Contrary to previous announcements, the Peruvian police say they will continue their investigation into the disappearance of missing Belgian woman Natacha de Crombrugghe.
The Peruvian police say they’re not only continuing the investigation into de Crombrugghe’s disappearance, but are also expanding the search area, reports local newspaper La Republica.
Belgian investigators had reacted with surprise to the initial news that the Peruvian authorities were wrapping up their investigation and sending their report via the embassy, saying they’d received no communication about this.
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“In Belgium, the investigation has certainly not been concluded,” An Berger, the federal judicial police spokesperson, told The Brussels Times.
But the three Belgian investigators sent to Peru more than two weeks ago to help in the search for de Crombrugghe have now left, and the Federal Prosecutor’s office said there is no new information and no new leads in the search for the missing 28-year-old.
Belgian investigators won’t rule out criminal intent
“The police investigation into the disappearance is continuing and no possibilities have been ruled out,” the parents of Natacha de Crombrugghe, who are in close contact with the federal public prosecutor's office, told Belga news agency on Tuesday evening.
According to Peruvian newspaper La Republica, investigators from the Divincri d'Arequipa team concluded that there is no evidence of a violent death, “but the criminal trail – like any other trail – is still being investigated.”
Officers on the ground are expected to extend their search area as soon as weather conditions allow, La Republica reported.
Natacha de Crombrugghe has been missing since 24 January when she left a backpack in her hotel room in Cabanaconde before leaving in the morning for a solo hike in the Colca Canyon in the south of the country.
