Leeds dad and brewery owner Jesus Moreno was tragically found hanged more than eight months after he disappeared - but there is no evidence of intent to take his own life, a coroner has said.
Jesus was 41 when he went missing on August 1, 2022. His body was found by police on April 14, 2023, after they extended their search area in Harewood by the River Wharfe. The Piglove Brewing co-owner had last been seen at 8.17am on August 1 near Harewood Bridge Saw Mills on CCTV footage.
He was found by West Yorkshire Police in a wooded area just 770 metres from where he was last seen, the inquest into his death at Wakefield Coroner's Court heard. It is not known exactly what happened after the last shot of Jesus on CCTV footage, but he was wearing the same clothes, and police said there was no evidence of third party involvement.
Jesus' ex-wife Maria, with whom he has a daughter, attended the inquest along with Jesus' brother. In a statement read out by Area Coroner Oliver Langstaff, she said the last time she'd had contact with Jesus was on July 30, 2022, two days before he went missing.
"Jesus was very happy. He was laughing and joking and asking to spend time with his daughter," Maria said.
A statement from Detective Sergeant Lindsay Marsland recounted how Jesus, formerly of Grange Road in Hunslet, was reported missing on August 2, 2022, by his business partner and friend Marcos Ramirez, who said he'd been missing for 36 hours which was "out of character".
Jesus was designated as a high-risk missing person on August 7, meaning police believed there was a "real and immediate danger" to him. Extensive enquiries were carried out, and it was found Jesus and his girlfriend had taken an Uber to Leeds city centre around 5am on August 1.
They were going to pick up a rental van, but Jesus had lost his phone the night before, so was trying to access his work emails on his girlfriend's phone for what they needed to pick up the van. He was unable to access the work email as it needed authorising by his business partner, who was asleep at the time.
Jesus' girlfriend went home, and he went to the Duck and Drake pub to look for his phone in the beer garden. He was next seen at 6.10am at Leeds bus station, the inquest heard.
He got on a bus, and asked the driver for a ticket to Wetherby. He was told that bus went to Harrogate, and wouldn't go to Wetherby - Jesus didn't speak to anybody else and sat on the top deck of the bus at the front.
At 6.37am, Jesus got off the bus on the A61 near Swindon Lane. For around an hour and a half, it's not know what he did.
At 8.14am, he was shown on CCTV walking away from the River Wharfe and then crossing Harewood Bridge towards Leeds. At 8.17am, he passed the bridge and turned left towards a field, where he stood for 10 seconds and then walked back on himself towards the River Wharfe.
That is the last time he appeared on CCTV footage.
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In her statement, DS Marsland said extensive enquiries were carried out by specialist search teams, but Jesus was still not located. Enquiries continued for several months.
Police had a meeting with Maria, Jesus' brother and Mr Ramirez in March 2023 to update them on the investigation, and to inform them they would be extending the original search area to include nearby woodland. DS Marsland said Jesus' family "maintained they did not believe him to be deceased and suicide was unlikely".
On Friday, April 14, 2023, CID received a call at 3.50pm that a body had been discovered in the search that was thought to be Jesus. His body was found in the wooded area near where Jesus was last seen - police said he wasn't immediately visible until close up and you had to go through a hole in the fence to get to it.
Jesus was tragically found still hanging from a tree. DS Marsland said his body was "severely decomposed" and "partially mummified".
He was wearing the same clothes as when he disappeared and a rucksack was found on the ground. The rucksack contained his keys, his driving licence, and a folded piece of wet paper with illegible writing on it.
Jesus was officially pronounced dead at 7.49pm that day. A post-mortem examination was conducted by pathologist Doctor Lisa Barker, who said it was difficult to examine his body due to the state of decomposition, but on the evidence stated his cause of death as hanging.
"It's obvious that by the time he'd been found he'd been dead for a significant period of time," Mr Longstaff said.
Jesus' ex-wife Maria said at the inquest that the family were concerned with how long it took to extend the search area. His family had made a public TV plea on Channel 5's Vanished just the night before.
A statement was also provided by Doctor Hussain, a GP at Church Street Surgery, where Jesus had been registered since 2012. He was not on any registered medications and didn't have any registered medical problems.
He had not seen a GP since 2020 for elbow pain, and another medical profession since the year later to monitor his cholesterol levels.
Jesus was born in Venezuela, and moved to Italy when he was 21 to study. He went travelling after finishing his degree, and moved to Leeds in 2003, working as a bartender, and then a cheese maker for Arla Foods.
He moved back home and married Maria in 2006, and they had a daughter the year after. They came back to the UK in 2010, and to Leeds in 2012.
Jesus worked for Arla Foods again, then Heineken John Smith's in Tadcaster, before opening his own beer making business in 2019 with Mr Ramirez. He and Maria divorced in 2021.
"He did like a good drink with friends and family," Maria said. He sometimes used drugs such as cocaine and other substances, Maria added in her statement - because of the length of time it took to find him, no toxicology report could be conducted by the pathologist to establish if he had taken any substances at the time of his death.
Friends and acquaintances paid tribute to Jesus after his body was found, calling him a "lovely man", who was "confident, bubbly and full of life".
Mr Langstaff gave an open conclusion in the inquest into the "sad and mysterious death of Jesus Moreno". He said: "Nobody knows why he went where he did on that day and did what he did.
"There is no evidence of any third party involvement in his death. He's not seen to interact with anybody on his way to the bus and as long as he is tracked on CCTV in Harewood.
"On the balance of probabilities Mr Moreno has died through having suspended himself from the tree. I cannot say why he did that.
"Specifically, it is very difficult to say that when he did so that he did so with intent of ending his life. We do not know if the balance of his mind was disturbed in any way.
"We don't know if he'd taken any substances that might have played with his judgement. I cannot assume that he died having hanged himself with intention of ending his life - there is no evidence of intent."
Mr Longstaff addressed Jesus' family after giving the open conclusion, saying: "Can I express my deepest sympathies to you and Mr Moreno's family for the trauma and uncertainty that has gone on for so many months and ending with such tragic news.
"I hope that his inquest process has some contribution to the process of what we call grieving and that it makes it easier to remember the bits about your husband and brother that you'd like to remember."
