Police find no trace of missing girls

13 June 2006

BRUSSELS — Police abandoned their search on Monday for the two girls who went missing in Liège on Saturday morning.

Some 60 police officers searched for the step-sisters Stacy Lemmens, 7, and Nathalie Mahy, 10, in forests, scrub and buildings in the vicinity of the Citadelle hospital.

A helicopter was also deployed to scan the banks of the Maas River, while a search was held in the area around the football field in the Rue des Glacis

The two girls disappeared early on Saturday morning while they were at a funfair with their parents in the Liège district of Saint-Léonard.

The disappearance is a chilly reminder of child killer Marc Dutroux, who kidnapped two girls in the same region more than a decade ago.

The Liège public prosecutor Anne Bourguignont has now urged the boyfriend of a waitress at the café Aux Armuriers to contact authorities.

The man was in the café until 1.30am on Saturday and has not been seen since. The family of the missing girls was at that same café on Friday night.

Bourguignont did not confirm whether the man is the same person who was released on parole after being convicted for sex crimes and is also being hunted by police.

Meanwhile, Child Focus will spread 30,000 posters of the missing girls via Delhaize supermarkets, chemists, volunteers and public transport companies De Lijn, NMBS-SNCB and the MIVB-STIB.

It is increasingly apparent that the girls are the victim of a kidnapping and have not run away from home as initially speculated.

Police are still looking for a resident of the Saint-Léonard city district who has been released from jail on parole. The man was sentenced for 15 crimes, including a sex crime against an adult.

Prosecutor Bourguignon will convene a co-ordination meeting of magistrates, investigating judges, police and prosecution officials and Child Focus on Tuesday afternoon.

Subject: Belgian news