anything to do with Suzanne Pilley but replied "I don't know."
As police continue to search areas in the Argyll forest it's clear that there is much more to be learned in the murder case of Suzanne Pilley.
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