A friend of Lacey Lake has raised questions about the search for her, claiming police searched a caravan the day before her body was discovered there the following afternoon. The 24 year old’s body was found in a caravan near Linton Close in Tamerton Foliot on Tuesday, January 7 – a day after she was reported missing by a friend.
The friend reported her missing due to growing concerns for Lacey’s welfare over the weekend, telling police it was out of character for her to be out of touch. It is understood that Devon and Cornwall Police classified Lacey’s missing person report as ‘medium risk’, hence no public appeal was issued, reports Plymouth Live.
In a statement, the force confirmed on the evening of January 7 that officers involved in the search had located the body of a woman. The statement read: “Officers were called around 1.20pm following concerns for the welfare of the woman in Linton Close, Tamerton Foliot. Paramedics attended but the woman was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
The statement further stated that the death was being treated as unexplained “although not currently believed suspicious”.
The police statement added: “The family of 24-year-old Lacey Lake who was reported missing on Monday 6 January have been informed. Formal identification has yet to be carried out.”
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) told PlymouthLive that they were called at 1.17pm on Tuesday and sent an operations officer to the scene. A friend, who wishes to remain anonymous due to fear of backlash, shared: “Lacey had been in my life for the last six years, since I was 17.
“She was originally from Doncaster and was put into the care system when she was young. Her nan took her in for a while but when she turned 18 she moved to Plymouth and I met her at work – and we’ve been friends ever since. She’s lived with friends for a few years before she moved in with me.”
Lacey Lake
(Image: Morgan Hennessy Kelly on Facebook)
The friend highlighted that Lacey would sometimes stay at her house or live in a nearby caravan, which she had personalised with a bed, sofa and her belongings. The friend last saw Lacey on Friday and expected her to return home on Saturday evening – but a series of messages and Snapchat locations raised her concerns and fears.
Despite attempts by PlymouthLive to verify the friend’s account with Devon and Cornwall Police, questions posed to the force remain unanswered. On Monday morning, the friend realised Lacey was missing and contacted the police.
Detailing the communication she had over the weekend, the friend said she received a message that a housemate was set to pick her up from an address in Stonehouse and drop her off back at Tamerton Foliot at 9pm on Saturday January 4. The friend added: “She texted me saying “getting ready”. I asked what time she’d be back and she wrote it’d be 9pm. But she didn’t come home.”
“I didn’t hear from her until 6pm on Sunday when she wrote to me asking “can you pick me up” but I couldn’t. So she wrote saying she would get a taxi. She still didn’t come home. Her Snapchat location said she was outside the house, but she wasn’t.
“At 7.57pm on Sunday I got a text from Lacey which didn’t make sense, it didn’t even sound like her. I’ve told police, but they are saying it’s not suspicious but I think something definitely happened to her.
“She’d written ‘I’ve been bsck hour. with water and food’. She would not write like that, she’d not write “back” like that and she’d use a full sentence. That’s just not her at all.
The friend said she believed Lacey had just gone to bed and on Monday morning, having still not seen her, she again looked for her, first checking her own home, then the caravan, but Lacey was not at either place.
She said she called other friends who told her that Lacey had left the house on Friday evening, but had said she was going to get picked up or get a taxi home again. However, the friend said she became increasingly concerned, having had texts from Lacey on Saturday night saying she was going to be dropped off by a housemate, and then further texts on Sunday saying she was back home using language she did not recognise as Lacey’s.
A friend of the missing woman has revealed a chilling timeline of events leading up to the discovery of her body. She said she checked on her friend’s caravan at around 8.30pm on Monday night, even taking care of her kitten.
At 9.52pm, she called the police and was asked to check with Derriford Hospital. After confirming that there were no reports of her friend being there, she called the police again at 10.07pm to report her missing.
A female police officer arrived at 11.56pm to conduct a search of the caravan, but found no sign of her. The friend stated: “She was not there.”
The police car in Linton Close
(Image: Penny Cross)
On Tuesday morning, after noticing the lights off in the caravan, she drove to a property in Stonehouse where people claimed her friend had been over the weekend.
She described the man who answered the door as having a bloodied face, swollen lip, and scratches on his nose. He claimed he had put her friend in a taxi on Sunday evening and handed over her clothes and caravan keys.
The friend called the police again that day and a second officer came to conduct a search. She told PlymouthLive: “I was standing with him at the door of the caravan. He opened the door and crouched down and turned to me and said ‘can you call an ambulance? ‘. I said ‘what? ‘. I had to call for the ambulance.
“Police stayed there the whole day – detectives, uniformed officers, a drone overhead. Somehow, either Lacey came back to the caravan between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon or the only other explanation is the female police officer missed her during her search on the Monday and that’s not likely because it’s a small caravan.
“Normally, the caravan is absolutely pristine inside. It was properly kitted out. She’d got a brand new bed, she had a sofa. We made it homely in there. But when the police looked on the Monday it didn’t look clean – it looked like it’d been ransacked. Yet Lacey had put so much effort into cleaning it, making it her home.”
The friend told PlymouthLive: “I know her better than anyone. This all seems very wrong.” On Thursday, PlymouthLive presented Devon and Cornwall Police with a series of questions based on the statement by Lacey’s friend.
In a statement offered today, the force said: “As the death is currently being treated as non-suspicious we will not be releasing anything further at this time. A file is being prepared for HM Coroner.
“Devon and Cornwall Police has made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct [IOPC] due to prior police contact with the deceased woman. We await the outcome of the referral.”
An IOPC spokesperson told PlymouthLive: “We can confirm we received a referral on 8 January from Devon and Cornwall Police which is being assessed to decide whether any investigation by the IOPC is needed.”
PlymouthLive has made attempts to verify the friend’s account with Devon and Cornwall Police but questions we put the force remain unanswered.
Lacey Lake
(Image: Morgan Hennessy Kelly on Facebook)