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Hundreds attend funeral of abducted girl

A photograph of five-year-old Ylenia, whose funeral was held on Wednesday Keystone

Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral service of Ylenia, a five-year-old girl who went missing in July and whose body was found earlier this month.

Among the people paying their respects at the Protestant church in Appenzell were many parents with young children and entire school classes. There was also a strong media presence, although no recording was permitted within the church grounds.

So many people turned up that the service was broadcast from the church, which can only seat 200, via loudspeaker.

The service took place on a grey and wet day; the atmosphere was solemn although Ylenia’s relatives had requested people not to come in mourning dress “as Ylenia had loved colours so much”.

The girl’s family had said they did not want a cabinet member to be present, preferring the service to be held among friends, family and people who had helped.

The burial service will take place in private at a later date.

No abuse

Ylenia went missing on July 31 and despite a massive police search her body was discovered on September 15 by a private individual in a wood between the villages of Oberbüren and Niederwil.

Police in the eastern city of St Gallen said the buried body had apparently been dug up by wild animals. Results of an autopsy showed no signs of sexual or physical abuse, although tests are still being conducted to determine the exact cause of death.

Police said they were able to make the identification because of the general appearance of the body and jewellery found on it.

Ylenia is believed to have been abducted by a 67-year-old Swiss man. On the day she disappeared from a swimming pool in Appenzell, the suspected kidnapper shot at and wounded another man in the chest before turning the gun on himself.

Ylenia’s corpse was found in the same wood where the shooting occurred. Passers-by stumbled upon the corpse of the 67-year-old in a nearby forest, where the backpack and bike helmet Ylenia was carrying when she disappeared were also uncovered.

Police believe she was abducted in a white van with Spanish licence plates. An analysis of DNA taken from the vehicle indicated that it had been used to transport Ylenia.

The suspected kidnapper was a resident of eastern Switzerland before resettling with his wife in Spain in 1990.

Immediately following Ylenia’s disappearance, Swiss police said investigations were also being carried out in Spain and Portugal, raising speculation of a possible link between her case and that of missing British girl Madeleine McCann.

McCann was last seen in the Algarve holiday region in Portugal at the beginning of May.

Missing children

Missing children and child murders are rare in Switzerland and the case of Ylenia has made the front page of national newspapers and magazines.

Editors became aware of the story’s human-interest value following the media saturation in Britain over the McCann case.

And earlier this month, 100 Swiss personalities signed an open letter to the government demanding a faster system to track down abducted children.

It called for an “abduction alert” to be issued as soon as a child is reported missing. The signatories include champion skater Stéphane Lambiel, former ski champion Pirmin Zurbriggen and Alinghi-billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli.

swissinfo with agencies

Ylenia from Appenzell in northeastern Switzerland was last seen at a swimming pool on July 31, according to police, who have declined to release her surname in keeping with Swiss privacy laws.

That evening police found her backpack, cycling helmet and scooter beside a path in woods about 30 kilometres from the swimming pool.

On August 1, in the same forest, police found the body of a man who they said had shot himself in the head with a pistol.

A day earlier he had shot and injured a 46-year-old man allegedly taking a nap. The younger man fled and was taken to hospital. He has since been discharged.

Police said the dead man was a Swiss native who had lived in Spain with his wife since 1990.

Ylenia’s corpse was discovered by a passer-by on September 15.

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