Six months after Lina's disappearance, her mother hopes for testimonies

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP 5:18 p.m., March 22, 2024

Lina's mother launched a call on Friday for testimonies to advance the investigation into the disappearance of her daughter Lina on September 23, 2023 near Strasbourg. She also made a “rant” against the cyberharassment of which she is the target.

Six months after the disappearance of young Lina in Alsace, her mother launched a call for testimonies on Friday to advance the investigation and launched a "rant" against the cyberharassment of which she is the target. “If anyone remembers anything, has forgotten to say something, a detail, it must be said, it is never too late,” declared Fanny Groll during a press conference organized with his lawyer, Me Matthieu Airoldi.

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The teenager last seen on the way to the station

Late in the morning of September 23, Lina, 15, left her home in Plaine in Bas-Rhin to go to the Saint-Blaise-la-Roche station, about three kilometers away. She had to take a train to join her boyfriend in Strasbourg. Not seeing her arrive, it was he who alerted the young girl's mother.

Witnesses, including the former mayor of the village, saw Lina on the way to the station between 11:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The teenager's phone went off the air at 11:22 a.m. and has not been found. This road, “it’s an area that we still have to know a little about in order to take it,” his mother emphasized on Friday.

“All hypotheses remain open,” according to a source close to the investigation

According to a source close to the investigation, “all hypotheses remain open” in this matter. Fanny Groll and her lawyer, Me Airoldi, regretted not being kept more informed of the progress of the investigation which is being carried out, on a judicial level, by two Strasbourg investigating judges. “I don’t understand why we are not informed, at least of the slopes that are closed,” said Mr. Airoldi astonished.

Fanny Groll "doesn't stop asking herself a billion questions", "she only thinks about that and therefore having access to the tracks which would be closed would allow her to have a little peace of mind", argued her counsel.

The investigation is moving “towards long-term investigations”

In its last communication on the case, on October 2, the Strasbourg public prosecutor's office announced that the investigation was moving "towards long-term investigations". “We remain strongly mobilized on the file,” assured AFP the source close to the investigation. “There are always around twenty investigators working on the case, it’s the heart of the reactor.” Depending on needs and technicalities", these gendarmes benefit from reinforcements, "particularly on digital investigations".

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Regarding the investigation into a rape reported by Lina in 2022, several months before her disappearance, her mother was heard by an investigating judge. The case, initially closed without further action by the Saverne public prosecutor's office, was taken over by the Strasbourg public prosecutor's office, which opened a judicial investigation last month. In this case, Fanny Groll "received communication of the entire file", welcomed her lawyer, repeating her wish to also have access to the file on Lina's disappearance.

Support concert

To continue working to find her daughter, Fanny Groll created an association in January called “Lina’s Good Stars”. A support concert is organized on the evening of April 20 in Plaine. It is intended to be a “moment of support, of kindness,” said Fanny Groll. Unlike the cyberharassment which she explained to be the target for months. “From the start, it's been a horror, I don't even have words anymore, it's so relentless, everything and anything is said everywhere,” his mother testified. She discovered that her daughter had also been a victim of this phenomenon and had "suffered horrible comments" which had "damaged her reputation".

Fanny Groll denounced the "disinformation" about the disappearance of her daughter and wanted to give a "good rant and say: 'But finally think about what you say, what you do because all of that has consequences and not only does it not help Lina but even worse, it hinders the investigation.” For her daughter, Fanny Groll promises that she will “not give up”: “Until Lina is here I will fight”.