Missing man of 20 years found dead by garden in bush with broken bones
More than 20 years after he was last seen at a bus stop in May 2002, a man's bones were discovered in overgrown bushes, with questions remaining over what may have happened to him.
An inquest heard that a gardener found the body of Russell Scozzi in a secluded woodland area behind houses, with the man last having been seen alive at a bus station in May 2002 when he was aged 44.
Scozzi had quit his lucrative IT job in graphic design without explanation and disappeared. He'd been known to travel, but his wallet and passport were found at his Swansea home, which raised the alarm among his family.
The inquest was told that Scozzi had a drug addiction and could have been abducted by drug dealers over a £16,000 debt, but police never found evidence to support this suggestion.
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Detective Sergeant Sara Herbert of South Wales Police said that several lines of inquiry had been followed, including the possibility he'd been abducted, she said: "There was nothing to support the theory he'd been abducted. It was rumour and conjecture."
Swansea's Guildhall heard that the bones of Scozzi had 'multiple fractures', and the father-of-two had been identified by his dental records.
A previous hearing in 2023 had heard that a resident of Waverley Drive in Mumbles found 'skeletal remains' while gardening on the overgrown area next to their house.
Clothes and blue sheets were found a mile from Scozzi's former home, with police called to the scene.
"You feel detached as if it's happening to someone else"
No definitive cause of death has been given and senior coroner Aled Gruffydd returned an open conclusion.
Scozzi's sister Danielle Scozzi-Owens spoke out after his body had been discovered, she said: "My heart goes out to Russell's children who have grown up without their father and never really knowing what happened to him.
"I dearly loved Russell. He was my big brother who I always looked up to when I was growing up.
"Finally, we can be given the opportunity to grieve him properly."
Danielle said that her brother being missing with no explanation had been 'more difficult' over time as she lived for over two decades without an answer as to what had happened to him.
"It's disbelief - you feel detached as if it's happening to someone else," she said.
"As time goes on, it becomes more real and more difficult to deal with. Not knowing is indescribable. You think every day that he is going to turn up. Every day gets harder."
With no cause of death confirmed, the question of what happened to Russell for him to end up missing and his broken body be discovered over 20 years later remains a mystery.
Joe Harker