Body Found in Search for Missing Girl Lyhanna

Overview

• A body was discovered Thursday in the search zone near Puycasquier and officials say identification is under way while investigators continue forensic work.
• The missing girl, 11-year-old Lyhanna, was last seen Friday, May 29, getting into a car in Fleurance with a 41-year-old man who has since been formally charged with kidnapping and held in pretrial detention.
• Prosecutors and local gendarmes say the suspect has long been linked to reports about sexual misconduct toward minors, including a rape complaint filed on August 22, 2025 and a separate recent complaint alleging inappropriate touching after a pyjama party.
• Interior and justice ministers have ordered administrative inspections by the national justice and gendarmerie watchdogs to examine transfer delays and the handling of the 2025 complaint.
• Local residents, victims' groups and magistrates have expressed anger and trauma at procedural delays, and unions point to chronic understaffing of prosecutors and investigators as a likely driver of the lapses now under review.