The Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs confirmed on Thursday that the body of Laura Trappeniers, the 66-year-old Belgian national, was found on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The woman’s husband, Marc Olbrechts, 71, is still missing. The couple had been missing since April 22.
According to the local newspaper El Día, the woman from Leeuw-Saint-Pierre was the victim of an assassination. He claims that the mutilated body of the sixty-year-old, with a plastic bag over her head, was found on Saturday, floating in the sea. The body was in a state of putrefaction, suggesting that the death had occurred several days earlier.
“The leg bones will speak”
For now, all hypotheses are being studied by local investigators. It is unknown whether the mutilated body is the work of the possible attacker or of decomposition over time. “I read that one hand and both legs were missing. It is entirely plausible that the mutilated body came from the propellers of barges and boats, as is sometimes the case in the Brussels canal.”, explains a judicial police investigator who wishes to remain anonymous. “The body had been in the water for almost a week, so it is necessary to study the injuries to the body. The leg bones will speak and we will quickly know if it is linked to the propellers or if they were cut with a knife or an axe, for example.”
”It is also possible that the body was nibbled by fish. A human body is a pantry so obviously this attracts fish. It’s terrible, but the rotting process and the heat attract the fish”he continues.
Although a local newspaper has put forward the hypothesis of assassination, the suicide trail must also be studied, according to our interlocutor. “The fact that she was found with a plastic bag on her face may prompt the intervention of a third party but this is not systematic. I have already had experiences in my career of people committing suicide with a bag over their head and throwing themselves into the water. All avenues must be explored.”
The investigation remains the responsibility of the Spanish authorities
At this stage, both the police and judicial investigation remain the responsibility of the competent Spanish authorities. A rogatory commission composed of Belgian investigators could, however, be sent to the island of Tenerife to help local investigators shed light on this tragedy. In the meantime, solidarity between Belgians is being organized on site to try to find Marc Olbrechts, as well as the car, an Opel Mokka, which has not been found at the home of the couple who have lived on the island for 16 years.
The couple disappeared on the evening of April 22. The alert was given two days later, when they did not go to their yoga class. Several elements suggest a kidnapping. So the alarm in their house, located in the small seaside resort of Callao Salvaje, went off. Additionally, the man responsible for maintaining the pool noticed a light inside the home and that the back door was unlocked.
Once inside, the investigators noticed that Laura Trappeniers had not taken her house keys and her mobile phone, and that nothing had been prepared for the cat, to which they nevertheless paid the greatest attention. Their car, for its part, was not present. These clues suggest a kidnapping according to a friend of the couple: “They did not leave voluntarily.”
The potential suspect is still actively sought.
