Thousands mourn Fourniret victim

26 July 2004

BRUSSELS – Thousands of mourners attended this weekend’s funeral of Elisabeth Brichet, the Belgian girl murdered by French serial killer Michel Fourniret.

The remains of the 12-year-old, who was missing for 15 years, were found earlier this month in the grounds of Fourniret’s former home.

Mourners who gathered in Namur, Southern Belgium, on Saturday left toys and flowers in her memory.

Elisabeth is one of nine people that the 62-year-old former forestry worker has confessed to killing.

Fourniret, who is currently in custody in the Belgian town of Dinant, has admitted his victims were mainly teenage girls, murdered in France and Belgium between 1987 and 2001.

Saturday’s funeral was broadcast live from the St Loup church in Namur, which was decorated with white ribbons and balloons.

The hundreds of people packed into the 17th century church were joined by thousands more lining the streets to pay their final respects.

Observers spoke of similar scenes to the White March in Brussels in 1996 when tens of thousands took to the streets to protest the failure of the criminal justice system to deal with child-killer Marc Dutroux.

The breakthrough in the case surrounding Elisabeth’s murder came when Fourniret’s estranged wife Monique Olivier gave details of her disappearance.

Fourniret then pointed investigators to the remains of two bodies in the grounds of his former French chateau near to the Belgian border.

DNA experts in France established the remains were those of Elisabeth and 22-year-old Jeanne-Marie Desramault, another Fourniret victim.

Fourniret has been formally charged with the kidnapping, imprisonment, rape and murder of Elisabeth.

French and Belgian police are investigating his links to over 30 unsolved murders.

Subject: Belgian News