all the stages of the investigation which led to the discovery of his body, one year after his disappearance

MISCELLANEOUS FACTS – 12 months of investigation. On September 23, 2023, Lina disappeared during a journey between her home and the station which was to take her to Strasbourg to find her boyfriend. A little over a year later, his body was discovered on Wednesday October 16, “ immersed in a watercourse located below an embankment » located in the department of Nièvre.

And if the investigation stagnated for a long time, between unsuccessful searches and searches, and the absence of proof and clues, these last months have finally made it possible to establish a solid lead and a suspect, in the person of Samuel. Gonin. A trail which inexorably led to the discovery of the remains of the 15-year-old girl.

Dates, key moments, progress in the investigation… More than a year after Lina’s disappearance in Bas-Rhin, HuffPost looks back at the main stages of this landmark affair which begins an epilogue this Wednesday.

· September 23, 2023

This Saturday in September, Lina leaves her home at 11 a.m. to reach the Saint-Blaise-la-Roche station, in Bas-Rhin. A journey that she makes on foot, as she is used to, to take the 12:03 p.m. train to Strasbourg where her boyfriend is waiting for her.

At the same time, a stolen Ford Puma – in which Lina’s DNA will later be found – is filmed early in the morning in a German service station with the main suspect, Samuel Gonin on board.

Between 11:20 a.m. and 11:26 a.m., the Ford was located on the road between Plaine and Saint-Blaise-la-Roche, in the immediate vicinity of the place of disappearance of Lina, 15 years old, whose phone stopped ringing at 11:22 a.m. An hour later, the car stops at Anould in the Vosges, about forty kilometers from La Plaine. She will make two other stops, in Saulx (Haute-Saône), and in Morvan.

· October to December 2023

A judicial investigation was finally opened on charges of kidnapping and criminal confinement after more than a week of investigation for “ disturbing disappearance “. Two investigating judges from Strasbourg jointly take charge of the case, while citizen searches are carried out, bodies of water probed and witness interviews carried out… without leading to the slightest solid lead.

However, witnesses claim to have seen the young girl during her journey on foot, confirming that she had indeed taken her usual path. The following days and weeks, unsuccessful searches were carried out in a house in La Plaine, the town where Lina lived.

· January 2024

After several months of standing still, the press revealed that the teenager presented as without history had filed a complaint for rape in June 2022 against two men, barely adults. After less than a year of investigation, the Saverne public prosecutor’s office ended up dismissing the complaint for an offense “ insufficiently characterized. An investigation which will finally be reopened in February, even if it has no link with the disappearance of the teenager.

At the same time, the man who would later be considered the suspect in Lina’s disappearance, Samuel Gonin, was arrested near Narbonne for refusing to comply. The Ford Puma is impounded. The man was finally convicted on January 22 for this traffic offense, but released under judicial supervision.

· June 2024

After several months of investigation to identify a car in which Lina could have ridden on September 23, investigators from the Strasbourg research section identified a suspicious vehicle by cross-referencing videos: a Ford Puma. On June 26, this car, which was still impounded in Narbonne, was transferred to the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) for analysis.

· July 2024

On July 10, Samuel Gonin committed suicide in Besançon, leaving writings without explicit reference to Lina. Around ten days later, the first operational elements of the vehicle show that it was precisely at the place of Lina’s disappearance, within the time frame in which she disappeared. Two days later, the Strasbourg public prosecutor’s office announced that the “genetic profile” of Lina was found in the vehicle.

After these major discoveries for the investigation, which must moreover “ allow you to locate Lina”, according to Strasbourg prosecutor Yolande Renzi, research is being carried out in Anould, where the car stopped an hour after Lina’s disappearance. Without result. Other searches will take place at the beginning of August in Saulx, then in Morvan, where the car also stopped on September 23, 2023. Again without success.

· September 19, 2024

During a new update on the investigation, a few days before the first “anniversary” of her disappearance, the Strasbourg public prosecutor, Alexandre Chevrier, announced that Lina’s DNA and that of Samuel Gonin had been found on ropes in the trunk of the car, proving that “ Lina was tied up ». Her purse was also found in the glove compartment, finishing ” demonstrate the involvement of Samuel Gonin » in the disappearance of the teenager.

· October 16, 2024

Final twist. Lina’s body was finally found in mid-October “in a wooded and isolated area of ​​the Nevers region”in Nièvre. The teenager’s remains were “immersed in a watercourse located below an embankment”indicated prosecutor Alexandre Chevrier.

The car used by Samuel Gonin had also been geolocated at the location of the body’s discovery the day after Lina’s disappearance, the prosecutor also said. Without the main suspect, deceased, it will now be necessary to rely on forensic expertise to determine the exact cause of his death.

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