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

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BREAKING NEWS

Uncle says missing girls' father mailed cash before suicide
02/8/2011 8:34 AM

GENEVA - An uncle of the missing twin girls from Lausanne says their father sent his estranged wife 5,000 euros in several mailings from Italy before he was found dead.

Her brother, a Belgian surgeon, said the mailed money "worries us a lot" because it rules out the girls' father paid someone to take care of them.

Schepp withdrew thousands of euros in France but had only a few hundred euros on him when he was found dead Thursday in Italy where police believe he threw himself under a train.
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MORE: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/uncle-says-missing-girls-father-mailed-cash-before-suicide-115557249.html

:( I was hoping he bought airplane tickets and sent both girls to Canada. Anyone knows if he has family in Canada?
 
This is just insane! God Bless those babies. I fear they might be dead.
 
I'm really thinking this is something Skelton-like... :no:

Hope fades for missing Swiss twins as mystery money found

Hope for twin Swiss girls abducted by their Canadian-born father is fading after the family received word that Matthias Schepp, who killed himself late last week, sent his estranged wife Irina Lucinda $6,750 by mail.

The family had been clinging to the hope that he had used the money to pay for the care of Alessia and Livia, both 6, after he stepped in front of a high-speed train in Italy.
...............
"We are really scared that something bad happened but we don't have the proof up until now.
...............
"About 40 men with dogs are on Monday pursuing their search in Switzerland, at St-Sulpice, the home of the two young girls, and anywhere they might have been," Jean-Christophe Sauterel, spokesman for Vaud district police, said Monday.



Read more: http://www.canada.com/Hope+fades+mi...+money+found/4243887/story.html#ixzz1DNvFB5ox
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I'm so sorry I don't have an English link for this... but Swissinfo.ch has an article that says that the money (in cash) was sent to the mother in 8 separate envelopes.

It also says that the father was seen ALONE on the ferry to Corsica... :(
 
Jareau said:
I'm so sorry I don't have an English link for this... but Swissinfo.ch has an article that says that the money (in cash) was sent to the mother in 8 separate envelopes.

It also says that the father was seen ALONE on the ferry to Corsica... :(
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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
 
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.
 
Family of missing twins fears for the worst

Family members were discouraged Tuesday about the odds of finding two missing Swiss girls alive, after discovering that their Canadian-born father mailed away thousands of euros rather than hire daycare before apparently killing himself.

[snip]

Their mother, Irina Lucidi, a senior legal counsel with Philip Morris International in Lausanne, alerted police that the girls were missing after she and her husband, who also worked at the tobacco giant, exchanged text messages Jan. 30. He told her he would return the girls to school the next morning, a Monday.

Instead, Schepp apparently drove off in an Audi A6 black wagon that was found Thursday in Cerignola, where his body was also later discovered.

His exact path between Lausanne and Cerignola remains unclear, including whether he even took the girls with him.

[snip]

An international search operation, dubbed “Operation Gemelle” — the Italian word for twin — has so far turned up no evidence of the whereabouts of the girls or their trail.

More: http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/cana...y-of-missing-twins-fears-for-the-worst--page2
 
Jareau said:
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.
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I think it's okay to post foreign language links. Most browsers will offer some sort of "translate this page" option. Since we're not getting much info on this case in the USA, we'll be grateful for any links provided on this forum.
 
"On Monday, the 43-year-old man from the south of France Marseille wrote a postcard to his wife. He was desperate and would not live without her, they said it.

On the same day he bought for himself and the two daughters tickets for the ferry to Corsica. According to the ferry company CMC, the tickets were scanned on board.

In addition, a witness has emerged who claims to have seen how the man had left last Tuesday morning, the ship in Corsica - alone.


(to view the entire article in English, paste this address in google and hit translate.)

http://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/news/ne...at_Briefe_mit_Geld_erhalten.html?cid=29444218
 
Paulette said:
"On Monday, the 43-year-old man from the south of France Marseille wrote a postcard to his wife. He was desperate and would not live without her, they said it.

On the same day he bought for himself and the two daughters tickets for the ferry to Corsica. According to the ferry company CMC, the tickets were scanned on board.

In addition, a witness has emerged who claims to have seen how the man had left last Tuesday morning, the ship in Corsica - alone.


(to view the entire article in English, paste this address in google and hit translate.)

http://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/news/ne...at_Briefe_mit_Geld_erhalten.html?cid=29444218
Click to expand...

So father & 2 girls boarded the ferry to Corsica, but only father exited the ferry when it arrived...am I understanding it correctly?
 
Daisyjane said:
So father & 2 girls boarded the ferry to Corsica, but only father exited the ferry when it arrived...am I understanding it correctly?
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Yes. That's how I understood the statement.

Very upsetting isn't it? A father could do such a thing to children he loved.
 
Is there any mention of why he traveled so far away? The ferry route alone looks like it is 100 miles according to the map.
 
I don't think its fully confirmed that the girls actually got on the ferry to Corsica. The initial reports were that the girls were sighted at the travel agent in Marseille but now the media seems to be backtracking on that. The latest I have heard was that there is no confirmation the girls were seen anytime after 13:00 on 30Jan in St. Sulpice near the dad's home when they were playing with the neighbor. Only two hours after that the dad was driving on the road and it seems there are no more sightings of the girls.
 
Jareau said:
^ Hello my French neighbour!

Never thought I'd read about a Swiss case on WS... I'm Swiss...

Those poor beautiful girls. I hope so much that they will be found safe and returned to their mother.
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Hello! As coincidences would have it - I'm in Marseilles.

My heart breaks for the poor Mother.
 
What a horrid story. Poor Mom. I don't understand why he would mail her money though?
 
sherlockh said:
More reports are now coming out that the twins were seen on the ferry. This would fit with the 3 tickets the father bought. There must be a reason why the father made a short trip to an island and I am preparing for the worst :(

http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article903035.ece/Missing-Swiss-twins-were-on-ferry-to-Corsica
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This is baffling b/c there are so many options regarding their wellbeing as well as their location:

1) they are no longer alive... :(
2) they are alive and with someone who will take care of them
3) they are alive but with someone who will NOT take care of them (trafficking, etc).

I'm leaning towards the first option. I think if he was troubled enough to take his own life, then he took the lives of his precious girls first. :no:

But where...? Switzerland, Corsica, or somewhere inbetween?
 
Thanks very much to all of you posting from Europe with updates! Such a sad story, and does not look good, although I hope the girls are found safely somehow.
 
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