French article
MaÃlys de Araujo case: hundreds join march in France for missing girl
Police have found no trace of nine-year-old who disappeared from wedding reception near ChambÃry in French Alps in August
Hundreds of people have joined a silent march for a nine-year-old girl whose disappearance from a wedding reception four months ago could be linked to the mystery killing of a British couple in the French Alps.
There has been no trace of MaÃlys de Araujo since August despite widespread searches and hundreds of police interviews.
Lelandais, a former military dog trainer, has also been charged with the murder of Arthur Noyer, a soldier who vanished near ChambÃry in April.
Detectives are re-examining other unsolved disappearances and murders in the area, including the shooting of three members of the British-Iraqi al-Hilli family at a Chevaline mountain beauty spot near Annecy five years ago.
On 5 September 2012, an unknown attacker gunned down Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife, Iqbal, 47, her mother, Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, and a passing French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, 45. The elder was shot and beaten, suffering injuries to the shoulder and head.
The ChambÃry prosecutor, Thierry Dran, told a recent news conference: With the police, we will obviously be looking into all of the worrying disappearances that have taken place in the region.
French investigators have presented circumstantial evidence linking Lelandais to MaÃlysâ disappearance. The girl, whose ninth birthday was in November, was attending the wedding with her parents in the village of Le Pont-de Beauvoisin in the Isère region.
A black Audi A3, reportedly belonging to the former solider, was filmed by CCTV cameras driving away from the reception in the early hours of 27 August.
The Grenoble prosecutor, Jean-Yves Coquillat, who is heading the inquiry, told journalists: A frail, small silhouette [of someone] wearing a white dress can be seen in the front passenger seat.
MaÃlys was wearing a white dress for the wedding.
Presented with a report that the girl’s DNA had been found in the car, Lelandais, a martial arts fan who lived with his parents, said MaÃlys had asked to see his dogs that were in the vehicle on the evening of her disappearance.
In a surprise development earlier this month, Lelandais was accused of the murder of Noyer, 23, a corporal in the elite 13th battalion Alpine infantry, whose skull was recently discovered by a hiker. They suggested the al-Hillis had been murdered after an unfortunate encounter with a random local person.
Officers had looked at whether the killer might be a former soldier, as the weapon used was one issued to the Swiss army and police in the 1920s and 30s.
Dran told Le Parisien newspaper: Given this new development, we will be verifying any connections in order to rule out or include the suspect [Lelandais].