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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/world/europe/french-police-nearby-girl-crouches-for-8-hours-in-car-with-slain-relatives.html
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| French Police Nearby, Girl Hides in Car for Hours Under Relatives’ Corpses | French Police Nearby, Girl Hides in Car for Hours Under Relatives’ Corpses |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| PARIS — Apparently frozen in terror, a 4-year-old girl crouched silently for eight hours below her dead mother and grandmother in the back of a BMW on a forest road in the French Alps while just steps away investigators hunted for clues, officials said Thursday. | PARIS — Apparently frozen in terror, a 4-year-old girl crouched silently for eight hours below her dead mother and grandmother in the back of a BMW on a forest road in the French Alps while just steps away investigators hunted for clues, officials said Thursday. |
| The discovery of the girl, unharmed, around midnight on Wednesday provided a glimmer of relief after a grisly and murky attack near the village of Chevaline that left four people dead and a 7-year-old girl — thought to be the little girl’s older sister — hospitalized with a fractured skull. Three of the dead had been shot in the head, officials said. | The discovery of the girl, unharmed, around midnight on Wednesday provided a glimmer of relief after a grisly and murky attack near the village of Chevaline that left four people dead and a 7-year-old girl — thought to be the little girl’s older sister — hospitalized with a fractured skull. Three of the dead had been shot in the head, officials said. |
| Law enforcement officials said the BMW appeared to belong to a British family who had been vacationing at a campground near Lake Annecy, a picturesque area in the Alps not far from the Swiss and Italian borders. Officials did not release the identities of the victims, but they said the car was registered to a man who was born in Baghdad in 1962 and had a British passport. | |
| British authorities identified him as the father, Saad al-Hilli, of Surrey, in southern England. They said he worked at Surrey Satellite Technology, a high-tech company based in Guildford, Surrey, that is owned by the EADS aerospace conglomerate that builds satellites. Mr. Hilli’s neighbors in the Surrey village of Claygate told the BBC that his wife’s name was Iqbal and that they had two daughters, Zainab, 7, and Zeena, 4. | |
| Investigators said they had uncovered no motive for the killings and no weapon was found. | |
| The bodies were discovered Wednesday by a British tourist, a former air force officer who was cycling by. He told the police that he had seen a seriously injured girl lying in front of the BMW, officials said. The car’s ignition was still engaged, they said, suggesting that the attack had just occurred. | The bodies were discovered Wednesday by a British tourist, a former air force officer who was cycling by. He told the police that he had seen a seriously injured girl lying in front of the BMW, officials said. The car’s ignition was still engaged, they said, suggesting that the attack had just occurred. |
| Investigators said the victims appeared to be a grandmother and two parents. The older woman, who French news reports said was a Swedish citizen, was found in the back of the car along with a woman thought to be Iqbal al-Hilli. Mr. Hilli was slumped over the steering wheel. About 15 bullet cartridges from an automatic weapon were strewed on the ground outside. Officials said it appeared that the three had been targeted, rather than being the victims of indiscriminate fire into the car. | |
| The fourth victim, a cyclist found near the car, has been identified by the French news media as Sylvain Mollier, a French father of three in his 40s, who lived a few miles from the scene and was most likely biking by during the attack. | The fourth victim, a cyclist found near the car, has been identified by the French news media as Sylvain Mollier, a French father of three in his 40s, who lived a few miles from the scene and was most likely biking by during the attack. |
| “It was clearly an act of extreme savagery, and it is obvious that whoever did this wanted to kill,” Éric Maillaud, the local prosecutor in Annecy, said at a news conference. | “It was clearly an act of extreme savagery, and it is obvious that whoever did this wanted to kill,” Éric Maillaud, the local prosecutor in Annecy, said at a news conference. |
| Officials said that while they were still investigating the motive, one theory was that the killings were the result of an armed robbery gone awry, though they were not excluding the possibility of a family dispute that had turned deadly. The police told the radio network Europe 1 that another theory held that the family had accidentally disturbed a drug deal. | Officials said that while they were still investigating the motive, one theory was that the killings were the result of an armed robbery gone awry, though they were not excluding the possibility of a family dispute that had turned deadly. The police told the radio network Europe 1 that another theory held that the family had accidentally disturbed a drug deal. |
| Law enforcement officials said there were two attempted carjackings by an armed gang on the same night as the attack. They were investigating whether there was a link to the killings. | Law enforcement officials said there were two attempted carjackings by an armed gang on the same night as the attack. They were investigating whether there was a link to the killings. |
| Investigators said they had initially missed seeing the 4-year-old girl because they left the bullet-riddled car door closed to avoid disturbing evidence while waiting for forensic experts to arrive from Paris. | Investigators said they had initially missed seeing the 4-year-old girl because they left the bullet-riddled car door closed to avoid disturbing evidence while waiting for forensic experts to arrive from Paris. |
| Mr. Maillaud told reporters that the crime scene was straight out of a film. Referring to the 4-year-old, he said she could not distinguish between “the good or the bad people.” | Mr. Maillaud told reporters that the crime scene was straight out of a film. Referring to the 4-year-old, he said she could not distinguish between “the good or the bad people.” |
| “She immediately smiled and began speaking in English when a gendarme took her in his arms and carried her out of the car,” he said. “She is in a hospital, but her life is not threatened, despite going through a tragedy by losing her family in such atrocious conditions.” | “She immediately smiled and began speaking in English when a gendarme took her in his arms and carried her out of the car,” he said. “She is in a hospital, but her life is not threatened, despite going through a tragedy by losing her family in such atrocious conditions.” |
| The 7-year-old was airlifted to Grenoble University Hospital, according to French news reports. The two girls are under police protection, officials said. Autopsies on the dead were planned for Friday. | The 7-year-old was airlifted to Grenoble University Hospital, according to French news reports. The two girls are under police protection, officials said. Autopsies on the dead were planned for Friday. |
| The British Foreign Office said it was also investigating the killings. Speaking in London, where he was attending the Paralympic Games, President François Hollande of France said that the French authorities would do everything they could to find the killer or killers. | |
John F. Burns contributed reporting from London. |