Facebook detectives descend on thriller of lacking psychologist, 30, who vanished from streets of Essex

Mystery over the whereabouts of Brazillian academic Vitoria Barreto deepened today as it emerged a boat police think she took had been found without its buoyancy aid.

Clinical psychologist Vitoria, 30, vanished 15 days ago on March 3 after visiting her friend Liliane Silva and staying at her home in Southend, Essex.

Numerous potential sightings are being investigated by police but the lack of answers have sparked speculation among armchair detectives and internet sleuths over what could have happened.

Most are suggesting areas that could be searched or why there has not been more CCTV released to help look for her.

Others have dreamt up outlandish theories the Mail is not reporting out of respect for her family.

On the day she went missing Vitoria and Liliane had spent time working on a project together at the University of Essex Colchester campus in Wivenhoe Park where Liliane works as a lecturer in clinical psychology.

Whilst taking a break together by the pond on campus, Liliane asked the usually very ‘talkative’ Vitoria what was wrong after noticing she had been ‘quiet, upset’ and acting ‘airy and confused’.

But Vitoria refused to open up, telling her friend they would talk later instead – a reaction friends and family say was very out of character for her.

‘I said “Sometimes it’s too late V, lets talk”, but she said “Observe the ducks” – which was not like her, she was not that contemplative person,’ Liliane said during a press conference with Essex Police last week.

When Liliane left the campus at around 1pm, Vitoria told her she was going back to the library to continue working on their project about mental health services and that she would see her later.

However, for reasons yet to be discovered, Vitoria did not return to the library and instead was seen on CCTV boarding the 87 bus on Boundary Road just outside the campus.

Vitoria Figueiredo Barreto, 30, had been in the UK visiting her friend Liliane Silva and staying at her home in Southend, Essex, when she went missing on March 3 

Two CCTV stills show Vittoria got on the number 87 bus in Boundary Road just after 1pm on March 3 and got off 30 minutes later in Bellfield Avenue, Brightlingsea

She stayed on it for 30 minutes and got off on Bellfield Avenue in Brightlingsea – an area her friend said she had never been to.

Liliane said search history on Vitoria’s Google account led her to believe she had been trying to get the 87 bus going the other way to Colchester, but accidentally got on the wrong one on the other side of the road, forgetting cars drive on the left in the UK.

Vitoria had been wearing a dark coat, a blue turtleneck jumper, light blue jeans and dark trainers with white soles on the day she went missing. 

The last person thought to have seen her in person is Justin Francis and his partner who were walking their dog along Bellfield Avenue when a woman matching her description approached them and introduced herself as Vitoria.

Justin said she asked if she could come into their home, but did not explain why.

He said they now feel ‘a little bit guilty’ for being the last people to see her and speak to her.

‘If we had known at the time she was missing, we would have brought her back to our house and got her a cup of tea,’ he told the BBC.

She was then spotted on doorbell footage in the Hurst Green area of Brightlingsea shortly after 2.30pm.

Her tote bag – which had the words ‘people over profit’ adorned on it – was found nearly a week later on March 9 just off Copperas Road, in Brightlingsea. Her laptop was also found in Brightlingsea on March 14. 

Blurry CCTV footage showed a person who police believe to be Vitoria walking alone along the waterfront after climbing over a metal fence into a boatyard on Brightlingsea pontoon at 12.16am.

She was not seen on CCTV for the next 20 minutes, with police believing she may have been the person who during that time unmoored and potentially boarded a boat which went missing from a pontoon that night.

Blurry CCTV footage showed a person who police believe to be Vitoria walking alone along the waterfront after climbing over a metal fence into a boatyard on Brightlingsea pontoon at 12.16am

When Liliane left the campus at around 1pm, Vitoria (pictured) told her she was going back to the library to continue working on their project about mental health services and that she would see her later

Liliane (pictured right with Vitoria’s mother) said the last time she saw Vitoria she tried to ask what was wrong and why she appeared ‘upset, airy and confused’

Police said the ‘vessel does not appear to have had its engine started and, over the next few hours, began drifting out of the harbour before ultimately coming to a rest close to Bradwell-on-Sea later in morning’.

At around midday on March 4, the boat was found a drift in the water close to Bradwell-on-Sea with the lifesaving buoyancy aid used to help passengers float in the water during emergencies missing.

In their latest update, Essex Police said: ‘At this stage, there is still no clear and visible footage to conclusively state it was the 30-year-old Brazilian who unmoored the boat. 

‘However, we know Vitoria was seen walking alone in the waterfront area at 12.16am, having climbed over a nearby metal fence, which is close to where the boat was unmoored.’

Speaking at a press conference with Essex Police last week about her friend’s mental state, Liliane said: ‘We know that she is probably not in a good place, she is probably out of her mind, upset, struggling. We don’t know why and we don’t want to judge it now, we just want her with us.

‘She needs to feel protected, she needs to feel loved. It was never her behaviour, that’s why we are so scared since the first second.’