How Google Detective Solved Canoe Man Mystery

Dec 6 2007 By Jan Disley

AN amateur sleuth solved the mystery of the disappearing canoe man - simply by Googling his name on the internet.

She tracked down John Darwin - who now claims to have lost his memory for the past seven years - and his wife to Panama.

And she said yesterday: "I'd like to nominate the Darwins for the 'world's dumbest criminals' award."

The single mum discovered a sensational photograph of John Darwin with his wife Anne in Panama last summer.

Yet until this week, there had allegedly been no sightings of him for five years and he was officially declared dead in 2002.

The amateur detective - who doesn't want to be named - spent hours searching the internet after becoming fascinated by the story.

She said: "I don't know this couple but the story was just amazing. It just didn't make sense that there was no sign of him.

"My son doesn't sleep well, so I'm often up late at night playing around on my computer. I started wondering if there was a picture of John Darwin. I was just searching the net but I couldn't find anything under those names.

"I kept getting the Victorian scientist Charles Darwin coming up.

"In the end, I put in John, Anne and Panama and clicked Google images and up it popped.

"I just blinked - and there they were. I thought, 'Oh, my God.' "I rang police in Cleveland and said, 'Have you got a pen?' The man on the other end of the phone said, 'You're joking!' I said I wasn't absolutely sure it was them but ...' He said he would pass the information straight on to the local CID."

The Darwins posed for the extraordinary picture after renting a room in Panama City in July last year and it appeared on the property company's "Move to Panama" website.

It has now been removed.

The sleuth added: "If something bugs me, I've got to get to the bottom of it. It was dead weird.

"It was in every newspaper and on every TV channel in the world.

"I'm a sceptic. Nobody can simply vanish in this day and age. There has to be something, some sign.

"I was determined to solve this mystery. I like proving things to myself "If it is them, I'd like to nominate them for the 'world's dumbest criminals' award.

"Not only were they photographed but the date was actually on the picture. It was just too good to be true.

"I sat up all night after that, waiting for news of his arrest - I knew it would come.

"But I don't know if the police already had other information or if it was just my call."

How the five years unfolded

TIMELINE

January 2002: Darwin sums up his life story in an entry on the Friends Reunited website. He adds: "I hope to retire soon."

March 21: Darwin is last seen at 8am paddling out to sea in calm water. His wife reports him missing at 10.30pm. A huge air and sea search is launched.

March 22:Apaddle from the canoe is found 100 metres out to sea and, weeks later, the shattered remains of the kayak.

September: Anne Darwin issues a statement expressing her sadness at having no grave to visit to mourn her husband.

April 2003: An open verdict is recorded at an inquest into Darwin's death and the coroner declares him dead.

Summer 2007:Cleveland police receive financial information linked to the disappearance.

November: Mrs Darwin sells the family house and moves to a flat in Panama City.

December 1: Darwin, now 57, walks into a London police station, looking suntanned, fit and well. He tells officers: "I think I am a missing person."

December 2: His sons, Mark, 31, and Anthony, 29, are called to an "emotional reunion" with their father at the police station.

December 3: Darwin's 90-year-old father, Ronald, tells a paper: "I always said there might be more to this than it appeared. It didn't seem right."

December 4: Darwin's wife is traced and says she is thrilled he is alive but fears having to repay the life insurance payout she got.

Darwin's aunt, Margaret Burns, 80, says: "I'm a cynic now. I don't believe he ever got wet."

December 5: Darwin is in police custody after being arrested on suspicion of fraud.