The body of young Lina was found this Wednesday, October 16th, in the Nièvre region. She had disappeared in September 2023.
On September 23, 2023, Lina disappeared in Strasbourg while on her way to her boyfriend Tao’s house. The investigation has continued since then, and in recent weeks, new revelations have prompted investigators to conduct further searches. And in a major development in what has become known as the “Lina case,” the young woman’s body was found this Wednesday, October 16, in the Nièvre region, BFMTV reported.
The Strasbourg public prosecutor announced: “A body was discovered in a wooded and isolated area near Nevers. The body was found submerged in a stream. The Ford Puma vehicle used by Samuel Gonin had been geolocated in this location on September 24, 2023, the day after Lina disappeared. Emergency genetic testing carried out by the IRCGN (National Gendarmerie Criminal Research Institute) confirmed that the body is that of Lina.”
For now, no further details have been revealed.
Who was Samuel Gonin, the prime suspect who committed suicide? In September, Alexandre Chevrier, the acting public prosecutor of Strasbourg, gave a public update on the case concerning Lina’s disappearance. Investigators had discovered clues that led them to Samuel Gonin, who had become the prime suspect. The teenager’s DNA had been found at the end of July on ropes in the trunk of a stolen car near Narbonne. This vehicle was being sought because it was located near where Lina disappeared. On July 10, this 43-year-old suspect committed suicide in Besançon, writing a strange letter to his loved ones: “I have lost my honor, my dignity, my humanity, I must go. I can’t control myself, it’s all happening too fast.”
A father of a family, this man suffered from mental illness. A cocaine user, he had already been arrested in January 2023 for refusing to comply with police orders and driving under the influence of drugs, and had been sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment, suspended. A former salesman, he was under the care of a psychiatrist and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. While on medication, he led a seemingly normal life, going “cycling with his children every Sunday,” as explained by his retired neighbor, Jean-François.
He is remembered as a “hard worker […] very kind.” Separated from the mother of his children, he had custody “every other weekend” before vanishing “overnight.” In 2021, he retrained as a carpentry teacher at a local middle school. He was a partygoer and often went out at night to meet people. A true night owl “who never slept,” he went on sick leave and began using drugs, stopping his medication in the process.
After months of investigation and thousands of expert analyses, the young girl remained missing. In June 2024, investigators finally had a suspect: Samuel Gonin, a drifter from Besançon (Doubs), who lived in his car and wandered from region to region. His cell phone had pinged near Lina’s home on the day she disappeared. On July 10, 2024, the suspect committed suicide, just before his arrest, without indicating in his suicide note whether he was responsible for Lina’s disappearance.