Police investigating the death of a man who went missing from the Cheltenham area are appealing for information and dashcam footage. Officers discovered the body of a man in a ditch alongside Old Gloucester Road in Staverton at approximately 1.20pm on Sunday, 3 May. Formal identification has since taken place, and the deceased is believed to be 62-year-old Andy Reed, who had been reported missing from the Staverton area on Tuesday, 28 April. He was last seen at around 10pm on Saturday, 25 April.
Following a post-mortem examination that uncovered a number of unexplained injuries, detectives are treating the death as unexplained while further enquiries continue. Andy's family has been notified and is being supported by specially trained officers.
Forensic, CCTV and house-to-house enquiries have already been carried out. On 10 May, officers from the Specialist Operations team, Major Crime Investigation Team and Criminal Investigation Department conducted further searches across the Staverton area.
Detective Inspector Paula Hannaford from Gloucestershire Constabulary's Criminal Investigation Department said: "Our thoughts remain with Andy's family at this very difficult time. I am appealing to anyone with any information which might help us piece together what happened to Andy in the days he was missing to please get in touch. I would like to hear from anyone who may have seen Andy walking or cycling along Old Gloucester Road in Staverton between 10pm on 25 April and 1.20pm on 3 May."
Andy may have been riding a blue woman's Dutch style bike when he was last seen, but the bike has not yet been located. The bike has a bright blue/turquoise frame, a white saddle and a metal rack above the rear tyre. Officers are particularly keen to hear from drivers who were on Old Gloucester Road between 25 April and 3 May and have dashcam footage. They also ask residents to review doorbell and CCTV footage from that period.
Andy was around 6ft tall, of slim build, with stubble facial hair and short dark brown hair thinning on top. He was wearing a blue body warmer over a khaki green jumper, brown cords and carrying a black rucksack. Anyone with information should contact Gloucestershire Police quoting incident 237 of 3 May, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.
