My sarcasm-metre agrees with yours
.
BBM: this bothers me too. I'd like to pin down the timeline more precisely.
I've been combing through reports, and *think* that:
- the last confirmed sight of Maelys was ~1am (possibly in the parking lot?)
- the alarm was raised & people (wedding guests) started searching ~3am
- LE were called & arrived on site ~4am
- the wedding photographer (who had left ~9.30pm/21:30) was called to come back with his photos ~5am
- It was noticed & reported that NL left "around the time" Maelys went missing
- It isn't clear to me whether he returned before or after the alarm was raised
- it also isn't clear whether "around the time" Maelys went missing refers to last sighting (1am), or alarm raised (3am): there's a possible >2 hours right there!
RSBM
This is an overview of the evening, dating from September 3, apparently it wasn't yet known that the suspect had not been arrested for the second time:
LCI.fr
http://www.lci.fr/faits-divers/disp...e-la-soiree-a-replay-sept-a-huit-2063312.html
It's been a little over a week since 9-year-old Maëlys disappeared around 3 a. m. at a wedding in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, Isère. The teams from Sept à Huit met Joëlle Martin, mayor and close friend of the bride's mother. Present at the wedding until late at night, she tells the story of a night that has turned upside down.
On August 26th, the commune of Pont-de-Beauvoisin in Isère is celebrating. More than 180 guests are gathered in the Church to attend the wedding of two children from the region. "It was a very beautiful ceremony, there were a lot of people,"said a neighbour who had gone out of her house to admire the event. The bride and groom leave in a nice convertible car,"she says.
Joëlle Martin is the mayor who united the young couple. A friend of the bride's family, she is invited to the wine of honour and the wedding dinner.
180 guests are gathered for the occasion. "It was a festive atmosphere. They had made a rustic decoration," says Joëlle Martin, visibly moved by the drama.
During the evening, she remembers happy children playing musical chairs in the town's party hall. Her grandson, who was quickly eliminated, played alongside Maëlys. "I remember looking carefully because Leopold, my grandson was involved." At her turn, young Maëlys was eliminated.
Throughout the evening, a babysitter takes care of the twenty something children invited to the event. Around 1h30, she left the premises: "The DJ made an announcement at the microphone to say that the babysitter was leaving, and that the parents had to pay attention to their children. At that time, the atmosphere is festive: "Everyone was dancing" the mayor recalls.
Shortly after the announcement, around 1h30, Joëlle Martin decides to go to bed. She's heading for her car, in the parking lot of the party hall. "I didn't see anything special," says the elected official.
An hour and a half later, around 3:00 in the morning, the girl was seen for the last time. After 3:10 a. m., the parents, a plumber and a nurse from the Jura region, who came to the ceremony with their two daughters, notice Maëlys' absence and the guests help them to look for the little girl for about forty minutes before warning the gendarmerie at 3:57 a. m. precisely. The gendarmerie arrived on the scene immediately but found no trace of the child.
In the report broadcast on Sunday in Sept à Huit, the warden of the party hall, whose home was searched on Monday morning, shows journalists around the premises. The room has obviously been tidied up since the party. It is large and has two spaces. The adults had dinner in one, the children in the other. The wine of honour had been held outside in the early evening.
Surrounding the hall, a dense forest.
It is therefore doubtful that the 9-year-old girl would have wanted to venture out in the middle of the night. As the guard shows, there is a gate around the hall. But that evening the gate was open, to allow guests to leave the car park with their vehicles. The police dogs track the child's trail to the parking lot. Beyond that, nothing more.
BBM
If this is correct, then the window of disappearance would have been like 10 or 15 minutes!