Grief and gratitude as family of Debbie Crothers praise work of volunteers who found her body
The family of a woman whose disappearance sparked a major manhunt has thanked the scores of volunteer searchers for their “relentless” work in helping to uncover her body.
Debbie Crothers, 53, had vanished on Friday, December 10 from her home in the Dunluskin Gardens area of Carrickfergus.
She had been at home by herself, and was visited by a guest who left at 6.30pm that day.
Later, neighbours noticed that while her TV and lights were on, the door of her house was open and she was nowhere to be seen.
Sean McCarry, head of the Community Rescue Service (CRS) – which carries out manhunts for missing people – had been deploying up to 50 volunteers per day to look for her.
They were searching outwards from her address, including the thick forested area of Bashfordlands Woods.
But this morning, Mr McCarry told the News Letter that the hunt was over.
In a message posted on Facebook, son Paul Crothers wrote: “As a family we would like to send out our sincerest gratitude to everyone that helped in the search for our mum, be it sharing a post or physically looking.
“I cannot thank the community search and rescue enough for their work in the past week; they have been relentless in there efforts.
“Mum grew her angel wings and is finally at peace with our Granda Billy, while this is toughest time in our lives we will stay strong as a family and always ensure that Maisie remembers her Nanny Debbie.
“As soon as we know any arrangements we will let everyone know.
“We will always love and miss you mum.”
There were nearly 300 comments which followed, voicing shock and condolences.
The PSNI said: “A post mortem will be carried out to determine the cause of death, however the death is not being treated as suspicious at this time.”
It is understood she was found on wasteground adjacent to Carrick Grammar School, not far from the Elim church which she attended, at about 4pm on Saturday.
She was devoutly religious; her Facebook page timeline was filled with Biblical posts.
There are no funeral details at time of writing.
More from this reporter:
Click here; Man shot dead in west Belfast had recently beaten charges of blackmail and threats to kill
——— ———
A message from the Editor:
Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.
With the coronavirus lockdowns having had a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.
Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.
Visit
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptionsnow to sign up.
Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.
Ben Lowry, Editor