the essential
A young woman who disappeared a year and a half ago in Verdin (Belgium) when she was 17 years old, was found safe and sound during a search of a resident, in the Lyon region, Thursday June 27. Several search campaigns had been launched to try to find her.
Her relatives had been searching for her relentlessly since November 14, 2022, when Juliette Normans, then aged 17, disappeared without a trace. The young woman, now an adult, was discovered safe and sound in the Lyon region this Thursday, the Namur prosecutor’s office said.
[PERSONNE RETROUVÉE] – ARPD File \u2705
Juliette GOORMANS, 17, had been missing in Vedrin, Belgium since November 14, 2022. She was found in good health near Lyon, France.
Thank you all for sharing! https://t.co/uCGWf2iV5G— arpd.fr (@arpd_fr) https://twitter.com/arpd_fr/status/1806323980380332337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The investigation carried out jointly by the Belgian and French authorities made it possible to carry out searches at the home of a person living in the Rhône, where Juliette had been residing “for a year”, notes the Voice of the North. The young girl “was free to move around,” the prosecutor’s office said at a press conference. The Missing Persons Unit, the Child Focus foundation and its French counterpart, the Assistance et Recherche de Personnes Disparues association, also actively participated in the investigations by leading several campaigns, including a major one at the end of May.
The young girl was last spotted in Namur, thanks to tracking on her smartphone. She was then heading towards Brussels. This sudden disappearance caused excitement and strong mobilization in Belgium. Juliette, described as “lonely” by her parents, had already run away twice. In 2020, she had already been found on French territory in January 2020, in Bray-Dunes, in the North.
The investigation continues to determine the circumstances of the escape. But the young girl, who is 19 years old today, is “free to disappear”. “I ask that the family’s privacy be respected,” requested the family’s lawyer.
“Look for Nafi, find Juliette”
On May 25, on the occasion of International Missing Children’s Day, the organization Child Focus launched a new search campaign, using a rather original technique: asking her family to symbolically change the name of the young girl, “to replace it with that of a personality most often searched for on the Internet,” explained -. Their choice fell on the Belgian athlete Nafissatou Thiam, in agreement with her. The objective: to increase the number of views of the wanted poster. In a few days, nearly 4 million people saw the post bearing the name of the sportswoman, while the wanted poster published in the name of Juliette Goormans only had 150,000 views.
