Ed note: GenevaLunch, which published several articles on Myles Robinson’s disappearance and death in Wengen, canton Bern during the Christmas holidays 2009, has been asked by his family to share information about a memorial fund with the thousands of readers who followed the story. Many wrote in to express their sorrow at the family’s loss.
Myles and Michael Robinson
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The family of Myles Robinson, a young British man who disappeared two days before Christmas in the Swiss resort of Wengen, canton Bern, and was later found dead from a cliff-top fall, is establishing a fund in his memory. The Myles Robinson Memorial Trust aims to “increase the involvement of young British adults in helping underprivileged children at home and abroad to become more actively involved in sport.”
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Myles Robinson, the 23-year-old British tourist whose body was found late Monday 28 December, had a “high level of alcohol” in his blood, 2 per 1,000 (200mg alcohol/100ml blood), canton Bern police announced late Wednesday, without providing his name, the norm for crimes and accidents in Switzerland. He had been drinking at a bar in Wengen before he walked a friend home, then disappeared. Initial tests showed no signs of drugs. The autopsy did not give any indication that a third party was involved in his death.
Ed. note: the alcohol level was four times that allowed for drinking and driving in Switzerland.
Police are strongly urging the public to stay away from the area where he fell and where his body was found. The weather has warmed up and there is a serious danger of ice and rock falls. The notice to the public is unusual, but the initially inexplicable disappearance and the nature of his death have prompted huge public interest, particularly among foreigners in the area and Britons in particular.
Cliff viewed from Lauterbrunnen, heading towards Muerren, one of scores in the area
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – High mountain areas are places of danger, a fact sometimes overlooked by visitors, a police spokesperson from canton Bern says. The officer was answering questions from GenevaLunch about whether the police are investigating the possibility of foul play or a link between the disappearance of two men in their early 20s in three years, from the small town of Wengen. The second man, Myles Robinson, age 23, disappeared 22 December. His body was found in a wooded area below a high cliff Monday 28 December.
Media reports shortly after his disappearance raised the question of a possible link with the unsolved death of Daniel Baptista, age 21, in 2006.
The police cannot comment on the investigation into the hours before Robinson’s fall or his death in particular, which has been handed to an investigating judge, or magistrate.
But the officer cautions against speculating, noting that the danger of the mountains is a factor that has to be considered for the many unresolved cases of missing persons in the region over a period of several years.
Myles Robinson and his father Michael
Update 2 Bern / Wengen, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A body found by a private group searching for 23-year-old British tourist Myles Robinson has been confirmed as that of the missing man, Bern cantonal police announced late Tuesday 29 December. He was found at the foot of the “Mönchsblick” viewing point, between Wengen and Lauterbrunnen. He appears to have fallen from a cliff near an area called “Steinhalten” which is not easily reached.
Police say that the autopsy did not provide any information about the possible involvement of a third party, but investigations are continuing under the direction of a judge, to determine what happened in the period before Robinson died. The judge decides what further action, if any, will be taken.
Related stories, GenevaLunch
Map of the area View Larger Map
Cara, Michael, Myles, Sarah Robinson
Update 08:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Bern confirmed to GenevaLunch early Tuesday 29 December that a body has been found near Wengen, the town from which British tourist Myles Robinson went missing 22 December. They are not yet releasing any details identifying the person, but will be releasing the information late this afternoon, she said. The formal identification takes time, but no further details, including where the body was found, how, by whom, are being given.
An earlier police spokesperson could not yet say if the police investigation has been stepped up to a criminal investigation, noting only that “A large, active search was undertaken but it didn’t turn up any clues indicating criminal activity” in the first days after Robinson went missing.
Robinson, age 23, was returning to his family’s hotel from an evening out in the village centre when he mysteriously disappeared. Wengen is a car-free village perched above the Bernese village of Lauterbrunnen. Its year-round population of about 1,500 swells to 10,000 during the peak Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
Related stories, GenevaLunch
Wengen, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Ed. note: GenevaLunch will be publishing more photos from Myles Robinson’s family, of the 23-year-old who went missing under mysterious circumstances 22 December. We hope these will alert the public and help trigger information that will provide police with some clues.
Myles is British, went to Charterhouse in the UK, followed by Newcastle University. He knows Wengen well.
Background, GenevaLunch
Myles Robinson and his father Michael
Update 20:58 Wengen, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – British tourist Myles Robinson, age 23, who has been coming to Wengen for 15 years with his family, is still missing: he disappeared and there has been no trace of him since the early hours of Tuesday 22 December despite searches by helicopter, with infrared, with sniffer dogs. His cell phone gave off signals from the area until noon Tuesday. The public in and around Wengen have been appealed to, to be on the lookout for any signs of the young man. His parents and sister Cara, with whom he had arrived Monday 21 December in Switzerland, for a two-week holiday, are working closely with authorities in Wengen to find him.
Description of Myles Robinson’s clothing the night he disappeared
Cara supplied GenevaLunch with this description of what Myles was wearing when he disappeared: “On the night Myles was missing he was wearing light blue denim jeans, a white short sleeve polo shirt with a red Artois Tennis Championship crest on the left breast, a big black coat with grey checks and white Asics trainers.”
He does not speak German (Wengen is German-speaking) or French.
Police are not saying publicly that foul play is suspected, but those who know Myles say that he would not wander off.
GenevaLunch is publishing a series of photos of him to encourage the public to be on the lookout for any signs of Myles.
Background stories, GenevaLunch
Myles Robinson and his sister Cara
Update 2 21:37 Wengen, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – “We think he must be here somewhere, maybe in a house,” Sarah Robinson, mother of missing British 23-year-old tourist Myles Robinson, told GenevaLunch Saturday evening 26 December. Her son disappeared in the early hours of Tuesday 22 December from the small Alpine resort of Wengen, not far from Interlaken, without a trace. The young man was at the Blue Monkey bar in the car-free resort above Lauterbrunnen, then walked an old family friend home and chatted with her for a while before heading back to his family’s place at 02:00, a 200-metre walk. It was a clear night.
Myles Robinson has not been seen or heard from since.
He was expecting his girlfriend to join the family for New Year’s and he had just been hired for a job he was looking forward to, with a financial firm in London.
Police and the family have appealed to villagers to look everywhere for the missing man. His mother says that she takes hope from a tall, dark-haired cousin of Myles being asked on the streets if his name is Myles. “People are looking out.”
A police spokesperson told GenevaLunch Saturday, “We have no clues. Nothing. We called for witnesses and several people phoned, but they were mostly sightings from other villages and turned out to be false alarms.” He noted that the police can’t even say they suspect foul play because there are no clues on which to make judgements. The police investigation continues, focusing now on interviewing people around him.
Sarah Robinson says police have done a thorough job of contacting people who know her son well.
A search of the mountainside is unrealistic, given the rugged terrain – the area is famous for its cliffs, forests and some of the toughest skiing in Switzerland, including the Lauberhorn race. The police spokesperson told GenevaLunch that the Swiss Army loaned a helicopter for a flyover search of the area around the town, which turned up nothing.
But Myles Robinson was not lost while skiing: he was walking a short distance home from a bar in the centre of town at an hour when pre-Christmas revellers were still out. There is no evidence that he ever left the village, intentionally, accidentally, or through foul play.
“He doesn’t take drugs, he doesn’t smoke – he’d had a few drinks and might have been a bit tipsy but [the friend he walked home] says they talked for a while and he was fine,” Sarah Robinson says.
She is quick to say that the police “have been very good” and the family is getting help from a Swiss judge, but launching a search, for example a house to house hunt, in the town when there are no clues poses legal problems. Villagers are being asked to check every possible place, such as cellars and buildings they don’t use often.
“We know that his cell phone was still active at least at lunchtime Tuesday,” says his mother. But initial reports that it emitted a signal from the south end of Wengen have been put in perspective, given the realities of cell phones in the mountains. “We are unsure about the transmitters for Wengen and we’ve been told that, with the mountains, signals could bounce off of Murren or some other area.” Murren, Wengen and Grindelwald are three villages in the area that have long been favourites of the British, who helped develop the modern sport of downhill skiing in this area.
The Robinson family (father, mother, Myles and his sister Cara) whom the mother describes as “close”, has been coming to the resort for 15 years and Myles knows the area well. He is fit and an avid skier.
“He can’t just have disappeared without a trace!” Sarah Robinson insists. Several kinds of sniffer dogs have been used and they have not picked up any trail. Asked if they suspect he might have been pulled into a vehicle, which could explain the disappearance of his scent, she says, “It’s a car-free resort – I can’t imagine what kind of vehicle it would have been.” There are few roads down from the resort, and a vehicle leaving would most likely have been remarked by someone.
“We’re being as pro-active as we can. We’re talking to everyone we can. We want to keep this in front of the public. We’ve got to try to achieve something.”
The family is not discussing the case of Daniel Baptista, she says, “but we’re all aware of it.” Battista disappeared in 2006 from Wengen after taking mescaline, and there has been no sign of him since.
“At the end of the day, we just want to make sure we get him back. Alive, we hope.
“I’m living on hope at the moment.”
Ed. note: the disappearance of Myles has been followed closely by the UK media. Links: BBC, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph, Times, UK
Wengen, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A 23-year-old British man, Myles Robinson, has gone missing in the small resort of Wengen, a town in a region he knows well, having spent vacations in the area for the past 15 years. He was last seen dropping a friend off at her hotel, near the Blue Monkey bar in the town at 02:00 Tuesday 22 December. He was vacationing with his family, who have told UK media that “he’s a normal boy. He would never wander off. We are a really close family.”
The Swiss army have reportedly been called in to help in the search to find him, but locals who saw him at the bar, interviewed by the British media, say they find the disappearance “very strange” and inexplicable.
Links to other sites: BBC, Daily Mail, UK Times, UK, and Myles Robinson’s Facebook page
