Human remains were found in Sint-Martens-Latem, in the Belgian province of East Flanders, on Saturday. They could be the remains of a woman who disappeared in 1994.
The finding of human remains in the Kerstraat in Sint-Martens-Latem on Saturday could signify the first breakthrough in a 30-year-old cold case. There is an indication they belong to a woman named Annie De Poortere, who lived in this street and disappeared in 1994 at the age of 48.
"There are indications that it is a lady who disappeared in 1994," the East Flanders public prosecutor's office told Belga News Agency. The investigating judge was advanced on Saturday and a coming and going of police officers, lab experts and people of the Missing Persons Unit was spotted on the street.
The investigation is reportedly being conducted intensively on all possible avenues. An autopsy will take place, and another DNA test will follow to determine if it is indeed the missing woman.
Alain Remue of the Missing Persons Unit told VRT NWS that such an accidental find can sometimes lead investigators onto a new track. Meanwhile, the woman's relatives and family were informed.
In 1994, De Poortere was reported missing. Five years later, due to the lack of progress in the investigation, she was declared "absent" by the court in Ghent, at the request of her husband. This exceptional procedure means her absence was noted in the registers of civil status. From then on, this has the same consequences as death, meaning the inheritance can be divided or the marriage dissolved.
