A decade after Corrie Mckeague vanished in Bury St Edmunds, his mother Nicola Urquhart says Facebook rallied supporters and helped pressure Suffolk Police; she also received fabricated tips. Mckeague was declared dead in 2022, but his body has never been found.
Mckeague, a 23-year-old RAF gunner, went missing on 24 September 2016 after a night out in Bury St Edmunds. An inquest ruled he died after climbing into a Biffa bin before it was tipped into a waste lorry. Urquhart’s Find Corrie page reached 120,000 followers; one post was shared almost 270,000 times.
Urquhart accused police of failing to answer some members of the public who responded to online appeals, describing officers’ use of social media in 2016 as a learning curve. Suffolk Police said the inquiry is closed and would reopen only if new, realistic and credible information becomes available. College of Policing guidance says forces should record risks if they cannot monitor social-media responses around the clock and prepare for surges.
