Disappearance of Lina: searches underway in the Vosges, the main suspect committed suicide

A large-scale search operation is underway in the Vosges to try to find Lina's body. The main suspect committed suicide after the seizure of the vehicle in which the teenager's DNA was found last week.

THE ESSENTIAL

• After the disappearance of Lina, 15, in September 2023 in the Vosges, major search operations for the teenager's body have been underway since Tuesday morning by the gendarmerie.
• The investigation took a new turn after the identification of a man, the main suspect of the girl's abduction. He is the driver of the vehicle that has been wanted since the beginning of the investigation.
• While the car was seized to take DNA samples, the driver committed suicide, greatly fueling suspicions about his guilt.
• At around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the Strasbourg prosecutor announced that despite the means put in place to find the body of the teenager, the latter “have not yet allowed to find any trace whatsoever of Lina”.

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17:26 – The suspect would have offered Lina to get into his car, before killing her

According to information from Parisienand the scenario currently accepted by the courts and the police, the main suspect allegedly kidnapped Lina when he came across her on his way. “He allegedly offered to take her by car and then killed her in circumstances that remain to be clarified,” the daily newspaper specifies. The DNA found in the car in question already confirms the hypothesis that the 15-year-old girl was transported to bord.

17:07 – 80 gendarmes searching for Lina in the Vosges

This Tuesday, July 30, 2024, no fewer than 80 gendarmes are currently engaged in the search for the body of Lina, 15, who disappeared in September 2023. A figure communicated this afternoon by the public prosecutor of Strasbourg. 

The Strasbourg public prosecutor has just announced that despite the significant effort deployed to try to get their hands on Lina's body, investigators, IRCGN experts, canine teams, dogs specializing in human remains and the georadar “were unable to find any trace of Lina”.

16:45 – What happened? for Lina ?

Lina disappeared on September 23, 2023, late in the morning after leaving her home in Plaine to take a train to Saint-Blaise-la-Roche station and meet her boyfriend in Strasbourg. When she didn't arrive, the young man alerted Lina's mother. Several witnesses, including the village mayor, said they saw the young woman heading towards the station between 11:15 and 11:30. And the investigation revealed that her phone had stopped ringing. to issue à 11:22 a.m. Since then, the teenager's body has not been damaged. found.

16:14 – Suspect found death à Besançon

According to information from BFMTV, the suspect was found having committed suicide in Besançon (Doubs) at the beginning of July. The car, a grey Renault Clio, was found in Languedoc-Roussillon, between the end of May and the beginning of June. It was indeed one of the dozens of cars being searched for, in connection with Lina's disappearance, the media outlet specifies.

15:58 – An anthropologist and a georadar present for the searches

During the searches currently taking place to try to get their hands on Lina's body, significant resources have been deployed, in addition to the police force. Dogs specializing in human remains are mobilized, as is an anthropologist from the IRCGN and a georadar, in the Valle de la Bruche, this Tuesday, July 30.

15:42 – Lina is said to have gotten into a gray Renault Clio

At the center of the debates, the car in which Lina is said to have gotten into before disappearing. It is a gray Renault Clio. According to several testimonies, the teenager is said to have gotten into it. Since the end of January, the gendarmes of the investigation unit were interested in a man who was driving a gray Renault Clio. He is said to have approached young girls, in the weeks around Lina's disappearance. 

15:24 – "We are anxiously awaiting what will happen" concedes Lina's mother's lawyer

“I have complete confidence in the “research section team” of the gendarmerie, Matthieu Airoldi, lawyer for Lina's mother, said on Tuesday. “My client and I are waiting, with concern of course, to see what will happen,” he continued. For her part, Marylène Correia, the lawyer for Olivier Delsarte, Lina's father who is separated from the teenager's mother, did not want to make additional comments.

15:10 – “Research in a broad sector”

According to information from France Info, the excavations which began this Tuesday July 30 took place "without precise indication of location and in a large area". "Investigations continue to find Lina at various points" specifiedé the prosecutor of the Republic of Strasbourg with France Bleu Alsace. Fifty gendarmes including those from the Criminal Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) as well as dog brigades are engaged.

14:53 – What was the profile of the suspect ?

The main suspect who committed suicide appeared to be a "small-time common law delinquent" in the words of the Parisian. He was not known for sexual violence, but was described as a “local thug” who allegedly kidnapped ;eacute; Lina passing her on her way, without knowing her. This main suspect would then have killedé the adolescent girl.

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After his death, investigators were only able to look at his telephone data and his car journeys. They still managed to establish a search perimeter, on which the searches are focused, this Tuesday, July 30.

This Tuesday, July 30, the investigation took a new turn. After the seizure of the vehicle in which Lina's DNA was found, the driver, and main suspect for the moment, committed suicide, Le Parisien tells us, greatly fueling suspicions about his guilt

14:45 – Lina's DNA discovered in a stolen car

These searches follow the announcement by the Strasbourg prosecutor's office indicating the presence of Lina's “genetic profile” in a stolen car, discovered in the south of France a few weeks earlier. This blue car, and its driver, had been in the investigators' sights since the start of the investigations. Nine months after Lina's disappearance, “there is hope of locating Lina, but there are so many questions behind it, where, when, how…” indicated Marylène Correia, lawyer of Olivier Delsarte, Lina's father, on Friday.

14:43 – “Investigations continue”, the prosecution announces a new point early this evening

“The Strasbourg prosecutor confirms that investigations are continuing in order to find Lina, at various points. Additional information should be the subject of a press release early this evening,” indicated the Strasbourg public prosecutor's office, this Tuesday, July 30, 2024. The Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie is also on site to participate in the search:  "The Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) and the Gramat dogs (trained in the search for human remains, Editor's note) are engaged alongside investigators from the Lina unit and resources from the Grand Est region" indicates a source from the gendarmerie to RMC.

14:41 – A vast search operation underway in the Vosges

After the announcement by the public prosecutor of Strasbourg, last Friday, July 27, that Lina's DNA had indeed been found in a stolen car in the south of France, the investigation took a new turn this Tuesday, July 30. Searches are underway in the Vosges to try to find the body of the teenager.

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Searches began this Tuesday, July 30 in the Grand-Est region, to find the body of Lina, the young girl who disappeared in September 2023 in Bas-Rhin in Alsace, according to information from Parisien. Several investigators from the Criminal Research Institute of the Gendarmerie (IRCGN), as well as canine brigades and dogs specialized in searching for human bodies have been deployed since this morning in the Bruche Valley, the area where the teenager mysteriously disappeared on September 23. An anthropologist and a georadar are also deployed on site.

These searches follow the announcement by the Strasbourg public prosecutor's office indicating the presence of Lina's “genetic profile” in a stolen car, discovered in the south of France a few weeks earlier. This blue car and its driver had been in the investigators' sights since the start of the investigations and the interviews of several witnesses, as well as the analysis of video surveillance and telephone images had allowed them to establish that the man was “not far from where Lina disappeared last September”, the prosecution indicated.

The main suspect was suicide

The kidnapping theory, quickly favored by the justice system and the police, according to Le Parisien, describes this man as a “local thug” who allegedly kidnapped Lina when he came across her on his way, without knowing her. This main suspect then allegedly killed the teenager. And the analyses of the car went in the direction of the police who suspected the criminal trail, an important step forward while the investigation has been stalling since the beginning.

However, investigators were unable to hear the driver who committed suicide shortly after the vehicle was seized, fueling suspicions about his guilt. He had not been heard by the police even though he had been identified as the individual behind the wheel when the car passed through the area where the teenager disappeared. It is a grey Renault Clio. According to several witnesses, the teenager had indeed gotten on board. Since the end of January, the gendarmes of the investigation unit had been interested in a man who was driving a grey Renault Clio. He had apparently approached young girls, in the weeks around Lina's disappearance. After the man's death, investigators were only able to look at his phone data and his car journeys. They still managed to establish a search perimeter, on which the searches are focused, this Tuesday, July 30.

An investigation that has been floundering for several months

As a reminder, Lina disappeared on September 23, 2023, late in the morning after leaving her home in Plaine, to take a train, at Saint-Blaise-la-Roche station and find her boyfriend in Strasbourg. Not seeing her arrive, the young man alerted Lina's mother. Several witnesses including the mayor of the village said they saw the young woman heading towards the station between 11:15 and 11:30. And the investigation revealed that her phone had stopped transmitting at 11:22.

At the beginning of the investigation, suspicions focused on Lina's boyfriend, but the police quickly cleared him. Last March, three men were taken into custody at seen before being released due to lack of “incriminating evidence”. And in May, a new lead was being investigated after a local business owner said one of his employees had disappeared in September, around the same time as Lina. The man in question had vanished overnight, even though he had been on a permanent contract with the company for twelve years. The company manager added that his employee lived “very close” to Lina's.