Fourniret victim may be buried on Saturday

13 July 2004

BRUSSELS – The funeral of Elisabeth Brichet, a Belgian girl suspected French serial killer Michel Fourniret has confessed to murdering, looks set to take place on Saturday.

The Belgian authorities have asked their French colleagues to return Elisabeth’s body to allow her family to go ahead with the burial, Namur Prosecutor Cedric Visart de Bocarme said on Monday evening.

The young girl’s body was discovered a week ago at one of Fourniret’s former homes in the French Ardennes.

It is currently being held in a edical institute in the French city of Bordeaux, where it is being examined by forensic experts.

But de Bocarme said he hoped Elisabeth’s remains would be returned to Belgium to allow her family to hold both a private burial and an open public funeral in the city of Namur this weekend.

Meanwhile, police from the French town of Nantes arrived in the Belgian city of Dinant on Monday to question Fourniret and his wife Monique Olivier about the murder of 13 year old Natacha Danais in 1990.

Fourniret has already admitted killing Natacha, whose body was found on a beach south of Nantes.

But despite this, the French police say they need to question the 62-year-old former carpenter in order to ensure that his confession is genuine, Belgian broadcaster Bel-RTL reported on its website on Monday.

“This step is essential,” Nantes public prosecutor, Jean-Marie Huet explained recently.

“We need to know definitively that we can attribute this case to Michel Fourniret,” he added.

Subject: Belgian news