Despite new searches, the 15-year-old girl has not been found since Saturday in Bas-Rhin. Investigators are not “ruling out any leads” in this disappearance deemed “disturbing”.
Where did 15-year-old Lina go? A new search to try to find the young girl was again organized on Tuesday, September 26, in the area of Plaine and Saint-Blaise-la-Roche in Bas-Rhin, the gendarmerie told franceinfo. In vain: despite the 400 people mobilized, in addition to the 35 gendarmes and the Saint-Hubert dog of the investigation, the searches did not make it possible to find the slightest trace of the teenager missing since Saturday.
>> What we know about the worrying disappearance of Lina, 15, in Bas-Rhin
The teenager had to walk on Saturday morning from her home to the Saint-Blaise-la-Roche station, three kilometers from where she planned to take the train to Strasbourg where her boyfriend was waiting for her. Not seeing her arrive, he raised the alarm. Quickly, in its call for witnesses launched on Saturday, the gendarmerie specified that Lina has shoulder-length blond hair and is 1m60 tall. On the day of her disappearance, she was dressed in a gray dress, a white down jacket and white Converse shoes.
In Lina’s case, several leads quickly became the heart of the investigation. And some swept away: thus, in the case of Lina, the young teenager is not known for running away, indicated Monday, September 25, the Saverne public prosecutor’s office in a press release, specifying that “no avenue is favored at this stage“. An investigation was therefore opened for “disturbing disappearance”, he continues. The checks carried out after the report of her disappearance made it possible to verify that the young girl had not boarded the train, also explains the prosecution.
Fugue
Fugue “is not subject to a legal definition or specific provisions”, according to the website 116,000 missing children, an emergency telephone number in the event of a missing child. Still according to this structure, “LRunaways represent more than 90% of reports of disappearances of minors“, what are “most often short-term” and the site reminds that they do not represent a crime.
Disappearance of little Émile: these good reflexes to have if you think your child has disappeared
A lead however which, according to the profile of the young woman, seems to be moving away, although the prosecutor “don’t rule out any leads“. During a press conference, she indicated: “Two witnesses saw Lina on the way to the station between 11:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. There is no evidence to confirm that she was the victim of a road accident. His phone went off the air at 11:22 a.m. No banking activity was noted on his account“, indicated the public prosecutor of Saverne, Aline Clérot.
The disturbing disappearance
The disappearance as such figures in a 1995 law on orientation and programming relating to security. The text concerns “the disappearance of a minor or protected adult.” Once the disappearance has been declared, it “must immediately be the subject of an investigation by the police and gendarmerie services“.
For the disappearance described as worrying, “there is no precise definition,“according to the French administration. Nevertheless, clues can point towards the worrying nature, such as a departure”without personal belongings“or the”vulnerability of the person due to age, illness or disability.”
If, within one year, the person declared missing has not been found, or proof of their death has not been established, a so-called “vain search” certificate may be issued. However, this document “don’t stop the search“, still according to the 1995 law.
The kidnapping alert
The kidnapping alert system has existed since 2006. It aims to send “a massive message to the population in the event of child abduction,” in the words of the Ministry of Justice. There are 4 trigger criteria:
- This is a proven kidnapping and not a disappearance, however worrying,
- the victim is a minor,
- the life or physical integrity of the child is in danger,
- the prosecutor has information whose dissemination may enable the location of the child or his or her abductor.
Furthermore, it should be noted that even if these four criteria are met, the public prosecutor can decide not to trigger a kidnapping alert if he considers that its dissemination could endanger the life of the child.