Family of missing teen, 15, speak out after major DNA breakthrough but say new car evidence raises ‘lots of question’
THE heartbroken parents of a missing French teenager have spoken out after a major breakthrough was uncovered in the case.
Lina, 15, vanished in September 2023 after she headed to a train station to meet her boyfriend with cops finally managing to find a lead as her DNA was found inside a stolen car this week.
Lina was due to catch a train to see her partner Tao on September 23, but she vanished seemingly without a trace along the two mile walk to the station.
The teen’s phone lost signal just after 11:20am and she hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Her disappearance sparked a huge search with French cops jumping into action with dogs, drones and volunteers.
It was revealed earlier this week that police discovered her DNA inside a car which was first found in the days after she vanished.
The motor was not far from her last known location, France bleu reports.
Cops are yet to trace back the car’s owner and are said to have struggled due to it being stolen.
It is a hope to locate Lina, but there are so many questions behind it: where, when, how
Marylène Correia
Lina’s heartbroken mum Fanny Groll reacted to the news through her lawyer Matthieu Airoldi who called it “a major step forward”.
Mr Airoldi told AFP on Saturday: “I trust the investigation for the future.”
Lina’s desperate father Olivier Delsarte has also been left feeling positive that the breakthrough may help them to find Lina.
But, he says the DNA has just thrown up several more unanswered questions.
His lawyer, Marylène Correia, also told AFP: “It is a hope to locate Lina, but there are so many questions behind it: where, when, how.
“We will be able to move forward, that’s for sure, but in Mr. Delsarte’s head, for the moment, there are a lot of questions.”
The mystery car was sent to the National Gendarmerie Criminal Research Institute after it deemed suspicious to investigators back in September 2023.
The discovery has been called a “major advance” in the investigation with cops now believing they may be able to locate the girl.
Officials are now set to look into the circumstances around why she would have been in the car.
Boyfriend Tao first flagged Lina as missing when she failed to arrive at Strasbourg train station and she wasn’t answering her phone.
Police studied CCTV from the station on the day she vanished and found no trace of the teen getting on a train.
French prosecutors previously revealed two witnesses saw her between 11.15 and 11.30am heading towards the station.
Officials focused their hunt on a mountainous, wooded area between her home in Champenay and the train station in Saint-Blaise-la-Roche.
Soon a huge force of 400 people were out looking for Lina with police, volunteers, dogs, drones and a helicopter with a thermal camera also deployed.
Detectives have been constantly chasing leads in the year since but say her phone hasn’t been phone yet with none of her bank cards flagging a payment.
They are still open to any new information from the public with no motive or situation being ruled out yet.
Timeline of Lina's disappearance
September 23, 2023
11:10 – Lina says goodbye to Fanny and leaves her home in Champenay
11:20 – Lina sends a final text message to her boyfriend Tao
11:22 – The teen’s phone loses signal
11.30 – Two witnesses say they saw Lina heading towards the station
Her boyfriend Tao later reports Lina as missing
September 2023 to October 2023
Hundreds of people start looking for Lina along the route she went missing
Police, dogs, drones and a helicopter with a thermal camera are also deployed
Cops find a stolen car near to where Lina went missing and send it off for DNA testing
May 2024
Lina’s mum Fanny does an interview where she recalls her final conversation with her daughter
Fanny says: “She was so happy before she left… and then, nothing.”
The family then say they fear Lina was targeted and kidnapped
July 2024
Cops reveal Lina’s DNA was found inside the car sparking investigations into why she was in the car and where she went afterwards
Just a few days after Lina vanished her emotional mum Fanny issued a desperate plea to the press.
The nurse said: “Around 11:20, she sent a message to her boyfriend, that’s the last time we had contact with her.
“I want to find my daughter again, I want her to be close to me, it’s torture to no longer have your child close to you, it’s a great pain.”
Strasbourg officials took over the investigation after Lina was still missing as they began viewing the case as a kidnapping.
They spoke with a man who lived near to the station and searched his house – claiming he wasn’t a suspect but that they needed to rule out a possible lead.
The mum was left asking several questions over her daughter’s disappearance.
The route towards the station was one that Lina was used to making and knew well.
This led to Fanny speaking out again in May saying she fears Lina was snatched, report Le Parisien.
She said in an interview: “I think someone wanted to harm Lina and that it was targeted.”
Lina’s cousin Louane also made concerning claims that the 15-year-old was receiving death threats before she went missing.
Louane told the French news show Sept à Huit: “She told me that she was being threatened with death, that her family was being threatened, that she was being told that they were going to come into her house and get her.”
Lina had also reportedly filed claims of rape against two men in the years before she vanished, say Le Nouveau Détective.
