# Ben Needham disappearance 21 years ago - what's your theory?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-needham-disappearance-21-years-ago-whats-your-theory/638499>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 22, 2012, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-needham-disappearance-21-years-ago-whats-your-theory/638499 "2012-10-22T07:33:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-needham-disappearance-21-years-ago-whats-your-theory/638499/1 "2012-10-22T07:33:51Z")

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After the recent success of the [Madeleine McCann](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=667407) thread, I saw on the news that police on Kos are re-opening the search for the toddler Ben who [vanished 21 years ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=667407), without a trace (so far).

If they do find his body under the building rubble, I can’t decide whether it’s mainly deeply sad that he was there all along and the family has suffered the agony of not knowing for all these years, or infuriatingly incompetetent on the part of the police for not having looked at the new pile of dumped rubble in the first place.

What do you think happened to him? Any Dopers out there heard some rumours or theories that haven’t hit the mainstream press?

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**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-needham-disappearance-21-years-ago-whats-your-theory/638499/2 "2012-10-22T10:58:49Z")

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Your links both point to the first thread.

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**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-needham-disappearance-21-years-ago-whats-your-theory/638499/3 "2012-10-22T11:14:42Z")

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Thanks - second link was meant to be to here - [Ben Needham: Grandfather joins Kos search - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-20014839)

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**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-needham-disappearance-21-years-ago-whats-your-theory/638499/4 "2012-10-22T12:34:10Z")

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Kos = ???

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-needham-disappearance-21-years-ago-whats-your-theory/638499/5 "2012-10-22T12:37:15Z")

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> [@elbows](#):
>
> Kos = ???

[Kos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kos) is a Greek island.

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**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-needham-disappearance-21-years-ago-whats-your-theory/638499/6 "2012-10-22T12:38:44Z")

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Greek Island, and popular UK holiday destination. [Kos - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kos)

I’m getting the impression this case is pretty much unheard of outside the UK?