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Paris shocked by murder of Lola, 12, found in box

The girl's body was found squashed inside a plastic packing container in the courtyard of her apartment building.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Parisians have been stunned by the shocking murder of a 12-year-old schoolgirl whose body was found on Friday in a container in the courtyard of her apartment building, reports the BBC.

The girl, named Lola, had spent the day normally at school, but her father raised the alert when she failed to return home in the afternoon.

Later in the evening the presence of a transparent plastic packing box was reported at the foot of the apartment building - a residential block in the 19th arrondissement where Lola's father is employed as a concierge.

Lola's body was found squashed inside the container, hidden by a covering of material. Her hands and feet were tied and she was reported to have a gash on her neck, though the autopsy this weekend found she had died of asphyxiation. Two Post-it notes were also on her feet, one saying "0" and the other "1".

Early on Saturday police arrested the main suspect in the killing - a 24-year-old Algerian-born woman named in the press as Dahbia B.

The woman was identifiable on a security video taken at the apartment building, in which she was seen entering the main door on Friday afternoon in the company of Lola.

Read more of this report from the BBC.