Lina's death: how the teenager was killed ? The crucial forensic expertise

Lina has é was found dead on Wednesday, October 16. Genetic analyses carried out on the body have provided decisive information, further expert reports are awaited.

< p>Missing on September 23, 2023, young Lina, 15, had not given any sign of life since. She was therefore found dead, destroying the last hopes of the teenager's relatives. On Wednesday, October 16, 2024, the public prosecutor of Strasbourg announced that the young girl's body had been found “in a wooded and isolated area in the Nevers region”, 400 km from the area where the girl disappeared. The body was discovered when it was “submerged in a stream below an embankment”.

As specified in the press release from the prosecutor, urgent genetic analyses were carried out by the IRCGN (the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie). They confirmed that these are indeed the remains of the teenager who had last been seen alive on the path that connects the family home in Plaine, in the Bas-Rhin, to the Saint-Blaise-la-Roche train station. On the day of her disappearance, the teenager was due to take the train to join her boyfriend in Strasbourg for a day of shopping.

The hypothesis of assassination, or at least murder, is an obvious line of inquiry for investigators, who have evidence tending to demonstrate that Lina was abducted and then transported at will in a car. Determining the causes of death are now the investigators' priority. The Strasbourg prosecutor has already announced that forensic medical examinations would be “ordered” by the magistrates. The autopsy is expected to be decisive, it could quickly reveal how Lina died, and whether she suffered violent blows in particular. The work of the forensic scientists is expected to be complex, given that Lina's body was submerged in the river for many months, but this examination is crucial to explain the context of the death.

A murder committed by a 43-year-old man ?

For over a year now, investigators have continued their work in the hope of finding the young woman alive. A suspect has been identified in this case, a certain Samuel Gonin, 43 years old. Originally from Doubs and in social and family breakdown, the man finally committed suicide on July 10. “The Ford Puma vehicle used by Samuel Gonin had been geolocated at “this place on September 24, 2023, the day after Lina's disappearance,” the prosecutor said on Wednesday.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

It was therefore thanks to the geolocation of the main suspect's vehicle that investigators were finally able to find the teenager's body. On July 26, the deputy public prosecutor of Strasbourg revealed that Lina's handbag had been discovered in the box gloves from a car geolocated not far from where she disappeared on D-Day, and that the young woman's DNA had also been found in the trunk of the same vehicle, where she had also been found a rope.

Latest updates

09:33 – The emotion of a mother, questioned about the death of Lina

In Alsace, the teenager's region, the emotion is palpable. On RMC's microphone, a mother gives her testimony: “I'm a little bit… It's always in a corner of my mind and I think it will stay that way,” she says, adding: “It's good to have found her body. It's good for the family because they will finally be able to grieve, in quotes, because they will never forget.” But not knowing, not having the end, “that must have been very hard to live with.”

09:03 – The “pain” of Lina's parents is “immense”

“Their pain is immense,” they said. the lawyers of the girl's parents, in a press release. “Before giving way to contemplation, they are still awaiting the reports of the experts sent to the scene of the discovery,” they added. “This is a very difficult time for the family, my client is devastated, I have no particular reaction other than to ask you to respect the family's mourning,” added Matthieu Airoldi, Lina's mother's lawyer, told AFP.

10/16/24 – 11:11 PM – Lina's phone, still missing

&At this stage, it has not been specified whether Lina's cell phone was next to the of the victim's body. Only the shell was found in the teenager's handbag, which was itself discovered in the glove compartment of the main suspect's car. Last July, the public prosecutor indicated that the phone had stopped emitting ” a specific time”, shortly after the sending of a final video of the young woman. 

10/16/24 – 9:42 p.m. – The police are still on site this Wednesday evening

According to information from the continuous news channel BFMTV, searches are still underway in the area where Lina's body was discovered this Wednesday evening. The police would inspect the surroundings and collect various samples that could later provide some answers to the victim's relatives.