A 12-year-old girl identified only as “Lola” has been found brutally murdered in a trunk outside her Parisian apartment building.
According to a report by Le Monde, the young victim was discovered last Friday (October 14) after her parents had reported her missing earlier that day.
The child’s body was stuffed inside a plastic box and hidden underneath linens. She had reportedly been stabbed, had her throat slit, and her body “covered with inscriptions” including the numbers zero and one.
A 24-year-old woman has already been arrested as a suspect in the girl’s death. She was identified with the help of Lola’s father, who works as a custodian for the building in which they live, and has since given a horrifying confession of how she assaulted and killed the child.
Paris Police. Credit: David R. Frazier Photolibrary, Inc. / Alamy
When Lola’s father and the investigators reviewed the building’s security footage, they saw the child in a hallway with an unknown woman. Several hours later, the same mystery woman was seen leaving the building holding two bags.
The stranger was later identified as Dahbia B, a 24-year-old Algerian national who had outstayed her student visa and was living on the streets. Per Le Monde, she had been spotted by bystanders in the neighborhood “in a state of agitation and moving a heavy plastic trunk with difficulty.”
Ater being taken into police custody on Saturday (October 15), the suspect gave what prosecutors described as a “rambling interview”.
Speaking to investigators, she confessed to luring the child into her sister’s apartment, where she forced her to take a shower and then sexually assaulted her.
Finally, she admitted to killing Lola, who an autopsy report revealed died of “cardio-respiratory failure with signs of asphyxiation and cervical compression.”
Dahbia B reportedly has a history of psychiatric disorders. No clear motive has been determined in the case. Per the Paris prosecutor’s office, the suspect has been charged with “murder and rape of a minor under 15 years of age involving acts of torture and extreme violence”.
President Emmanuel Macron during NATO SUMMIT 2021 in Brussels, Belgium. Credit: DPPA/Sipa USA
Meanwhile, three other women – including Dahbia B’s sister who owns the apartment – were also arrested in connection with the case. Two of them have since been released without charges.
In the wake of the tragic killing, French President Emmanuel Macron met with Lola’s parents. In an official statement, the French leader “offered his condolences and assured them of his complete solidarity and support in the ordeal they are going through, and which has shaken all of us.”