Grieving parents and boyfriend visit site where tragic Joanna was discovered as 'frozen condition of her body' conceals cause of death

• Results of post-mortem examination due tomorrow
• Her body was found on the opposite side of River Avon to her home
• Detectives believe body may have been dumped there on Christmas Day
  
• Anguished boyfriend in 'absolute pieces' by 25-year-old's death

The distraught parents of Joanna Yeates visited the site where their daughter's body was discovered this afternoon. David and Teresa Yeates laid a bouquet of yellow roses with a picture of their daughter on her graduation at the scene and embraced as they wiped away tears. Mr Yeates was seen kissing his wife's hand as she wept.
The pair spent a moment alone at the scene before being joined by others including their son Chris and Miss Yeates' boyfriend Greg Reardon. Mr Reardon, 27, left a bunch of red and yellow flowers at the spot.  The results of Miss Yeates' post-mortem examination are due tomorrow. They have been delayed because of the frozen condition of the body.

Tribute: David and Teresa Yeates today lay flowers at the scene where their daughter's body was discovered
 

                        Miss Yeates' boyfriend Greg Reardon (wearing a black hat) also laid a bouquet 
                        at the scene as family members including her brother Chris looked on

Found dead on Christmas Day: Joanna Yeates, seen here with her cat Bernard, went missing on December 17 Police were today examining footage from Clifton Suspension Bridge's 32 CCTV cameras to trace the final journey of Miss Yeates who was found dead on Christmas Day.

A team of 70 murder squad detectives are trying to determine whether her body was transported across the river or whether she walked across the bridge of her own accord. One theory police are believed to be working on is that Miss Yeates was abducted, knocked unconscious and then died of hypothermia after being pushed out of a car and into the snow.

Miss Yeates was last seen leaving the Ram pub in Bristol on Friday December 17, but her body was found on Christmas morning three miles from her home, on the other side of the River Avon.

The discovery of her body, on a grass verge visible to passing traffic, raises the prospect that the 25-year-old landscape architect was held for eight days before her body was dumped.

The road, despite its semi-rural location, is regularly used by drivers and pedestrians, and locals say her body would have been noticed on Christmas Eve if it had been there. It is not yet known how long Miss Yeates had been dead when she was found. Her killer may have kept her captive or stored her body while ignoring emotional television appeals from her parents for her safe return.

Whoever dumped her there would have also have run less risk of being spotted on Christmas Day while revellers celebrated indoors. The body was discovered by a pair of dog walkers at 9am on Christmas Day.

Miss Yeates’s parents are believed to have travelled to Bristol from their Hampshire home to identify her, but before the formal process took place, police confirmed their worst fears.

Heartbreak: Mr and Mrs Yeates wept as they visited the site where their 
daughter Joanna was found. Their son Chris is pictured behind them in a grey coat 

Under observation: Police are examining footage from Clifton Suspension Bridge's 

32 CCTV cameras to try to determine whether Miss Yeates crossed the river on foot or in a car

Final journey: Miss Yeates was found less than three miles from the 
house she shared with her boyfriend

A spokesman said: ‘While a formal identification is yet to be completed, police are satisfied that the body is that of Joanna Yeates.'

After the body was found on Christmas Day, her parents spoke from their home near Romsey, Hampshire, and said the discovery of a body was a kind of relief from the nightmare of not knowing what had happened to their daughter. Speaking before the identity of the body was confirmed, Mr Yeates, 63, said: ‘We don’t want to go to our graves wondering where she is and not being given the chance to say goodbye to her.

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Rest in peace little Jo, we will miss you always': Anguish of family and friends as police confirm body found in snow is missing architect Joanna Yeates

‘We assume that she’s dead so we’d like to say goodbye. Our lives have gone.’

Yesterday a friend of Greg Reardon, who had reported his girlfriend missing a week ago, said: ‘Greg is devastated, like all her family.

Search: Two dog walkers found her body, which police are convinced 
had been recently dumped by the side of the road

Tribute: A bouquet of pink roses lies in the snow in Longwood Lane, 
near to where Miss Yeates's body was found

Out in force: Police comb the crime scene for clues following the discovery of Joanna's body

‘Greg and Jo were so in love and such a lovely couple. He can’t even face going back to their flat from where she was probably taken.’ More than 70 officers had been involved in the search for Miss Yeates after she disappeared following a visit to a pub with colleagues on Friday, December 17. She was filmed on CCTV buying a pizza in a Tesco Express on her one-mile walk home. 

Miss Yeates' keys, coat, mobile and the pizza receipt were found at the home she shared with Mr Reardon. But the pizza and its packaging were missing. Police believe the whereabouts of the pizza may be a vital clue to what happened on December 17.

Anguish: Miss Yeates's parents David and Teresa (left) and her boyfriend Greg Reardon had made desperate appeals for her safe return

Joanna poses with Greg. It was her boyfriend who raised the alarm when he returned from a trip to Sheffield to find she was missing from their flat

She was reported missing in the early hours of the Monday when Mr Reardon, 27, returned from a weekend visit to Sheffield – where he is understood to have been when she was at the pub.

Her body was found on Longwood Lane, which lies between two golf clubs and a quarry.

The site is around three miles from the £200,000 rented flat they shared. It is understood the body was clothed and partially covered in leaves and snow.

Police were yesterday continuing their fingertip search of the area. They will be paying close attention to the Clifton Suspension Bridge – the only direct route between the flat and the spot where the body was found.

The Brunel-designed structure, which spans the Avon Gorge, is constantly scanned by 32 CCTV cameras - in a bid to deter jumpers at the notorious suicide spot.

Officers have been told by people living in the village of Long Ashton, near where the body was found, that her body was probably not dumped until at least the night of Christmas Eve.

One resident said: ‘We drove on that road during the afternoon of Christmas Eve and we would have seen a body.

‘From what I’m told it was just lying on the verge fully clothed and we would have seen it.’

Another possible line of inquiry is that the body was dumped on the grass verge late on December 17, the night Miss Yeates disappeared.

Several inches of snow fell in the area that night and more on the Saturday that could have hidden the body until it was discovered.

But residents of Long Ashton who use Longwood Lane to get to Bristol say they would have noticed a body in the snow.

Last night a police source said detectives were unsure how long Miss Yeates’s body had been by the side of the road. It is also understood that there were no obvious signs to indicate a cause of death.

CCTV clues: Detectives are examining footage from Clifton Suspension Bridge's 32 cameras as they try to discover how her body came to end up on the other side of the structure from her home

Miss Yeates' body was discovered on a grass verge close to
the entrance of a quarry (circled) just outside Bristol

'STRIKING SIMILARITIES' WITH MELANIE HALL

Miss Hall disappeared without a trace in 1996 from a Bath nightclub, 14 miles from Miss Yeates¿s home in Bristol

Detectives have highlighted the ‘striking similarities’ between Miss Yeates’s disappearance and the unsolved murder of Melanie Hall.

Miss Hall disappeared without a trace in 1996 from a Bath nightclub, 14 miles from Miss Yeates’s home in Bristol.

Both women were 25 when they vanished after apparently returning home following a social engagement with friends.

They had short blonde hair, and their graduation pictures show two women of similar appearance.

A man was arrested in July and questioned on suspicion of her murder but no one has been charged. Yesterday a police source said: ‘There are some striking similarities in these cases.

‘They are both pretty girls who look very similar and who vanished without a trace. The geographic link is there and the fact that they have both been placed by the side of roads is also very disturbing.’

He added: ‘We don’t know if the cases are related at the moment, partly because of the time delay.

‘But a member of the [Melanie Hall] team has talked to the officers looking for Jo’s abductor and is following it with interest just in case.’

Detectives have also been sharing information with officers investigating the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence in York in March last year. The 35-year-old chef’s bank cards were found at her home, as were Miss Yeates’s in Bristol.

FACEBOOK AND TWITTER TRIBUTES POUR IN

Tributes: Friends of Joanna have taken to social networking sites to express their sadness

Tributes have been paid to Miss Yeates on a Facebook page originally set up to help find her after it was announced by police that her body had been found.

Friends of the 25-year-old have taken to the website and the social networking site Twitter to express their sadness at the tragic death.

Bec Wood wrote: 'Rest In Peace Jo. You will always be loved and remembered for being so beautiful, kind, successful, and lovely. You made Greg so happy. Our thoughts are with Greg, your parents and all of your families and friends. We will miss you Jo, and hope that you have peace now. Love and prayers xxxxxx.'

Alan Gander said: 'I had the pleasure of working with Jo and our thought's are with Jo's family and Greg at this very difficult time. It was a pleasure to have known and worked with Jo and her memory as being a happy lively person will live on. RIP. We hope the person responsible is brought to justice quickly.'

Michael Whitcher said: 'Rest in peace little Jo, we will miss you always. My hearts and thoughts go out to her family, and I am thankful I knew you. God bless xxx.'

Claire Louise Winstanley added: 'R.I.P jo,soooo sad n upsetting! Thinking of your family at this very sad time! Your killers will b brought 2 justice for what they have done 2 u! Sweet dreams sweetheart! xxx.'