Mentally ill drifter suspected of killing girl aged 11 in Alsace

An 11-year-old girl, initially thought to have been the victim of a callous road accident, may have been sexually assaulted and murdered, French investigators believe.

An 11-year-old girl, initially thought to have been the victim of a callous road accident, may have been sexually assaulted and murdered, French investigators believe.

The death of the girl, identified only as Jeanne-Marie, is now thought to be connected to two other sexually motivated murders which took place in recent weeks in villages close to Strasbourg in northern Alsace.

The possibility that the girl was originally run over has not been excluded but the accident is no longer thought to have been the cause of her death.

Sources close to the investigation told a French news agency yesterday that traces of Jeanne-Marie's blood had been found in a car belonging to Pierre Bodein, 57, a psychologically disturbed former itinerant already under arrest for the murder of a 14-year-old girl. M. Bodein, who was released from prison last year after spending much of the past 35 years in prisons or psychiatric institutions, is related to a family of German itinerants, settled in Alsace, who were originally suspected of being involved in Jeanne-Marie's death.

Eight members of the family are under arrest. Two brothers have been formally accused of kidnapping the girl. The others face charges of failing to help a person in danger.

Jeanne-Marie's body was found, partly undressed, face down in a stream last week. She had been stabbed and probably sexually assaulted. The bodies of Julie, aged 14, and a 38-year-old woman have also been found in the past 10 days.