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Home / Travel

UK backpacker fell to her death while walking naked along Guatemalan mountain

Daily Telegraph UK
25 Oct, 2019 01:04 AM3 mins to read

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Catherine was found naked near the top of a walking trail six days after being reported missing in March. Photo / Instagram

Catherine was found naked near the top of a walking trail six days after being reported missing in March. Photo / Instagram

A British backpacker fell to her death while walking naked along a Guatemalan mountain trail to watch the sunrise, an inquest heard.

Yoga teacher Catherine Shaw, 23, was feared to have been murdered when her body was found near San Juan La Laguna on March 5.

She had been dead from "multiple injuries" for about four to six days when she was discovered, Coroner Darren Salter said today.

Catherine Shaw died after falling from a mountain hiking trail in Guatemala as she went to watch the sunrise while naked. Photo / Lucie Blackman Trust
Catherine Shaw died after falling from a mountain hiking trail in Guatemala as she went to watch the sunrise while naked. Photo / Lucie Blackman Trust

Local police initially suspected foul play because her clothes had been removed and her head and legs had been injured.

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But Shaw's family have accepted that she probably fell after taking her clothes off so she could enjoy the sunshine more after climbing up a volcano hill alone.

Her dad, Tarquin Shaws, told the court she was "comfortable in her own skin" and previously went to places "where nudity was accepted".

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"This is something she was quite capable of.It is unusual for a 23-year-old to not be body-conscious and she was not."

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Salter said there was "no evidence of any suspicious circumstances or third part involvement" in her death.

He concluded that Shaw's injuries were consistent with those suffered during a fall.

She could have become disoriented on the trail because she had been fasting for at least a few days before her death due to her spiritual beliefs, the inquest heard.

Shaw, who lived near Witney, Oxon., loved yoga, crystals and reiki healing and had travelled abroad to Spain, Australia, India and Mexico, often as a solo traveller, her family said.

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She had previously slipped in the same steep volcanic area a few days prior to her fatal fall, her mother said, but she had been with a friend at the time.

Her body was discovered on March 11 after a massive police search involving tracker dogs.

Concluding the inquest in Oxford, the Oxfordshire Coroner Darren Salter gave a ruling of accidental death.

Catherine Shaw.
Catherine Shaw.

He said: "On or about March 5 2019, Catherine Shaw was believed to be hiking when she fell from a mountain trail, sustaining multiple injuries from which she died."

People searching for Shaw at the mountain found her jacket and her puppy "shivering and alone" on a volcano.

Both were discovered a short hike from the Mayachik eco-hotel, where Shaw was reported missing.

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Shaw was last seen in the early hours in San Juan la Laguna in the Lake Atitlan area of the central American country, where she had been travelling with a friend.

A police report at the time stated Shaw was found "totally naked, face down and at first sight has visible blows to her body and lacerations on her left leg".

Police suspected foul play but Lucie Blackman Trust released a statement on her family's behalf at the time saying it was "conceivable" she had died from a tragic accident.

"We know that Catherine had been fasting for the days leading to her disappearance and that she had been disposing of possessions, including clothing.

"She was very much a nature lover and adored sunrises, so it seems quite conceivable that she went up the mountain to greet the sunrise, shedding clothing as she went, and due to her lack of intake of food and fluid may have passed out or fallen, causing the wounds to her body."

- addional reporting by NZ Herald

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