Missing: Alice Gross UK (age 14)

[scoobydoo]

Poor Alice, and her poor family. I was really hoping she was alive somewhere. But at least, now it turns out she has died, she has been found, its horrendous enough that shes been killed but to not be found, and her family didn't deserve to spend their lives not knowing that would make it even worse.

ETA police have confirmed that the body has been formally identified as that of Alice gross. Her poor family.

[Jayelles]

This is just so sad. Like you, I had really hoped they would find her alive. Her family have gone through hell

[Jayelles]

[Truthiness2]

Wrong thread, Jay?

[Jayelles]

Wrong thread, Jay?

I wasjust testing something. An experiment kind of thing...

[Truthiness2]

[urcrazy]

She was found close to the epicentre of the search apparently.
Very well concealed - how did no one see him doing that!? Did he go back, at night?

[Jayelles]

She was found close to the epicentre of the search apparently.
Very well concealed - how did no one see him doing that!? Did he go back, at night?

Goodness knows URC, I was reading today about how she had been concealed. Someone really did go to a lot of trouble. My heart really goes out to that family.

[TansyT]

Looks like they've found the suspect's body.
http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/04/prime-sus ... d-4892726/

[Truthiness2]

[TansyT]

The Mail (for what its worth) is drawing parallels to other historic disappearances in the area.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... l?ITO=1490

[Truthiness2]

The Mail (for what its worth) is drawing parallels to other historic disappearances in the area.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... l?ITO=1490

I read that, Tansy. I couldn't work out if he was in the country or not in 1999?

[TansyT]

Good point!

A friend has made another about him seeing something he shouldn't have done but it takes us in to the realms of speculation and we all know where that ends up.

[Truthiness2]

Good point!

A friend has made another about him seeing something he shouldn't have done but it takes us in to the realms of speculation and we all know where that ends up.

If he'd seen something at the time, he possibly wouldn't have been around for another week.

He went missing when the story was gaining national coverage and the police presence had increased.

[Jayelles]

Oh my goodness, what a strange twist in the case???

[Truthiness2]

The Sun reporting he was found hanged?

[Alibongo]

Apparently so I'm watching press review on sky.

[Truthiness2]

It drives me mad

Her poor parents.

It makes her death even more senseless and deprives them of seeing him locked up, suffering in the worst possible way - ie in a cell with his own thoughts and inner demons for years on end.

[Carana]

Police believe body in west London wood is Alice Gross suspect
Detectives had been searching for Latvian builder Arnis Zalkalns, who went missing after Alice disappeared

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Mark Townsend
The Observer, Saturday 4 October 2014 22.33 BST

Arnis Zalkalns
Latvian builder Arnis Zalkalns, who disappeared six days after Alice Gross went missing. Photograph: Rex Features

Police searching for Arnis Zalkalns, the prime suspect in the murder of schoolgirl Alice Gross, found a body on Saturday that they believe to be that of the Latvian builder.

The body was discovered in dense woodland in Boston Manor Park, west London, at 2pm around a mile from where Alice was found last Tuesday night. Her body was discovered in the Brent river, wrapped in plastic sheeting and covered with heavy logs.

Scotland Yard said: "Although no formal identification has been made, early indications suggest the body may be that of Arnis Zalkalns. We have updated his partner and a family liaison officer is supporting her. Due to the nature of the surrounding area, specialist resources will be required to assist with the recovery of the body, which will not take place until Sunday."

Officers have been searching for Zalkalns, a 41-year-old builder, who went missing six days after Alice disappeared. Detectives had announced that they wanted to question him after he had been seen cycling along the Grand Union Canal towpath 15 minutes after Alice had last been seen there on CCTV while out for a walk in August.

Police suspected Zalkalns might still be in Britain. On Friday they revealed that they were examining CCTV footage showing the Latvian withdrawing cash in Isleworth, west London, before he went missing.

The footage was said to show Zalkalns using a cash machine at a Co-op supermarket close to where he worked as a jobbing labourer. Police had warned that he "clearly poses a risk to the public" and urged anyone who spotted Zalkalns not to approach him.

It emerged during the hunt that Zalkalns was a convicted criminal who had spent seven years in jail for the brutal murder of his wife, Rudite, in 1997. He battered and stabbed her before burying her body in remote woodland near the Latvian capital, Riga.

The revelation provoked a furore, with claims that the Home Office was unaware of his criminal record when he entered the country in 2007. It also emerged that, in 2009, Zalkalns was arrested in London on suspicion of committing an indecent assault on a 14-year-old girl, but was never charged.

The subsequent debate on foreign criminals saw the BBC's Question Time issue an apology on Friday to Alice's family. Her sister said the show's decision to feature a question linking the murder to immigration was "horrible". Nina Gross described the BBC programme as "extremely insensitive" after the panel debated whether convicted criminals ought to be allowed to move across Europe.

David Cameron has also promised to "examine all the circumstances" surrounding the murder, describing the case as "horrific" and one that "sickened" him. He said: "Anyone with a daughter will have just felt sickened by what has happened and what that poor family has had to go through."

Speaking after Alice's body was found, her parents, Rosalind Hodgkiss and Jose Gross, said: "We have been left completely devastated by the recent developments and it is difficult to comprehend that our sweet and beautiful daughter was the victim of a terrible crime.

"Why anyone would want to hurt her is something that we are struggling to come to terms with. Alice was a loving and much-loved daughter and sister, a quirky live spark of a girl, beautiful inside and out."

Her disappearance prompted the biggest police operation in London since the 7/7 bombings. Police hunting the killer had revealed that Zalkalns had not accessed his bank account or used his mobile phone since 3 September, nor had he returned home to his partner and young child. He had also left behind his passport. Forensic officers searched his semi-detached house in Ealing as part of their investigation.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014 ... body-found