Esra Uyrun

Esra Uyrun

by Chilling Crimes February 27, 2020 3 Comments

"Sweet is the voice of a sister in the season of sorrow."

-Benjamin Disraeli

It was the 23rd of February 2011. A Wednesday. Thirty seven year old Esra Uyrun had a busy few days ahead. In January , she had invited her mother and mother in law to visit her home in Clondalkin, Dublin, Ireland. Her mother was due to arrive the next day. Esra's mother still lived in London, United Kingdom. Esra ,who is of Turkish descent, lived in London too before she met her husband.

Esra

When Esra lived in London, she worked in a pathology lab in a hospital and it was there that she met her husband Ozgur Uyrun. Ozgur was offered a job in Dublin so the two of them moved there to start a new life. They made it their home and by February 2011, they had been living there for four years. That didn't stop Esra from visiting London though. She stayed in frequent contact with her parents and older sister Berna Fidan. Every six weeks or so, Esra flew to London to visit them.

Esra was excited for her mother to visit. She wanted her to stay a month and had planned various activities for them to do. As it would be also Esra's thirty eight birthday when her mother was visiting, she planned on going for a spa day and dinner at a nice restaurant. She called her sister Berna the previous Sunday to ask her to send some spices to Dublin so she had everything for her mother's trip.

Berna and Esra

That day, the 23rd of February, Esra still had a few things to do. The day before, a neighbour saw Esra bringing out some bins and she told her she was cleaning the house to prepare for her mother's arrival. 

Esra and Ozgur had one little boy, two year old Emin. They had one car between them so normally, Esra would drop Ozgur off at work and then keep the car for the day so that she could go to the shop during the day if she needed to and then she would collect Ozgur from work. Occasionally, Ozgur would take the car and drive to work himself if he wanted to go to the gym after work. That Wednesday morning, he told Esra that he wanted to take the car. She said that was fine and told him she would go to the shop before he went to work so she could get milk. 

Esra

Esra left the house and took the car at 7.20am. Ozgur waited with Emin at the house. Esra said she would only be a few minutes as Ozgur needed to go to work. That was the last time they saw Esra.

Ozgur waited for Esra to return but she didn't. That day he notified police that she was missing and notified her family in London that night. At 11pm that night, Esra's car was found in Bray. Berna flew straight over from London to Dublin to find her sister. 

The week that Esra disappeared was mid term week so that meant that the schools were closed. This was significant as it meant there was a lot less traffic on the roads and less people out and about. Berna went to Bray,where the car was found, and sat there each morning. She noticed the same people would walk by. People going to work and people walking their dogs. Nobody saw Esra and there were no confirmed sightings of her.

Cliff walk at Bray

The investigation into Esra's disappearance focused on her last known movements. Her husband said that she left the house at 7.20am in the car to go to the shop. The shop was about a three minute drive away. 

Her number plate was recorded at the Power City roundabout in Clondalkin just before 8am. That was peculiar as it was around a five minute drive from her home so if she left at 7.20am, why did it take forty minutes to get there? 

Esra

CCTV footage captured her car coming down Bray strand. The driving of the car was erratic and there was a near collision with a silver Skoda Octavia. When Esra's car turned right from Convent Avenue into Strand Road, Esra'a car almost hit the Skoda and then moved into the left hand side of the road. Despite numerous appeals, the driver of the Skoda never came forward. Esra's family wanted to know if Esra was driving the car at the time. The Skoda overtook Esra's car and they both travelled in the same direction. 

Esra's car pulled up at Bray Head in Wicklow at 8.40am. Esra's last phone signal from her mobile phone was picked up at Bray Head.

Bray Head

Police searched the car. The only fingerprints found in the car belonged to Esra and Ozgur. Esra's purse, a small little money purse, was found in the boot of the car. 

 CCTV footage in the area at the time focused on different areas at different times, the camera moved around, so there was no footage of anybody getting out of the car. Footage shows a woman moving up towards Bray Head. She stops a number of times, looking back, before walking on. Police have not found footage to show this woman walking back this way and police believe that Esra went to Bray's Head that day to take her own life.

CCTV of a woman at Bray Head

Berna does not agree. She does not believe the woman in the video is her sister as it appears the woman may be looking back for her dog. She also believes the woman in the video is a different size and height to Esra.

Since Esra's disappearance, there have been no leads in the case. If Esra did take her own life, there is no evidence of that and her body has not been found. Every year, in February, Esra's sister Berna flies to Dublin to appeal for any information whatsoever on Esra and she sticks up and hands out posters of Esra in the area. There are a number of troubling things in this case. If we go by the initial account her husband gave , that she left the house at 7.20am that morning, it took her forty minutes to get to a roundabout that should have taken just five minutes. Did someone stop her on the way? Did she stop to help someone? Was someone waiting for her in the car? Was Esra even driving the car? Was Esra ever in the boot of the car? This was raised by her sister Berna as a possible explanation as to why her purse, so small it would fit into a pocket, was found in the boot.  

Esra

On the first anniversary of Esra's disappearance, Berna and her daughter Ayda went to a local chip shop in the area of Neilstown in Clondalkin. Esra had been a regular customer there. A staff member handed Berna a set of car keys. There was a keyring on the car keys that had a photo of  Esra, Ozgur and Emin. The staff member said the bunch of keys were found on a counter in the shop a few months earlier. Esra had lost car keys in August 2010 but Berna believes the keys found in the shop were not those ones.

Ozgur has since moved back to London to live with his son. Berna continues to appeal for information about Esra's disappearance. 

Esra is 5’3” in height with dark hair and green eyes. When last seen she was wearing black leggings, white Nike trainers and a dark top.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Ronanstown Garda Station on 01 666 7700, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.

 

 




Chilling Crimes
Chilling Crimes

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3 Responses

Isah Palmer
Isah Palmer

November 10, 2021

Amelia, very interesting questions…..someone needs to follow this up.
Elizabeth, I think you hit the nail there!
Hope they find her one day!

Amelia Paz
Amelia Paz

May 14, 2021

This is strange..
1. Husbands timing.
2. 45(?) minutes missing?
3. Timing of telling the police and telling parents. Weren’t they supposed to Fly out there in the morning?
4. Chip shop keys. Why didn’t the chip workers contact the sister earlier? They said they knew it was her sister from the flyers? Phone number?
5. How does her sister know about the keys not being the “right ones”? She lives in London.
6. When the car was found, were there any keys in it? Was it locked? Was it inspected beyond fingerprints?
7. Only husband and wife’s fingerprints found.
8. What has the husband done to recover his wife? Sister is sending flyers everywhere. Sister is talking to people, meeting people. What is husband doing?
9. Why did husband move back to London? Has he returned to look for her?
10. Has anyone suggested bringing in a search party?
11. Has anyone suggested another police department investigate?
My heart goes out to her loved ones.

Elizabeth McCaffrey
Elizabeth McCaffrey

March 29, 2021

Did anyone see Esra leave the house at 7.15 or was that the word of her husband? I think he has more to do with it.

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