A friend of Susan McLean has travelled to Scotland in a bid to reignite the search for the missing American tourist.
Lorna VanderZanden has known the 61-year-old for almost 30 years.
The retired US Army veterinarian flew into the UK from her Virginia home on Sunday, nine weeks after Susan from Pennsylvania was last seen in Aberfeldy.
The horse riding instructor disappeared on May 17 and was last seen on CCTV at 7.45pm outside the Moness Resort.
Lorna learned her friend was missing after calling her phone and having Susan’s husband, Donald, answer a conversation that left her feeling “speechless and numbed”.
She plans to spend up to a month in Scotland, talking to locals and searching the area around Aberfeldy.
The 62-year-old said: “I am hoping my presence will bring Susan’s disappearance back into the news, possibly encouraging someone who might know something to step forward.
“Even if people are not sure if they saw Susan, even if they only saw something that might be related, please report anything that might help us find Susan.
“I hope to pull together a community meeting with hikers, dog walkers, estate managers anybody who is out and about in that area.
“I think that openly sharing bits and pieces might lead to an accumulation of insight that takes us down the right path to finding Susan.
“This will be my first visit to Scotland searching for Susan is such a sad reason to be here.”
Lorna said she believes her friend has suffered an accident, and ruled out the possibility of suicide.
She said: “I’m thinking that she likely slipped off the side of a trail, falling and injuring herself.
“I’ve thought of her possibly being abducted but it seems so unlikely because she’s 5ft 9in, 180lb, and very strong from 55-plus years of managing and training horses, hauling feed bags, tossing hay bales.
“She would be capable of giving any potential abductor a real fight.”
She said Susan had a long list of events planned into the new year, making it unlikely that she had planned to take her own life.
Lorna is encouraging anyone with any information to call Police Scotland on 101.