Updated 21.07 | Published 19.13
Lyhanna, 11, was last seen with her friend’s father in France.
That was almost a week ago.
Now a body has been found near the place of the disappearance.
The body has not yet been identified but appears to belong to a child and is wearing similar clothing to the one Lyhanna wore, prosecutors said, according to BFM TV.
“While waiting for the autopsy, it is now time for reflection and grief,” says Lyhanna’s parents’ lawyer in a statement.
The girl went missing on Friday last week.
At the time, she was outside her secondary school in the town of Fleurance near Toulouse – in a car driven by her best friend’s father, Jérôme Barella, 41.
He is in custody on suspicion of kidnapping and illegal detention of a child under 15 years of age.
According to him, he dropped her off at a swimming pool.
From before, the 41-year-old is suspected of repeated rapes against another friend of one of his two daughters, according to BFM TV. He has also been reported for raping a 15-year-old girl.
France’s Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin commented on the case earlier on Thursday, reports Le Monde.
– We are all horrified by this flaw in the system, which testifies to the flaws in our organization, no doubt within the Department of Justice as well as elsewhere, and that we do not take children’s words seriously.
