A young soldier found dead after a night out may have been beaten up because he got into the wrong car, police have said.
This month, Charlie Saywell, 25, was pulled from a river in Kent. He had just told a friend that he had been punched in the face. His family is now asking people who saw him die to come forward.
Police are looking for the driver or anyone who saw a fight happen near the mysterious car on Chatham High Street.
People have called Mr. Saywell a gentle giant. He was out with friends and then took a cab back to his Brompton home. He probably didn’t go to bed, though. Instead, he went to Chatham Town Center between 12:10 a.m. and 2:40 a.m. to get food from a fast food place.
During this time, he was seen walking past Primark and into a fast-food takeout. He called a friend, which made police think he might have been attacked after getting into an unknown car by accident.
He got facial injuries, and detectives think the driver hit him.
At 10:46 a.m. on Tuesday, March 5, Mr. Saywell’s body was found in the River Medway near Main Gate Road in Chatham.
Victoria Brown, Charlie’s mother, said, “If you saw my son Charlie moving around early that morning and have any information, no matter how small, please contact Kent Police so our family can find out what happened to him.”
On a GoFundMe page to raise £1,000 for Mr. Saywell’s funeral bills, his friend Joe Leishman wrote nice things about him.
“For those of you who didn’t get to meet or know our Charlie, he was a gentle giant,” he wrote. He was a big part of my life and a big inspiration to me.
“Charlie was someone I looked up to mentally and physically. He died not long ago at the age of 25.”
At this point, Det. Sgt. Karen Caulfield, who is in charge of the case, said that Kent Police were not looking into his death as suspicious.
“We don’t know for sure where Charlie went from 12:10 a.m. to 2:40 a.m., but he had a phone conversation before he died that made it sound like he may have been attacked in town during that time,” she said.
“We want to hear from anyone who saw Charlie walking around Gillingham and Chatham during these times.”
For example, we want to hear from anyone who saw him at a fast food restaurant or in or near a car accident.
“Right now, we’re not looking into Charlie’s death as suspicious, but it is important that we know where he went and what happened to him before he died.”
When he was last seen, Mr. Saywell was wearing a dark blue short-sleeved t-shirt, khaki jeans, and white sneakers.
If you know anything, please call the Kent Police appeal line at 01634 792209 and give the case number 46/36226/24. Also, drivers with dashcams and people or companies with private CCTV are being asked to look for relevant footage.
