Four people are in custody as French police hunt for the killer of an 11-year-old schoolgirl who was stabbed on her way home.
A murder investigation was launched after Louise Lasalle’s body was found in the Bois des Templiers woodlands in Longjumeau, northern France on Friday.
Investigators made a series of arrests on Monday, including a 23-year-old man who is being questioned in relation to the murder of a minor under the age of 15. The man may have had scratches on his hands, sources close to the investigation told French media.
The man’s mother, 48, father, 49, and girlfriend, 23, have been arrested and accused of “failure to report a crime”, Le Parisien reported. All four were initially questioned as witnesses, but after inconsistencies were noticed in their statements police turned their investigations towards the family, according to the French outlet. The mother and girlfriend have also been accused of providing a false alibi.
It was footage from surveillance cameras in Longjumeau and the testimony of a young girl - reportedly a friend of Louise - that led to Monday’s arrests.
Investigators believe a man seen walking behind Louise in a black down jacket on CCTV was following her. The young girl confirmed his presence at the entrance to Bois des Templiers at around 2pm.
The arrested man lives in the same area as Louise, a source told BFMTV, and investigators are looking into whether he is the same person seen in the footage.
Earlier on Monday, another man aged 23 was arrested alongside his mother, 55. French police confirmed on Tuesday that both had been released. A couple in their 20s were taken into Saturday before also being released without charge.
A search through the forest where Louise’s body was found, near the towns of Épinay-sur-Org and Longjumeau, involved more than 120 police officers, horses, drones, dogs and helicopters.
The autopsy at the Corbeil-Essonnes forensic institute on Saturday afternoon found that she was repeatedly stabbed with an object likely to be a knife, French media has cited authorities as saying.
On Tuesday, local authorities opened rooms in Épinay-sur-Org and Longjumeau to allow residents to pay their respects to Louise. Devastated classmates and worried mothers previously told of their sadness and fear after the killing.
One girl described Louise to TF1 as “funny, intelligent and she loved her friends, she was everything to us".
And a concerned mother told the outlet: “We're completely shocked. We're shocked. We can't imagine that this kind of thing could happen next door to us.”
