The body of a 12-year-old girl was found in Paris, France, Friday inside a suitcase with her throat cut and bound by tape, according to a BFMTV report (in French).
The girl, identified only as “Lola” by the French news outlet died of asphyxiation a Saturday autopsy determined, the report noted.
The girl’s parents reported her missing to police Friday evening when she failed to return home from school. Lola’s father is a caretaker in the building where the family resides. He reportedly informed Paris police he noticed his daughter in footage from the building’s close circuit security cameras.
According to the BFMTV report, he showed police images of his daughter following a woman, who appeared to be in her 20s, into their building. The woman reportedly exited the apartment building alone, carrying a suitcase she seemed to have difficulty with.
Authorities were alerted around 11 p.m. Friday when a homeless man notified police he found a suitcase in the19th arrondissement of Paris with the lifeless body inside. According to the BFMTV report, the numbers “1” and “0” were discovered, “placed” on the body, without it having been written in pen or marker. Investigators do not yet understand why the killer placed the numerals on her body.
A man who lives in the neighborhood told French media he saw a young woman carrying the trunk in which the girl’s body was discovered.
“I was walking behind her, you could tell she was in a panic, and the package you could see was heavy,” the man explained, “it was badly closed, it was a big green plastic thing. For me it was a student who was moving, and in fact there was a body in it.”
The man who found the suitcase, the woman in her 20s caught on camera and four other individuals have been arrested by police, according to the report. The man who notified police he found the suitcase is not considered a suspect by police, the report noted, adding he was being detained in an abundance of caution.
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