Kyle ‘Jabbers’ Vaughan was born 3rd of august 1988, to his parents Mary and Alan. He worked for Unilever in production technology at the time of his disappearance and was said to be “Family orientated, Larger than life, fun loving young man” and was nicknamed “Jabbers” by friends.
He was a former Cwmcarn High School student, an avid rock fan with many friends and was diagnosed with diabetes and needed regular insulin injections. According to WalesOnline he would often attend a venue in Newport known as ‘TJs’ where he’d often put on gigs and would book bands from as far as Europe.
According to his father, Alan Lucas, Kyle was committed to his work “110% all of the time” and would seek help from his father if he wasn’t sure what to do and receive advice
He was also described as a “Party Animal” who did charity work for cancer charities because of his mother. His father also notes how well liked he was, saying “We had a party for his 21st birthday and 91 friends of his turned up so me and Mary were sat outside on the kerb.” He also had a cheeky spirit, with his father mentioning how “I bought him a music centre for his birthday and he would put it up on full blast. I would turn it off so he would turn the internet off until I put it back on.”
He was described as having a barcode tattoo on his inner left forearm, and often wore a gold neck chain with a cross, and He was last seen wearing a dark-coloured beanie, a dark-coloured T-shirt, Three-quarter-length denim shorts, white trainers and a gold chain.
Kyle’s disappearance
Kyle Vaughan’s car recovered by police on December 30
Kyle’s car, A Silver Peugeot 306
Kyle had left his family home on 30th of December 2012, and police place his last known location on the A467 between Risca and Crosskeys where police found his damaged car at 11:45pm following a single vehicle collision.
His father, Alan, had originally been woken up by police at 3am accusing him of drink-driving and leaving the scene of an accident, Alan soon realised that it was Kyle’s car they had found, and Alan went to the scene and looked at the car, which he mentions thinking “How did he walk away from that?”, It is however unknown if Kyle had been the one driving the car.
Kyle’s parents have announced suspicions in a statement that “We feel there are people out there who could hold information that is vital to this inquiry. It’s also possible that there are people who know what’s happened to Kyle but are too scared to come forward.” Kyle’s friend’s said they struggled to sleep because of being sick with worry and wanted to welcome him home with a “Massive welsh cwtch” Kyle’s brother, Karl Shaehan, also expressed how it had affected his family, describing them as feeling numb and sick with worry as to what could’ve happened, and that they were in total shock when being told that Kyle was feared dead.
Within the month of Kyle’s disappearance, Gwent police had taken 600 hours of operational actions, such as analysing 200 hours of CCTV Footage from a hundred sites, and more than 230 statements and interviews of relevant individuals.
Police also received information that Kyle may have been hitch hiking a lift on the A467 northbound between Risca and Crosskeys, around 22:35 and 00:30 on the day of his disappearance
Arrests and continuing investigations
On January 10th Kyle’s case was changed from a missing persons inquiry to a murder investigation. Several arrests were made including:
Jan 10th, 2013: A 27 year old man is arrested on suspicion of Kyle’s murder, and Kyle’s case is upgraded from missing persons inquiry to a murder investigation.
Jan 12th, 2013: A 62-year-old man from Newbridge is arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, as well as a 21-year-old man, also from Newbridge, is arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
Jan 14th, 2013: A 15 year-old boy is arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
Jan 18th, 2013: A 24-year-old man from Blackwood is arrested on suspicion of murder and a 22-year-old woman from Newbridge is arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
Jan 22nd, 2013: A 27-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man from Cwmfelinfach, are arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
There is now a total of 8 arrests. On the 5th of December 2013, Gwent Police announced 5 suspects have now been released without charge, The 2 murder suspects and the teenager suspected of assisting an offender are the only ones to remain under investigation at this point.
On the 1st anniversary of Kyle’s disappearance, a new appeal for information regarding the case is released, and a sponsored charity walk is hosted at Rodney Parade, Newport.
On 5th of February 2015, the last 3 suspects are released and on October 14th of 2016 Kyle is declared legally deceased by the High court and his parents receive a presumption of death certificate.
Unfortunately Kyle’s mother, Mary Lucas, passed away on January 1st 2018 due to complications from liver cancer. She passed not knowing what happened to Kyle and left behind her husband, Alan Lucas.
More than a decade later, the question remains the same: what happened to Kyle after his car was found on the A467, and who knows more than they have said?
Alan remains actively campaigning for his son on many platforms, Including the Facebook group dedicated to Kyle : Justice For Kyle.
If you have any information at all, no matter how small you may think it is, please contact:
Gwent police on 101, Online at www.gwent.police.uk or via email at contact@gwent.police.gov.uk quoting log reference 397 30/12/12.
OR contact Crimestoppers anonymously with details on 0800 555 111 or via crimestoppers-uk.org.
When writing this, I have tried to only use official sources, most of whom I’ve linked, with those being news sources, and Gwent police.
If you think I’m missing any details, or have maybe used or stated something incorrectly, please correct me and I will make sure to update this post.
Credit: Shannon Gwyer
