Search for missing British girl resumes after 37 years
BRITISH military police have started digging up a German river bank to search for the remains of a soldier’s two-year-old daughter who went missing 37 years ago, after a review of evidence suggested clues may have been overlooked in the case.
Royal Military Police are taking the lead on the investigation and are being assisted by German authorities with police dogs in their forensic search of the banks of the Alme river, in the western city of Paderborn, senior investigating officer Warrant Officer Class 1 Richard O’leary told reporters yesterday.
Katrice Lee vanished on her second birthday on Nov 28 1981, while out shopping with her mother on the outskirts of Paderborn, near the British military base where her father was stationed.
The new search was prompted by a fresh analysis of witness and forensic evidence. Mr O’leary said he was particularly interested in a green car seen near the excavation site the day after Katrice’s disappearance. On the day she went missing, a witness had seen a man with a child in a green car. Digging on the banks of the Alme is expected to go on for five weeks, Mr O’leary said as soldiers worked on the scene in the background. He said they were looking for any “evidence of Katrice’s disappearance, whether that’s clothing or, unfortunately, Katrice herself ”.
He said they were also trying to trace the owners of about 500 green cars who lived in the area at the time.
Authorities have been criticised for the initial investigation into the case and Richard Lee, the girl’s father, told reporters he was still bitter, but glad the British team was looking into the evidence again.