The bodies of the missing Dutch couple in France were found 4 kilometers apart. The 80-year-old woman was about 100 meters from the couple’s car, the 83-year-old man was found further away near a barn.
That is what the public prosecutor told the French newspaper Le Journal de la Haute-Marne on Friday. The couple from Alphen aan den Rijn was found near the hamlet of Orquevaux, in northeastern France. That is about 200 kilometers from the couple’s second home, where they were headed.
The autopsy of the woman’s body has been completed. It shows that she did not die as a result of a crime or violence, the prosecutor confirms. The police already suspected that there was no crime.
The woman was found around 3:00 PM on Wednesday. She was lying in a wooded area near the car, which the police had already found the night before. The car had no damage. On Thursday at 2:00 PM, the police also found the body of the man.
It is not yet clear what has happened since the disappearance. Family members of the couple raised the alarm earlier this week when they had not heard anything for several days. Last week Friday, they were last seen at a bakery in Saint-Dizier, their son-in-law shared on social media. The French police launched a major search for the man and the woman.
The discovery of the couple was announced on Thursday. The family then announced that they assumed it was a coincidence of circumstances.