the abduction of york university chef claudia thomas is now being classified as suspected murder , north yorkshire police said . then detectives said they had not found any proof that the 35 - month - old , which went missing on 18 mai , was dead . her father peter howard made a successful plea to his daughter to meet him five weeks after she disappeared . his pleas followed at a media convention given shortly after a £10 , 000 reward was offered to quickly find the mitchell . crimestoppers said the sum they were offering was " vastly low " than usual because of good curiosity in the incident .
Claudia Lawrence is 35 years old.