Eight years after the disappearance of the little Toulouse Habib Nedder in Ariège, a 13-month-old child kidnapped by his father on January 19, 2014, excavations resume at Hospitalet-Près-l’Andorre. The Toulouse investigating judge, recently responsible for resuming the investigation, is taking advantage of a major project undertaken by EDF below the Ariège hydroelectric power station, to relaunch research as part of a letter of request.
Investigators specializing in “cold cases”, unsolved cases, dispatched to Ariège
It was in the river that the headless body of the child’s father was found, three months after Habib’s disappearance in April 2014. His body could have been decapitated by passing through the turbine of a dam before being drafted. The thesis of the voluntary homicide of little Habib by his father, followed by suicide, was favored in this investigation. The child remains untraceable. The objective of the excavations is to find human remains.
Investigators from the Central Office for the Suppression of Violence against Persons (OCRVP) came down from Nanterre with their canine team, masters and their dogs with a keen sense of smell. They are able to detect traces, even eight years later, of bones, even at the bottom of the water. The sector has already been excavated but this work undertaken by EDF has allowed the basin, which contained nearly 3,000 m² of water, to be dried. There is little hope of finding DNA traces that technology can analyze, but these specialists are used to working on the resolution of cold cases, unsolved criminal cases. The excavations to try to find the body of the child must continue this Wednesday, on the banks of the Ariège.
Habib’s mother clings to hope that her son is alive
This disappearance has haunted Habib’s mother for eight years, Jennifer Dana is still very combative, she organized rallies in Toulouse, wrote to Brigitte Macron, and continues to feed the Facebook page dedicated to the disappearance of her son. She has rebuilt her life in the Gers, had another little boy, but still hopes that her child is still alive, perhaps in Algeria, where the father of the child from whom she was separated was from. This EDF site, which is relaunching excavations, is however an opportunity not to be missed explains the Toulouse lawyer of this mother, master Laurent De Caunes
Habib’s mother would like the investigation to resume on the Algerian track, the father of the child could have entrusted Habib to a third person in the country, according to her. A picture of Habib is being released in over 190 countries via Interpol but it hasn’t come to anything so far.