Several thousand people gathered, anonymous and close to Victorine Dartois, took part in a white march in Villefontaine (Isère) on Sunday, in tribute to the young 18-year-old student found dead in a stream earlier this week.

Pain and meditation: a crowd of several thousand people took part on Sunday in Villefontaine (Isère) in a white march in tribute to Victorine, the young 18-year-old student found dead in a stream earlier this week.

Some 4,000 people responded to the call launched on social networks by Romane Dartois, one of the sisters of the young victim, according to several media estimates on the spot.

The prefecture of Isère was not able to confirm this figure.

White balloons with Victorine's name

Masked and dressed all in white, the demonstrators left around 2:30 p.m. from the Prairie stadium, a place highly symbolic of Victorine's last phone call to her parents, to reach Les Fougères, the residential area where the family lives.

In a city traumatized and in shock since the tragedy.

At the request of the very observant family, a cross, at the foot of which bouquets of flowers were piled up, was erected at the entrance to the stadium.

White balloons bearing Victorine's name were attached to it before a dove was released by one of the young woman's sisters.

At the head of the procession, the family, accompanied by a priest in a white dawn, is greeted with applause.

"Victorine, we need you. Keep us a place up there", read her brother in a voice choked with emotion at the end of the demonstration.

"Watch over all the women who come home alone. I love you," he added under a white canopy, alongside his parents and sisters holding a banner with the photo of the girl, marked "Victorine rest in peace. We finish your journey together".

The family then embraced for a long time to the applause of the crowd.

An ongoing investigation

Through the voice of their lawyer Kelly Monteiro, she "thanked from the bottom of their heart" all those who mobilized this Sunday.

Then in chorus, parents and children shouted "thank you!".

Before a release of white balloons also applauded by the thousands of present.

Victorine's body was found on Monday, two days after her disappearance.

An investigation for murder, kidnapping and forcible confinement was opened, the accidental thesis having been formally dismissed.