INTL - Alessia & Livia Schepp (twins), 6, 30 Jan 2011 - Italy, Switzerland and France

[Hazel]

Mother of 2 little girls made a plea on Italian TV. She is seen on this video clip, with her brother alongside her. She first thanks from the bottom of her heart all reporters, Foggia and French LE for all the help and time dedicated in searching for her little girls. She then appeals to the public to please contact LE if someone knows something at all, any detail, as small as it may seem, to please don't be shy and contact LE.
She says that in light of the latest information: THREE sightings of Alessia and Livia on board of a ferry bound to Corsica, has given her new hope that her little girls could still be found alive.

Video also includes new photos of the little girls. Hope link works:

VIDEO Rai TV http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-e0c842bd-730e-491a-8bba-2f105628abdb.html

 

[peeples]

OMG so sad

 

[KaylynnCouture]

What a horrid story. Poor Mom. I don't understand why he would mail her money though?

I can't figure that out either.

 

[belimom]

What a horrid story. Poor Mom. I don't understand why he would mail her money though?

I wonder if the amount of money is something they have been fighting over...? Maybe part of the separation/divorce/whatever. And sending it could be like a slap in the face - like 'the girls are gone but here's the money you wanted'. (This is all speculation and MOO - I have no idea if this is the issue but I was trying to make sense of the money as well.)

 

[beandawgs]

I don't know about the money theory -- I think its weird that he would take money out and then mail it to her, but both husband and wife were quite well to do and I doubt that they were arguing over that amount of money. My only other thought was that he took the money out thinking he might need it for food, lodging for some time and then decided to off himself sooner than he thought he would. I know he waited until the end to put the money in the mail.

 

[Reality Orlando]

Thank you for the map, Hazel!

I'm not sure if he was seen on the ferry to Italy, but he had to get there somehow from Corsica, so hopefully someone somewhere saw something, or even better, there were cameras.

Police think that he may never have taken the girls abroad at all, because they found their IDs at home (borders are mostly open here, but I wouldn't risk traveling without ID), and their car seats (at 6 years, they still have to use them, legally) were in the mother's car.

bazonline.ch (Article in German)

PS: Should I not post links if they aren't in English? Most coverage here will be in German or French. I'm rather new to posting here, so I want to make sure I'm not doing something incredibly stupid or against the rules.

Thanks for the posts. Even though this last one was in German, my browser easily translated it into English by just right clicking on the page, going to page info and clicking translate into English. Such a very sad story. I can only pray for the best.

 

[Leomoon80]

Thank you for the map, Hazel!

I'm not sure if he was seen on the ferry to Italy, but he had to get there somehow from Corsica, so hopefully someone somewhere saw something, or even better, there were cameras.

Police think that he may never have taken the girls abroad at all, because they found their IDs at home (borders are mostly open here, but I wouldn't risk traveling without ID), and their car seats (at 6 years, they still have to use them, legally) were in the mother's car.

bazonline.ch (Article in German)

PS: Should I not post links if they aren't in English? Most coverage here will be in German or French. I'm rather new to posting here, so I want to make sure I'm not doing something incredibly stupid or against the rules.

Can we find their dates of birth?

 

[belimom]

Can we find their dates of birth?

http://www.helpfindmychild.net/alessia-schepp

10/7/2004

 

[Leomoon80]

http://www.helpfindmychild.net/alessia-schepp

10/7/2004

I've searched everywhere for the father's dob, but cannot find it. Even on the Facebook acct. set up, (all in French)

Is there a timeline of "Last Seen?"....Seems the timeline is confusing as well.

How about the money sent via wire to the wife after withdrawing the funds?

In Marsielle it is reported he sent her a message but "no time" it was sent. Jan. 30.

Makes you wonder what he did on the 31st, Feb. 1 and Feb 2nd , that is 3 long days and then there is Feb. 3rd when he died.

He must have been somewhere staying those 3 nights.

 

[belimom]

I've searched everywhere for the father's dob, but cannot find it. Even on the Facebook acct. set up, (all in French)

Is there a timeline of "Last Seen?"....Seems the timeline is confusing as well.

How about the money sent via wire to the wife after withdrawing the funds?

In Marsielle it is reported he sent her a message but "no time" it was sent. Jan. 30.

Makes you wonder what he did on the 31st, Feb. 1 and Feb 2nd , that is 3 long days and then there is Feb. 3rd when he died.

He must have been somewhere staying those 3 nights.

Leo, is this it? It's in German but it seems to be it (I think it's an obituary - Babylon translated it as saying 'it was too early', etc):

Matthias Schepp-Lucidi

30.7.1967 - 3.2.2011

Für uns war es viel zu früh. Für Dich gab es kein Morgen mehr.

........
Verwandte und viele Freunde

http://www.mortalino.com/anzeigen/und

The google translation is better:

Matthias Schepp-Lucidi

07/30/1967 - 02/03/2011

For us it was too early. For you, there was no tomorrow.

.........
Relatives and many friends

 

[Leomoon80]

Belimom: thanks for coming through once again.

It appears correct because the mother's name (surname) Lucidi
according to FB:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Missing-Alessia-Livia/169083213138407?v=wall&filter=2

 

[belimom]

Swiss twins last seen on ferry, official says

Paris (CNN) -- Missing Swiss twin girls were last seen alive on a ferry to the island of Corsica, a French official said Wednesday.

A woman heard them crying in the next cabin and then saw them and could identify one of them, the official said.

Six-year-old Alessia and Livia Schepp were abducted by their father on January 30, Swiss police said. They were spotted on the boat the following day, French prosecutor Jacques Dallest said.

More:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/02/09/switzerland.missing.girls/index.html?hpt=T2

 

[gitana1]

Was the father also seen on a ferry from Corsica to Italy? Would he have gone to Roma or Napoli? Why drive all the way to Cerignola to commit suicide there?

I am still hoping he handed the twins to friends/family or a good family along the way; however, LE are mostly searching around the Geneva Lake, as if they fear he 'hurt' the little girls before driving to Marseille.

Made a MAP (link here) showing his last movements:

( A ) Saint-Sulpice, Switzerland => where twins were abducted from (wife's house)
( B ) Lake Geneva => where LE is conducting searches
( C ) Marseille, France => where father sent a postcard to estranged wife and withdrew money
( D ) Toulon, France => where he sent a letter
( E ) Corsica, France => father seen on ferry alone
( F ) Cerignola, Italy => where he mailed several envelopes containing the money he had withdrawn in Marseille, and where he committed suicide

Thanks so much for the map and itinerary. These are precious little girls. I hope somehow they are found safe.

 

[MicciStella]

Thank you all for doing all that research so far over the border.... It broke my heart when I had to read that so beautiful girls from my home country Switzerland are missing...... I pray and hope they will be found safe......

And as I just in the newspaper of Zurich the NZZ online:

The 43-year-old father left with the children after a quarrel in the family in the direction of France. (oh dear.... fighting and argument before tragedy again)

 

[sherlockh]

More about the sightings on the ferry and an unconfirmed sighting in Italy:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12404259

 

[swanny]

This French language article (Swiss newspaper) is very informative

http://www.tdg.ch/maman-jumelles-emeut-millions-telespectateurs-2011-02-09

The authorities seem to be satisfied that all three boarded the Marseille-Corsica ferry and stayed in cabin 212 but there is less certainty as to whether he disembarked alone in Corsica.

The state prosecutor is openly discussing the hypothesis that he threw the children overboard.

I think I read somewhere a few days ago (not sure) that the father immediately took a ferry back to Marseille but this article does not talk about this.

In another article in the same newspaper.

http://www.tdg.ch/actu/suisse/jumelles-disparues-pere-craignait-mere-parte-belgique-2011-02-10

the Belgian aspects of the case are discussed. According to this article the mother spent much of her childhood in Belgium and was considering a job opportunity there, which was very distressing to the father who did not want his children to be living so far away. The authorities are also confident that the 'flight' was premeditated.

 

[belimom]

I don't know if this is the same video Hazel posted b/c I can't get that other video to play, but this one has an English narration)

Missing Twins: Mum Makes Emotional TV Plea

Appearing on Italian television, Irina Lucidi said: "I appeal to all witnesses, all persons who may have seen my daughters Alessia and Livia together with their father before his death."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wo...Missing_Swiss_Twins,_Makes_TV_Appeal_In_Italy

 

[Hazel]

I don't know if this is the same video Hazel posted b/c I can't get that other video to play, but this one has an English narration)

Missing Twins: Mum Makes Emotional TV Plea

Thank you for this VIDEO clip Belimon; it is not the same one I posted of the mother's appeal in Italian.
There have been new developments since yesterday. LE is no longer conducting searches in Switzerland since it has now been confirmed the girls did in fact were in France.

There is a new unconfirmed sighting of the girls and father in a bar in same area where the father threw himself under the train.
The lady says he asked to use the washroom for one of his daughters. He had an 'accent' and didn't use the Italian word for bathroom (bagno), instead he said "toilet".
While waiting for the one girl to come out of the washroom, the lady offered a glass of water to her sister. She looked at her father for approval. She had the glass of water.
Then the father went to the door and he told one of the girls to "hurry up, that they were late, and didn't want to miss the train". The lady thought she heard him calling the little girl "Lia", but it could have been "Livia".

If this sighting is confirmed, then this would mean the girls were in Italy as well. Forgot to mention that LE has video tape and is looking at it, but so far they havent' been able to "see" the girls in the videotapes

So far it is not known how he made it to Italy. He was seen in Napoli (Naples) and also in one article I read he was seen in Bari (which is on the Adriatic Sea coast).

I guess he could have taken a ferry from Corsica to Napoli, or perhaps went down to the Italian Island of Sardegna?
I imagine LE wants to find this out, and rule out the possibility he could have gone back to France (from Corsica), and driven around the French coast to Italy.

There are 3 days that are unaccounted for, so that could be possible, I guess.

 

[Hazel]

LE is now sifting through mailboxes, looking for an old model 'recorder' that the father used to carry with him all the time. They are hopeful the father dropped it in a mailbox, same as he did with the envelopes containing the money. In fact they found 2 additional envelopes with money inside a mailbox that was no longer in use.

Investigators are now starting to consider the possibility that he planned all this, based on findings in his computer/laptop.

Swiss LE is no longing conducting ground searches: no more K-9 or divers. They are now going to focus their investigation around the father's professional and personal circles, and his family.

There was a meeting yesterday with French, Italian and Swiss LE that lasted 4 hours in order to compare and share information. They are also trying to create a detailed timelinie, reconstructing all the father's movements, in order to "pinpoint" the exact moment in which they lost track of him, and the little girls.

In the meantime, the French LE is searching for the girls in the southern part of Corsica, particularly around the seaside resort of Propriano, which is the point where he got off the ferry. They are looking for people who might have seen all three of them or the car he was driving, searching beaches and gas stations.

http://info.rsi.ch/home/channels/informazione/info_on_line/2011/02/09-La-madre-delle-gemelle-esortaLa-

 

[Norwegian]

I've also read about the search for a video camera. The article doesn't state if the camera was taken with him on the trip or not, but it is missing. I'm sure they think this camera can give clues.

The newspapers here in Norway are reporting the fear of the father might dropping the girls into the sea... sorry my English, there's probably a much nicer way of saying this.