The investigation to try to find Lina, missing since last September in Alsace, has seen a sudden acceleration, with searches starting this Tuesday to try to find the 15-year-old teenager, a few days after the discovery of her DNA in a stolen car.
In France, the gendarmerie is reportedly conducting extensive search operations for Lina’s body this Tuesday morning, reports Le Parisien. A source close to the investigation confirms that searches have begun in the Grand Est region to find the teenager. According to Le Parisien, ten vans carrying investigators and criminal identification specialists are deployed in the Bruche Valley, the area where the young woman disappeared.
“The National Gendarmerie Criminal Research Institute (IRCGN) and the Gramat dogs (trained in searching for human remains, Editor’s note) are working alongside investigators from the Lina unit and resources from the Grand Est region”confirmed a gendarmerie source.
These searches come a few days after the announcement of the discovery of Lina’s “genetic profile” in a stolen car, found in the south of France.
According to information from BFMTV, this vehicle was found at the end of May-beginning of June in Languedoc-Rousillon. It was at the beginning of July that the suspect was reportedly found dead, having committed suicide, in Besançon.
Driver committed suicide after vehicle seized
This vehicle was being sought by investigators, who had established that it was not far from the place of Lina’s disappearance. According to a source close to the investigation, the driver committed suicide after the vehicle was seized by the gendarmes in charge of the investigation.
According to Le Parisien, this man, a “voyou local”allegedly kidnapped Lina, whom he did not know, after crossing paths with her. He then allegedly killed her in circumstances that remain unclear.
“Worry”
“I have complete confidence in the research section team” of the gendarmerie, said Tuesday Matthieu Airoldi, the lawyer of Fanny Groll, the mother of Lina. “My client and I are waiting, with some concern, to see what will happen,” he added.
Marylène Correia, lawyer for Olivier Delsarte, Lina’s father, who is separated from her mother, did not wish to comment.
Lina disappeared late in the morning on Saturday, September 23, 2023, after leaving her home in Plaine (Bas-Rhin), at the foot of the Vosges mountains, to go to the Saint-Blaise-la-Roche train station, about three kilometers away. She was supposed to take the train to meet her boyfriend in Strasbourg. When he didn’t see her arrive, he alerted the girl’s mother.
Witnesses, including the former mayor of the village, saw Lina walking on a small road towards the station between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m. The teenager’s phone stopped transmitting at 11:22 a.m. and has not been found.
Despite extensive searches in the following days and the probing of several water points, no trace of the young girl had been found.
A “major breakthrough” in the investigation
On Friday, however, Strasbourg’s public prosecutor, Yolande Renzi, reported the first significant progress since the start of the investigation: “Following long and meticulous investigations (…) the attention of investigators was drawn to a vehicle not previously mentioned”the magistrate explained in a press release.
“The analysis of the geolocation of this stolen vehicle was able to show that it was not far from where young Lina disappeared.”she continued. “The analyses of the samples taken from this vehicle have just highlighted the latter’s genetic profile.”
While specifying that “Investigations are continuing to determine the circumstances in which she got into this vehicle.”the prosecutor had stressed that “This major advance in the investigation should make it possible to locate Lina.”
In parallel with the investigations into the disappearance of the teenager, an investigation is underway into a rape reported by her in 2022. This case, initially closed without further action by the Saverne public prosecutor’s office, was taken up by the Strasbourg public prosecutor’s office, which opened a judicial investigation in February.