When people disappear without a trace of their own accord, the aftermath causes friends and family to question everything, and even blame themselves for the circumstances. They replay old memories and conversations in their head wondering if something they said or did was the reason why their loved one decided to vanish. Those questions begin to seep into every facet of their lives as the answers may forever be lingering over them as a dark cloud without any sunlight in sight. The story of Andrew Gosden’s unsolved disappearance is an example of such pain and heartache.

Andrew Gosden was born on July 10, 1993, to his parents, Kevin and Glenys Gosden, who both worked as speech therapists in Balby — a suburb of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. He grew up with his older sister by two years, Charlotte Gosden, and the two were both very intelligent. As a teenager, Andrew attended McAuley Catholic High School with a 100% attendance record and had a knack for mathematics. He was in the top 5% in the government’s Young, Gifted, and Talented Programme for high-achieving students and was predicted to score straight A’s on the GSCE’s.

The future was bright for Andrew, but he was still an ordinary teenager who didn’t mind isolating himself in his bedroom to play video games and read science fiction and fantasy books such as Lord of the Rings and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He also enjoyed collecting rocks and gems and listening to heavy metal music. If you walked into his bedroom you would immediately be met with posters of his favorite bands plastered all over the walls, such as Slipknot, Marylin Manson, Muse, and Funeral for a Friend. As for hobbies away from home, he loved visiting museums and exhibitions to enrich his knowledge and gain a better understanding of the history of a time that once was.

On Friday, September 14, 2007, the normal lives of the Gosden family changed drastically in ways that were never even fathomable beforehand. Initially, the day began as typical as could be. It was only eight days into the new school term when 14-year-old Andrew woke up for school, put on his McAuley Catholic High uniform, and told his family bye as he walked out the door of his Littlemoor Lane home and to the school bus, as he so often did.

However, he seemingly made an unexpected detour with unclear motives. Rather than attending school, he chose to stay behind and wait for his sister and parents to leave home. After their departure, he returned home, changed his clothes into a black Slipknot t-shirt and black jeans, grabbed his wallet, keys, PSP without the charger, and shoulder bag and walked out the door to the nearest ATM and withdrew €200.00 from his bank account. Thereafter, he made his way to Doncaster train station and purchased a one-way ticket at 9:30 a.m. to Kings Cross, London, roughly two hours away. The ticket seller advised him he could purchase a return ticket for 50p but he declined the offer for unbeknownst reasons. At 11:20 a.m. CCTV footage captured Andrew arriving at his destination without a problem, but his whereabouts afterward is unknown and he has never been seen since.

Andrew’s family hadn’t any inkling that he had skipped school for the day until later that evening. When Andrew got home from school he would typically go to his bedroom or the converted cellar to play video games, so it wasn’t a surprise when Kevin and Glenys didn’t see their son after they arrived home from work. It wasn’t until 7:00 p.m. when Glenys called out for Andrew and Charlotte to eat dinner when the discovery was made. When Andrew never emerged from the bedroom or cellar, Glenys went looking for him, but could only find his school blazer and tie draped neatly over the back of his chair and his shirt and trousers in the washing machine.

The family immediately knew something was wrong because Andrew was considered a “home bird” and always mentioned where he was going when he decided to leave home. Phone calls were made to friends in the area but nobody had seen him. They proceeded to call his school and was alarmed by the news that he never attended any classes for the day. It was learned that the school tried making contact with his parents when he didn’t arrive at his morning class, but they dialed the wrong phone number so nobody was alerted to the situation.

Unaware if Andrew left on his own free will or was abducted on his way to school, they believed if he did go anywhere on his own accord it would be in London, particularly in Chislehurst and Sidcup where he often visited his distant relatives during the holidays. Praying for a miracle, they contacted his aunts and grandparents in the area but it turned out to be fruitless, so their last option was to notify the South Yorkshire Police, where an immediate search began.

Over the course of several days, hardly any answers were unraveled. The Gosden family made sure to keep their son’s disappearance in the public eye by distributing missing person flyers throughout town and the Doncaster train station. As a result, eyewitnesses started coming forward sharing alleged sightings.

One credible testimony came from an adult woman who claimed to see Andrew at a Pizza Hut on Oxford Street in Convent Garden on the day he vanished. She reported the information to the police but it was later discovered they waited until six weeks to follow up on the report. Another witness was the individual who sold Andrew his ticket to Kings Cross. He told the family he was by himself and purchased a one-way ticket, but refused to buy a return ticket at a cheap price.

Now that a solid lead was uncovered, the family began feeling much more hopeful, but the police neglected to browse the CCTV footage until 27-days later, where the video captured Andrew getting off the train station. The amount of time that passed by before looking through the footage angered the family because most of the film had been deleted by the time it was viewed. Kevin Gosden went on to criticize the South Yorkshire Police’s ineptitude by saying, “The handling of the investigation was too slow, too chaotic, and disorganized.”

As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, and months into a year, the impact of Andrew’s disappearance began to be unbearable for Kevin as a lack of answers were churning in. He quit his job as a speech therapist because he couldn’t keep his thoughts straight. Depression started to overwhelm him to the point he attempted to commit suicide, and he subsequently spent fifteen weeks in a psychiatric hospital. Glenys, on the other hand, found working and keeping busy helped her maintain a level of normalcy as she continued to pursue answers to Andrew’s whereabouts.

In October 2008, the charity “Missing People” helped the Gosden family in many facets — even going as far as having Andrew’s photograph printed on milk cartons that were sold by the Iceland supermarket, hoping the 100,000 cartons sold a day would generate more awareness and leads.

One month later in November 2008, an unidentified male visited the Leominster Police Station located in Herefordshire in the late evening hours using the outside intercom claiming to have information on Andrew Gosden. By the time an officer came to the front of the station the man had disappeared and never resurfaced.

The following year on Andrew’s 16th birthday, Kevin and Glenys released a statement to the press urging the public to keep searching. On the anniversary of his disappearance that September, computer-generated age-progression sketches created by experts for a television program centered on missing people were released.

In October 2009, one of Andrew’s favorite bands, Muse, was hosting a concert at the Sheffield Arena. Kevin had taken Andrew and Charlotte to see them play on their last tour in 2006 and it was a fond memory for them all. Hoping to bring out positive memories, family and friends stood outside passing out over 10,000 leaflets about Andrew, hoping to continue spreading public awareness; and Muse themselves got involved by offering free tickets to Andrew if he decided to come forward. Despite an admirable effort by combined resources, nothing pivotal came from the new push for information and the case turned cold.

By May 2011, hope began to dwindle due to a lack of progress. Kevin started believing Andrew passed away and hired a private company to perform a sonar scan of the River Thames — hoping answers would be unearthed even if they weren’t the ones he desired. After a thorough sweep had been conducted a body was discovered but it did not belong to Andrew. The latest results provided mixed emotions; it was a sigh of relief knowing that Andrew hadn’t been in the river, but on the other hand, it was painful because a resolution wasn’t able to be provided. Kevin described life during the four-years of Andrew being gone as a “never-ending limbo of just thinking, ‘Why did you go?’.”

On what would have been Andrew’s 18th birthday, Barry Ford, a businessman from Kent, offered up his sports car to anyone that would provide information that would lead to answers to Andrew’s whereabouts. Though nothing was able to be gleaned from this opportunity, the rallying and support from a friend gave Kevin gratitude and strength to keep carrying on the good fight.

In 2014, the television program “Panorama” on BBC One, an investigative journalism television show that focuses on current affairs, featured Andrew’s parents, hoping new leads would be phoned in after the broadcast. They made it aware that Andrew would be 23-years-old by then and prayed he would watch the program and reach out, but they also told the media, “I think it’s unlikely he will make contact but we still have hope.”

Two years later, Andrew’s case was still remaining strong in the public. A charity event for families of missing children was held on May 25, 2016, and many celebrity musicians collaborated together to unveil a new [single] song to further help fund researching for those who are missing. The song was titled “I Hope,” which was inspired by a poem Kevin had written about his son in 2013.

The following year in 2017 the South Yorkshire Police launched a fresh appeal urging anyone to come forward even if they believe the information they have may seem insignificant. On the anniversary of Andrew’s disappearance, Kevin held a vigil at the Doncaster train station to honor his son’s memory by remaining silent for ten hours — one hour for each year his son has been missing.

It’s now 2018 and Andrew’s disappearance is still as relevant as it was in 2007. Online web sleuths have made it their mission to seek answers and to keep the hope alive, and forums and blogs can be found to show such dedication.

As for the Gosden family, they remain diligent. The journey has been rough, however, especially for Kevin. He recalls memories of being energetic and enthusiastic to take his children on adventures — taking them out on the speedboat; swimming under the summer night stars; teaching them how to snorkel, and even going paragliding. Now, his energy has since depleted and is plagued by post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and still battling suicidal thoughts. He presses onward though, with the support of his wife Glenys and daughter Charlotte, who is trying to be the best family they can while keeping Andrew a part of it in order to keep his spirit alive. They continue to deposit money into his bank account, and they haven’t remodeled his bedroom or changed the locks on the doors, hoping one day he will open the door to come back home.