Alice Gross Found Dead: Police Confirm Body Found In River Belongs To Missing Girl [Video]
Alice Gross has been found dead. The missing teen’s body was discovered during a police search of the River Brent as part of an official investigation into the 14-year-old girl’s disappearance just over one month earlier. With the tragic discovery made on September 30, 2014, the investigation has now been upgraded into a homicide investigation.
Police are searching for 41-year-old convicted murderer Arnis Zalkalns, whom The Guardian described as the “prime suspect” in the Alice Gross case. Two other men had previously been arrested on suspicion of murder in the case but they were each subsequently released. Officials believe that the suspect, who has not been seen since the girl’s disappearance, may have returned to his native land.
Authorities in Latvia, Zalkalns’s home country, are cooperating with Scotland Yard on the case. Back in 1998, Zalkalns was convicted of murdering his wife and disposing of her body in a shallow grave, a crime for which he served seven years in a Latvian prison. Upon his release, he moved to Great Britain where he was arrested in 2009 for alleged indecent assault on a teen girl. The case was dropped when the victim declined to provide a statement.
The parents of Alice Gross released a touching tribute upon learning that the body of their beloved daughter had been found, Mirror reported. Rosalind Hodgkiss and Jose Gross remembered the teen as loving, quirky, and beautiful. There is no doubt that she will be sorely missed.
The family of Alice Gross earlier released this statement. Please read and share. #RIPAliceGross pic.twitter.com/LPfyViDxVd
— RIP ALICE GROSS ?? (@findalicegross) October 1, 2014
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, another missing girl was found alive in Mexico 12 years after being kidnapped. Sabrina Allen was kidnapped from her Texas home when she was just four years old. In a happy twist of fate, she was discovered living near Mexico City recently. She is now 17 years old.
Dara Llorens, Allen’s mother, picked the young girl up for a weekend visit back in 2002 and disappeared with her. Both Sabrina Allen and her mother were brought back to Texas on Tuesday. Although Allen’s father had custody of the child at the time of her disappearance, Allen has decided not to be reunited with him at this time.
[Image Alice Gross via The Guardian]
