A body found buried in a forest in Paris on Saturday was that of a female student who had been missing since the previous day, the Office of the Public Prosecutor (OPP) said on Sunday.
The victim, born in 2004, was a student at Paris-Dauphine University. She "was formally identified late in the evening" on Saturday, the Paris OPP disclosed, confirming a report in Le Parisien newspaper.
The woman's body was found buried in the Bois de Boulogne, in western Paris, during a search on Saturday afternoon. "The search in that area had been initiated by the family of a young woman who had been reported missing on Friday evening," the OPP said.
According to a police source, the victim's sister had reported her missing to the police station of the 16th Arrondissement at around 11.00 pm on Friday. The young woman had not shown up at her parents' home in Yvelines, where she was supposed to go after lunch at Paris-Dauphine University's Office for Student Affairs. She was also not answering her phone.
Around fifty relatives organised a search party on Saturday in the Bois de Boulogne, where her mobile phone had been geolocated. It was they who discovered her body and alerted the police.
Numerous signs of abuse and injuries were found on the body, the police source said. Witnesses described seeing a man with a pickaxe in the area, the source added.
An investigation into voluntary manslaughter has been opened by the criminal brigade of the Paris judicial police.
"Investigations are continuing," said the OPP, which declined to give any details of the cause of death.
