An intense three-week search for two missing Belgian schoolgirls came to a wretched end on Wednesday when their bodies were found hidden in a storm drain at the side of a railway track half a mile from the bar where they disappeared in Liège.
The city’s chief prosecutor announced that Stacy Lemmens, seven, and Nathalie Mahy (10) whose bodies were badly decomposed, had been murdered.
”Everything was done to find them alive,” declared Cédric Visart de Bocarmé. ”Unfortunately these hopes were dashed by the discovery of these children deceased, or do I need to say it, murdered.”
The girls, whose bodies were found about 40ft apart amid dense undergrowth in a storm drain next to one of the main railway lines into Liège, were dressed in the same clothes they were wearing on the night they disappeared. Stacy was wearing a white T-shirt and pink sports shoes, while Nathalie was wearing a pink T-shirt with sparkling silver decorations.
Police believe that the state of the bodies indicates that the stepsisters were murdered soon after their disappearance at around 1.30am on June 10 from the nearby Armuriers bar during a street festival.
Their disappearance shook Belgium and revived memories of the grim deeds of Marc Dutroux who committed his most notorious crime 10 years ago in Liège when he kidnapped Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo. The girls, both aged eight, starved to death after suffering months of torture and sexual abuse.
As the Belgian prime minister addressed the nation, the authorities made clear that the murder inquiry would focus on a convicted child rapist who has been in police custody for two weeks.
Abdallah Ait-Oud, who was seen at the Armuriers bar shortly before the girls vanished, turned himself in four days after their disappearance when his picture was flashed on television. ”For the moment there are no other suspects,” Visart de Bocarmé said as he responded to questions about the chief suspect, who was a regular at the bar and was the boyfriend of one of the waitresses.
The authorities made clear that Ait-Oud (38) who denies any involvement, played no part in Wednesday’s discovery. Police had searched the area next to the railway line on June 16 as they worked their way through a list of sites, which included dredging cars from the nearby Meuse river. This was called off while police awaited special cutting equipment to clear thick vegetation, which only arrived on Tuesday afternoon.
Less than 24 hours later police found the body of Stacy, at around 11am on Wednesday. This was followed a few hours later by the discovery of Nathalie’s body nearby.
The discovery of the bodies devastated the girls’ parents. Christiane Granziero, Stacy’s mother, collapsed and had to be taken to hospital.
Catherine Dizier, Nathalie’s mother who had been drinking in the bar with Stacy’s father, Thierry Lemmens, when the girls disappeared, was being cared for by social workers. Dizier and Lemmens, who used to be partners, said last week that they would never give up searching.
Lemmens said: ”I’ve told all the children in the family that we will bring back Stacy and Nathalie. And I never lie.”
Crown Prince Philippe, the heir to the Belgian throne, underlined the nation’s shock when he announced that he would scale back a trade visit to Moscow as a sign of respect for the girls’ families. ”As parents ourselves we want to express our feelings with the parents,” he said in Moscow on Thursday afternoon.
Locals in the Armuriers bar in Liège also fell silent as the 18-day agonising wait came to an end. ”Oh no,” one drinker said as a newsflash on RTL television at around 3pm announced that the body of Nathalie had been found.
An hour later locals bowed their heads as Nathalie’s remains were driven away from the railway line half a mile away in a blacked out van. The results of the autopsies on the bodies will be announced on Thursday.
Victor Delbrouck (64) a regular drinker at the Armuriers bar, wiped away tears as news of the discovery of the bodies was announced. ”I do not know how anyone can do this to a seven-year-old and a 10-year-old girl,” he said. ”This brings back the Marc Dutroux affair which happened here 10 years ago. We just see it happening all over again.”
Pointing to the street outside the bar, where the girls disappeared, Delbrouck added: ”I am very worried. I have two young grandchildren and I will be keeping a close eye on them. These girls disappeared from the street just over there. It could happen anywhere.”
Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian Prime Minister, responded to the shock felt across the country when he made a televised address to the nation. ”Priority will be given to uncovering the culprit, or culprits, in this terrible double murder. I can assure you that none of them will get away with this.” Elio di Rupo, the leader of the regional government in French-speaking Wallonia, described the killing as ”a new black day for Belgium”. – Guardian Unlimited Â