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12 July 2004
BRUSSELS – Suspected French serial killer Michel Fourniret was on Monday formally charged with the murder of Belgian girl Elisabeth Brichet.
Fourniret spent the morning at the courthouse in the Belgian city of Namur, where prosecutors charged him with “sexual assault and murder.”
Elisabeth Brichet’s body was discovered just over a week ago at one of Fourniret’s former homes in the French Ardennes.
She had been buried along with another of Fourniret’s victims, 22 year old French woman Jeanne-Marie Desramault.
Prosecutors had to wait until forensic scientists had formally identified the two bodies before charging Fourniret with murder.
The former carpenter has confessed to killing eight girls and women and one man but many investigators believe the real number of his victims is much higher.
French police are looking for links between the 62 year old Frenchman and 30 unsolved cases of murder or disappearance.
The Belgian authorities have opened a dozen unsolved files they believe Fourniret could be linked to.
Meanwhile police in Germany, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands are also looking into possible links between the French former carpenter and unsolved crimes in their countries.
[Copyright Expatica 2004]
Subject: Belgian news