I haven't got a clue
I had kind of suspected what you describe above, but it'd take some serious fucking cojones to then go on the world tour and meet the pope in the name of finding her.

if they did kill her, by accident or whatever, then they have followed through their plan with an admirable level of commitment.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 13 Jan 2010, 9:52, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

A very good point, although
I also noticed in the news another story about a fantasist, not unlike our old friend "Ed", who tricked a woman into believing he was an SAS veteran and just kept up the pretence for years on end because he'd dug himself in too deep by that point.

Now this is purely speculative, but I can imagine the alcohol-clouded thinking that might lead a couple to come back and find their daughter in the throes of rigor mortis and deciding, "Oh juddery fuck we must have OD'ed her...I know, we'll say someone kidnapped her."

Then, obviously it does require them to end up in a position like Ed or this other guy, but then it would be in their interests to keep up the pretence for fear of the world finding out that it was all a sham.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 13 Jan 2010, 10:19, Reply)

I reckon they wanted to keep it quiet
but the press blew it out of proportion.
(Himjim died a little more inside on, Wed 13 Jan 2010, 10:36, Reply)