The body of a French teenager who went missing 13 months ago has been found after a lengthy police search halfway across the country from where she was last seen, authorities have announced.
Police had been searching for the 15-year-old – referred to only as ‘Lina’ in French media – since her mysterious disappearance on September 23 last year.
They had collected thousands of reports, conducted hundreds of interviews and analyzed hundreds of vehicles.
But it was GPS data from the suspected killer’s car that led to her discovery on Wednesday, in a wooded area in the central French region of Nièvre, some 500 kilometers from where she went missing in eastern Alsace of the country.
DNA testing allowed the body to be identified, said Alexandre Chevrier, Strasbourg’s acting chief prosecutor.
The tracking signal from the teenager’s smartphone was lost at 11:22 a.m. on September 23 last year, as she walked along a small road towards the station of Saint-Blaise-La-Roche, a hamlet of barely 250 inhabitants, to catch a train to Strasbourg, where she would meet her boyfriend.
A week later, police opened an investigation into a suspected kidnapping.
After months of fruitless investigation, police identified a car, a Ford Puma, that was known to have been in the area when Lina went missing.
The vehicle was used by the main suspect in the case, Samuel Gonin, who committed suicide in July before he could be interrogated. According to the French radio network RTL, Gonin left a suicide note, which reads in part: “I have lost my honor, my dignity, my humanity, I have to leave. I don’t know how to control myself, it’s happening too fast.” “
By analyzing his car’s geolocation data, police were able to identify several stops the car had made, including the one a day after Lina’s disappearance, which ultimately led to the discovery of the body. RTL reported, citing the prosecutor, that her body was found submerged in a stream under a dike.
Post-mortem examination, including autopsy, will help determine the cause of death.
General Daoust, former laboratory director of the French National Police’s forensic department, told RTL that “even if the body is very damaged, it will provide a certain number of answers.”
Trump chooses music and dances during Q&A in Pennsylvania
Georgia judge blocks election rule requiring ballots to be counted by hand once early voting begins
A rare glimpse into a giant panda nursery | 60 minutes archive
