23-year-old Catherine Shaw. Source: facebook.Catherine Shaw had been missing since March 5th.
A wide scale search for a missing British backpacker in Guatemala has come to a tragic end.
23-year-old Catherine Shaw's body was discovered just a short hike from the Mayachik eco-hotel she was staying in and reported missing from on March 5th.
Searchers found the yoga teacher's jacket along with her puppy “shivering and alone” on a volcano, which then sadly led to the discovery of a body which has now been identified to be Ms Shaw.
A spokesman for the Lucie Blackman Trust, which supports British nationals in crisis overseas and had assisted with the search, confirmed the news on Facebook.
“We are now able to confirm that the body found in the search in Guatemala is that of missing Catherine Shaw.”
“Thank you to everyone who has helped in the search.
“Our thoughts are with Catherine’s family, who we will continue to support as they need.”
According to reports, police are yet to confirm if the death was accidental or if Ms Shaw met with foul play.
Missing British backpacker Catherine Shaw's body was found at a Guatemalan tourist hotspot. Source: FacebookCatherine, of Witney, Oxfordshire in the UK, had been staying in the San Pedro, Lake Atitlan area of the central American country with a friend.
The 23-year-old was last seen on CCTV leaving her hotel in San Juan La Laguna, near Lake Atitlan, barefoot and with the puppy just before 5.30am on March 5, “heading in the direction of the lake”.
“At this point she had a puppy with her but no other possessions,” the spokesman said.
Catherine had been travelling since September last year and had previously visited Mexico and California.
Hard to fathom.
A worker at the hotel where Catherine was staying said staff tried to fathom why she had left alone in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“The cameras show she was with her friend Elena for about an hour opposite a bungalow and then she played the musical instrument she left with after Elena went to bed,” the worker said.
“The instrument she was playing was a Hang and people who had seen her with it earlier described it as having a black case. You can’t see on the CCTV what Catherine was wearing.
“San Juan la Laguna is very safe and quiet and we don’t suspect at this stage anything bad has happened to Catherine.
“We just think she’s got lost somewhere and hope she can be found as soon as possible.”
The worker added: “Catherine was sharing a room with about four or five other people. She had checked in with Elena and my understanding is Elena checked out on Tuesday morning.”
When asked if anything untoward had happened before the British backpacker vanished from the hotel, the worker said: “We didn’t notice anything. Everything seemed normal.”
