Prosecutor says girl’s DNA was found on ropes

16:49

End of the conference

This live dedicated to the press conference of the Strasbourg prosecutor on the disappearance of Lina is over. Thank you all for following it.

12:00

Samuel Gonin’s presence in the Plaine region, “a blind spot” for investigators

The reasons for Samuel Gonin’s presence in the Plaine region in Bas-Rhin remain “a blind spot” in this case, explains the prosecutor.

All the more so since the departmental road he was on “is not a main road”.

“We have no evidence that he knew this place” and “nothing in common between Lina and Samuel Gonin, except this meeting point”, has been identified.

Investigations are continuing, particularly into the suspect’s personality and background.

11:55

Lina’s phone remains missing

Still being questioned by journalists, Alexandre Chevrier, acting public prosecutor of Strasbourg, explains that Lina’s phone has not been found for a year. Only the shell has been identified in her handbag, which was in the glove compartment of the vehicle.

“It stops broadcasting at a very specific moment,” he says.

“This is consistent with the work of the dog which stops Lina’s trail where the telephone terminal is last” on the D350 between Plaine and Saint-Blaise-la-Roche.

11:48

“In theory, everything is possible,” the prosecutor replies about the hope of finding the teenager alive.

Asked about his hope of finding Lina alive, the prosecutor first let a silence set in, before recalling that the teenager’s body had not been found.

He adds that, “in theory, everything is possible,” although the disappearance happened a year ago.

11:38

Investigations are continuing, “substantial resources remain mobilized”

400 interviews were collected, according to the prosecutor. 300 vehicles were analyzed and more than a hundred gendarmes were mobilized in recent weeks on operational field searches.

“Significant resources remain mobilized […] “Further research is planned. I won’t say more,” he said.

11:35

“There is no question of abandoning” the search for Lina, announces the prosecutor

The prosecutor praises the work of the investigators involved in this case, which allows them to “significantly approach the manifestation of the truth in this affair”.

“A number of questions are likely to remain unanswered due to Mr. Gonin’s death,” he said.

He assures, however, that there is “no question of giving up” and that “substantial resources remain mobilized”. The investigation is continuing.

11:28

Everything tends “to demonstrate the involvement of Samuel Gonin”

Everything tends “to demonstrate the involvement of Samuel Gonin” in the disappearance of Lina, the teenager who disappeared a year ago in Alsace, declared the acting public prosecutor of Strasbourg, Alexandre Chevrier, on Thursday.

The name of Samuel Gonin, the main suspect in the disappearance of the 15-year-old girl, had surfaced at the end of July after the discovery of Lina’s DNA in a car he was driving. The prosecutor specified that Lina’s DNA and that of Samuel Gonin were found on ropes present in the trunk of the car, proving that she had been “tied up”.

11:24

Samuel Gonin did not refer to Lina in his last writings.

The prosecutor looks back at the suspect’s background before the teenager’s disappearance, in particular the acts of violence for which he was due to appear.

He also mentions the writings left before his suicide on July 10.

The 43-year-old did not name the teenager in his letter. He was also not informed of the DNA found in the vehicle at the time of his attack.

11:20

Lina’s bag and ropes found in the vehicle

The prosecutor returns to the analyses carried out in the vehicle in which Lina’s DNA was found.

The teenager’s genetic profile was identified on several places in the vehicle, including on seats and a seat belt. Her handbag was in the glove compartment.

“Two ropes” were found in the trunk of the car. On one of them was the genetic profile of the teenager and that of Samuel Gonin.

“Which tends to demonstrate that at one time or another, Lina was tied up,” the prosecutor concludes.

He said no traces of blood were detected inside the car.

The investigations also established that Samuel Gonin was the driver of the car on the day of the events, September 23, 2023.

10:50

The press conference starts at 11am.

The public prosecutor of Strasbourg, Alexandre Chevrier, and the head of the Strasbourg research section, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-François De Decker, will speak from 11 a.m.

10:24

The suicide of the main suspect, already known for acts of violence

While investigators believed they had caught a serious suspect, the driver of the vehicle committed suicide on July 10 in Besançon.

“I have lost my honor, my dignity, my humanity, I must leave. I do not know how to control myself, it is going too fast,” he wrote in a letter before taking his own life.

The man was due to appear in court on July 22 for two violent robberies committed on August 25, 2023 in Besançon. A month before Lina’s disappearance, while he was wandering and suffering from a drug addiction, he had tried to steal a nonagenarian’s bag, before attacking a local supermarket.

Her profile has been dissected, but the mystery surrounding the teenager’s disappearance remains.

10:10

A “major step forward” during the month of July

On July 26, the investigation took another turn. The Strasbourg prosecutor’s office announced that it had found the teenager’s genetic profile in a light gray Ford Puma, registered in Germany and which had been stolen. It had been found in the south of France.

Investigations have been launched to try to understand how Lina ended up on board the vehicle.

The driver of the car, Samuel G., a 43-year-old man, became a major suspect in the investigation and committed suicide last July.

9:52

Numerous searches have been carried out since the disappearance

Early August, excavations were organized in eastern France for several days, but nothing has filtered through about possible results.

Searches had already taken place, without result, in the Vosges, before returning to neighboring Haute-Saône, more than 130 kilometers from the place where the teenager disappeared, at the beginning of August. The Saulx woods had been searched in particular.

9:51

Nearly a year of investigation and research

Hello everyone, welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the press conference of the Strasbourg prosecutor almost a year to the day after Lina’s disappearance.

The young girl was last seen on September 23, 2023. Major searches were carried out to find her. The investigation into Lina’s disappearance accelerated at the end of July, with the Strasbourg prosecutor’s office announcing a “major breakthrough”: Lina’s DNA had been found in a stolen car.

The driver of the vehicle, Samuel Gonin and now the main suspect, committed suicide on July 10 at his home in Besançon.