Britt Lapthorne’s death shrouded in mystery 10 years on
THE shocking disappearance and death of Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne stunned the world. A decade later, the mystery of her last steps remains infamous in a seaside tourist town.
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THE mystery surrounding the death of 21-year-old Melbourne backpacker Britt Lapthorne will likely never be solved, according to the Croatian police who investigated her disappearance a decade ago.
As the 10-year anniversary of Britt’s death approaches, the police who investigated her death in the historic resort town of Dubrovnik admitted to News Corp that while the case remained open, they would probably never know what happened.
More than 800 police interviews, 18 boxes of files and an Australian coronial inquest have failed to uncover the truth behind her disappearance and the discovery of her body in the ocean nearly three weeks later.
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The Lapthorne mystery remains infamous in the seaside tourist town, but no new information has come to light in years.
A retired senior policeman who worked on the case told News Corp that investigators “did our best”.
“We worked day and night on this case, but nothing appeared,” he said, asking for his name to be withheld because of the controversy surrounding the case.
“After all these years we never found evidence of a crime.”
Victorian coroner Ian Gray came to the same conclusion in 2015, when he said the available evidence ruled out suicide as a cause of death but could not say whether Britt had been murdered or died as a result of an accident.
Her family believes she was murdered.
Britt travelled alone to Dubrovnik, a popular destination with young holiday makers, on September 15, 2008, staying at the Backpackers’ Club Hostel in the suburb of Babin Kuk.
At 11pm on September 17, she went to the Club Fuego nightclub with a group of backpackers from the hostel.
She was last seen at the nightclub at 3.30am and no evidence was ever found detailing when she left the nightclub or whether she left alone.
Her severely decomposed body was discovered by a fisherman in Boninovo Bay on October 6.
Her clothing, shoes and camera were never found.
Britt’s parents were not aware that she was missing until contacted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on September 24.
Her father, Dale Lapthorne, and brother Darren travelled to Dubrovnik in the desperate hope she was still alive.
Australian and Croatian autopsies were unable to state a cause of death.
Club Fuego closed in 2014 and reopened that year as Sky Bar under new ownership. It is much the same as it was in 2008, with the nightclub, popular with young tourists, located below street level. The current management declined to speak to News Corp.
The former police investigator said they had done “a lot more than any other case” to try to determine the cause of Britt’s death.
“There was so much pressure from the media, the family and the Australian Embassy,” he said.
The pressure also came from politicians, including former speaker of the parliament, Luka Bebic, he said.
As the scrutiny intensified, international agencies, including the FBI and Interpol, became involved to help track down other backpackers who had been in Dubrovnik at the time of Britt’s disappearance but had since left the city.
A Dubrovnik Police Department spokeswoman told News Corp the case remained open but was no longer an active investigation.
“While the case was still being actively investigated we explored all the directions and possibilities in terms of the investigation until there was nothing new,” she said.
“If in the future there is other useful information, police will check the other details.
“There was no proof it was a murder but no proof that it wasn’t, so we keep it open.
“I feel sorry for the family and I understand why they wanted a thorough investigation.”
Reports of men ordering women into their van around the time of Britt’s disappearance were found to be unrelated, the spokeswoman said.
“In the ten years before and the ten years since there has been nothing similar and there have been no unsolved murders,” she said.
“The city is safe.”
The “safe city” message is regularly reinforced by locals concerned about the impact of the incident on the city’s reputation and tourism industry.
The number of Australians visiting Dubrovnik continues to grow.
They are drawn to its sparkling blue waters and unique Old Town, which has since doubled as the filming location for Game of Thrones and Star Wars.
Dubrovnik Tourism Board director Romana Vlasic said Australian visitor numbers ranked in the top five, with totals rising each year.
About 45,000 Australians visited the city in 2017, staying an average of three nights.
“Australians love to travel,” Ms Vlasic said.
“First we had young people, but now it is all markets.”
There are three main nightclub destinations in proximity to the Old Town, with young Australian’s making up a substantial portion of the clientele.
Several Australian tourists in Dubrovnik told News Corp they were aware of the Lapthorne case and had thought about the 21-year-old as they toured the city this month.
Others were shocked to hear of what happened in a city they felt was safe and welcoming.
New South Wales travellers Tara Price and Selina MacDougal, both 18, spent three nights in the city this month before joining a Sail Croatia tour.
Just eight years old when Britt disappeared, they had not heard of the tragedy and said they felt safe in Dubrovnik.
“I think my mum would have said something if she was worried about me coming to Dubrovnik,” Ms MacDougal said.
Ms Price said the Croatian cities and island she had visited had a “less full-on party vibe” than tourist hot spots on Greek islands.
“I feel as safe here as any other place,” she said.
Tasmanian Jade Hales, 31 — the same age Britt would have been — remembered her disappearance but not a lot of the details.
She described herself as a cautious traveller.
“I remember the case, but I think it can happen anywhere,” she said.
“I remember when she was missing, she was missing for a while.”
Isabelle Graham, 28, had not heard of Britt’s disappearance but was wary of her trip to Croatia after hearing of the alleged rape of an Australian tourist shortly before her visit.
“There was a girl raped here a few weeks ago and my mum mentioned it to me and told me to be careful,” she said.
“But we feel safe here and travelling together is good.”
Locals remain fascinated with the case, although many are reluctant to talk about it publicly.
Taxi drivers, hotel crew and restaurant staff all know of Britt Lapthorne and have their own theories about her death.
There was even talk of establishing a “modern mysteries” walking tour, with the case acting as one of the stories. It did not go ahead.
A taxi driver, who remembered Britt’s disappearance, said it was a “big shock for the city”.
“There has been no tragedy since, this is a very safe city,” he said.
“There is no crime in Dubrovnik,” a hotel waiter said.
“I think it was an accident.”
Britt Lapthorne was not the first young Australian to go missing in Croatia.
In March 2007, the body of 24-year-old Adelaide hiker Andrew Modistach was found 18 months after he went missing while climbing 961m Sveti Ilija hill on the Peljesac Peninsula.
The lack of CCTV footage recorded around the time of Britt’s disappearance proved problematic for investigators.
“The CCTV was not at the level it is today, so we missed things with cars etcetera that could have helped the case,” the former policeman said.
One legacy of Britt’s death, according to local crime reporter Ahmet Kalajzic, was that the number of CCTV cameras in Dubrovnik had increased and the city’s residents and police were noticeably more active in dealing with missing persons situations in the early days.
“Because of the case there is a lot more security awareness in Dubrovnik,” said Mr Kalajzic, who covered the story at the time.
“Police and citizens of Dubrovnik now pay careful attention in these kinds of situations.
“Still many people remember Britt Lapthorne and ordinary people feel sorry that it happened in their city.”
Mr Kalajzic said “now practically every corner of the city” is under CCTV surveillance and police have a room where they can monitor activity.
The police spokeswoman said CCTV had increased because of improvements in technology, not necessarily because of the Britt Lapthorne case.
News Corp sought to track down the elderly fisherman who found Britt’s body in the ocean but found out that he has since died.
The owners of the Backpackers’ Club Hostel declined to be interviewed.
An acquaintance told News Corp that the family had faced “unfair” accusations in the past.
“These are good people, they run a nice hostel and get good reviews and lots of people come back,” she said.
“They run it like a family.
“She (Britt) stayed here but what happened to her had nothing to do with where she was staying.
“There was a lot of talk in Dubrovnik, it’s a small town and people were asking questions and giving strange looks to this hostel.”
Former Dubrovnik police officer turned journalist Mladen Gojun told News Corp he does not believe the case will ever be solved.
He said the early part of the investigation was flawed, particularly with delays in searching relevant places and interviewing relevant people, but “protocol was obeyed”.
“Neither Australia nor Croatia found any trace that she had suffered violence,” he said.
“It is a mystery.”
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