Swiss Twins: Dad's Online Search For Poison

Sky News



Police in three countries are hunting for six-year-old twin girls after their father, who had snatched them from their home in Switzerland, committed suicide by throwing himself under a train.

Interpol have launched a global alert for the missing girls to all 188 member countries.

Helicopters, mounted police and tracker dogs have joined police in searching around Cerignola in the southern region of Puglia for Alessia and Livia Schepp.

Their 43-year-old father, Matthias Kaspar Schepp, committed suicide at Cerignola station in Italy on Friday. He is also believed to have been in France.

He had snatched the twins from their home in western Switzerland last Sunday and driven them away in a car belonging to his estranged wife Irina, 44.

Over 30 Swiss police officers are now searching for the girls

A further two other policemen have gone to Marseille in southern France to follow up leads there.

The children's mother, who is Italian, went to French police in Marseille, from where her husband had sent her a postcard on January 31, the day after he took the children.

He had said he was desperate and could not live without her.

Swiss police said he had drawn large sums of money out of cash machines in Marseille.

Anyone with information on the twins has been asked to contact the Swiss investigating authorities on +41 21 644 82 31 or their nearest police station.

I don't like the sound of this case.
I hope the little ones are found safe and well.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20110207/twl-international-hunt-for-snatched-twin-3fd0ae9.html

Police in three countries are hunting for six-year-old twin girls after their father, who had snatched them from their home in Switzerland, committed suicide by throwing himself under a train. Interpol have launched a global alert for the missing girls to all 188 member countries.

Helicopters, mounted police and tracker dogs have joined police in searching around Cerignola in the southern region of Puglia for Alessia and Livia Schepp.

Their 43-year-old father, Matthias Kaspar Schepp, committed suicide at Cerignola station in Italy on Friday. He is also believed to have been in France.

He had snatched the twins from their home in western Switzerland last Sunday and driven them away in a car belonging to his estranged wife Irina, 44.

Over 30 Swiss police officers are now searching for the girls.

A further two other policemen have gone to Marseille in southern France to follow up leads there.

The children's mother, who is Italian, went to French police in Marseille, from where her husband had sent her a postcard on January 31, the day after he took the children.

He had said he was desperate and could not live without her.

Swiss police said he had drawn large sums of money out of cash machines in Marseille.

Anyone with information on the twins has been asked to contact the Swiss investigating authorities on +41 21 644 82 31 or their nearest police station.

I UNDERSTAND FROM MSN THAT POLICE ARE SEArching in the area of some wells

Badboy wrote:I UNDERSTAND FROM MSN THAT POLICE ARE SEArching in the area of some wells

Oh dear. Just doesn't sound very good for those two children.

i hope and pray they are alright

AnnaEsse wrote:

Badboy wrote:I UNDERSTAND FROM MSN THAT POLICE ARE SEArching in the area of some wells

Oh dear. Just doesn't sound very good for those two children.

Oh no, thats not sounding too good. Poor little things.

[q
uote="Badboy"]i hope and pray they are alright[/quote]
Oh please god may the be alright.

There doesn't seem to be any news TFG, but it does appear that the police are looking for bodies. I hope they are found so that the children's mother can lay them to rest.

This case is all over the news here. It is so incredibly worrying.

Swiss Twins: Dad's Online Search For Poison



3:44am UK, Friday February 11, 2011

Pete Norman, Sky News Online
The father of missing Swiss twins trawled the Internet for information on firearms, poisons and suicide days before he apparently killed himself in Italy, Swiss police said.

pictures of six-year-old twin girls, Alessia and Livia Schepp, outside the Cerignola Station in southern Italy

Twins Alessia and Livia Schepp were taken by their father last month

An international search for the blonde 6-year-olds, Alessia and Livia, has been under way since last month when their Swiss mother reported them missing.

And in an ominous sign, Italian authorities now say the father, Matthias Kaspar Schepp, took his daughters to Corsica - but left the French island alone.

Police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel revealed that analysis of the father's work computer had turned up the new leads and the investigation is also now focusing on his behaviour before he disappeared.

"Before leaving Switzerland he researched websites for information on firearms and various methods of suicide, different poisoning techniques and ferry timetables," Mr Sauterel said.

Italian Alps Rescue vuolunteers and fire fighters check a water tank in search of twin six-year-old girls, Alessia and Livia Schepp, outside Cerignola Station, southern Italy on Febraury 5, 2011. Police in three countries were hunting for six-year-old twin girls Saturday after their father who had snatched them from their home in Switzerland threw himself under an Italian train, reports said. Separated from his wife Irina, 44, he had snatched the twins from their home in western Switzerland on Sunday and driven them away in her stolen car

The search for the missing girls continues

"Investigations continue in Switzerland and in Italy, but are now revolving around Corsica."

Schepp, 43, was found dead on February 3 in the Italian city of Cerignola after apparently throwing himself under a train.

His Audi A6 was found parked near the station, with no child car seats or children's clothing inside.

Schepp picked up his daughters on January 30, but did not return them to their mother, Irina Lucidi, that night, or to school the next morning, as planned.

She has since made an emotional appeal for information about her daughters.

The parents, who had separated, lived in St. Sulpice, an affluent lakefront community in Lausanne, and police tracked his movement from Lausanne to France using his mobile phone signal.

He left Lausanne with the girls in the afternoon and the next day withdrew 7,500 euros (£6,300) in cash in Marseille before buying three tickets for the French island of Corsica.

Several witnesses have come forward to say they saw the twins with their father on the boat, notably in the children's play area. One witness has formally recognized the father at the port in Propriano on the morning of February 1.

Before leaving Switzerland he researched websites for information on firearms and various methods of suicide, different poisoning techniques and ferry timetables

Police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel on the missing girls' father

Mr Sauterel said the father looked at sites about firearms on January 27 - the day he wrote a will police later found in his home and three days before he disappeared with the girls.

"Two days before he fled he looked up information about different poisoning techniques and timetables for ferries between Marseille and Corsica," Mr Sauterel said.

"The information shows that the father had planned the trip in detail."

Police are still investigating if Schepp's online research into poisons was self-directed, or aimed at his children.

:: Anyone with information on the twins has been asked to contact the investigating authorities on +41 21 644 82 31.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Father-Of-Missing-Swiss-Twins-Said-He-Killed-Them-In-His-Last-Letter-To-Family-Member/Article/201102215928338?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15928338_Father_Of_Missing_Swiss_Twins_Said_He_Killed_Them_In_His_Last_Letter_To_Family_Member


Father Of Missing Swiss Twins 'Killed Them'

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Kat Higgins, Sky News Online
The father of missing Swiss twins wrote to their mother to say he had "killed them", shortly before he committed suicide, police have said.

Alessia and Livia

Alessia and Livia have not been seen since January 30

Six-year-old Alessia and Livia were reported missing by their mother on January 30 when their father failed to return them to her.

A huge manhunt was launched across France, Italy and Switzerland after Matthias Kaspar Schepp, 43, was found dead in the Italian city of Cerignola on February 3.

Swiss police regional spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel said on the day he died, Schepp wrote a letter saying he had killed his two daughters and was about to kill himself.

"I can confirm that in his letter he also said that they did not suffer and were resting in peace," he added.

On Thursday officers said that in the days before his suicide Schepp used his work computer to trawl the internet for information on firearms, poisons and suicide.

Police believe from the day the girls went missing, Schepp travelled from Switzerland to Marseille, France, then on to Corsica and back to mainland France before reaching Italy.

It is unclear when and where the children disappeared but the focus of the search is now centred on the island of Corsica.

Annabel, I'm going to merge the older thread, which is on a missing children forum, with this one because I think it may get more attention here. Just so you don't get a big surprise when the thread grows!

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/02/11/swiss-father-twins-missing-letter.html

Swiss twins murdered, dad admits in letter
L
The Associated Press
Six-year old twin girls Alessia (left) and Livia Schepp are shown in an undated photo released by the forestry police of Cerignola, southern Italy. Six-year old twin girls Alessia (left) and Livia Schepp are shown in this undated photo released by the forestry police of Cerignola, southern Italy. (Forestry police/Associated Press)

The father of the missing Swiss twins wrote a letter to his estranged wife saying he had killed them and intended to kill himself, Swiss police said Friday.

Canadian-born Matthias Kaspar Schepp wrote in a Feb. 3 letter from Italy that six-year-olds Alessia and Livia were dead and he would now kill himself, and his body was found later that day, police from the Swiss canton (state) of Vaud said.

Police say Schepp threw himself under a train in the southern Italian city of Cerignola. His letter did not say when or where he killed his children.

"The father declared he had killed his two daughters and he was in Cerignola where he was going to kill himself," police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel said.

Investigators in Switzerland, France and Italy on Friday continued their search for the girls, focusing on the French island of Corsica, where Schepp took the girls by overnight ferry from Marseille, France, arriving Feb. 1.
Canadian-born Swiss resident Matthias Kasper Schepp, 43, wrote to his estranged wife that he had killed their daughters, but did not say where or when.Canadian-born Swiss resident Matthias Kasper Schepp, 43, wrote to his estranged wife that he had killed their daughters, but did not say where or when. (Italian police/Associated Press)

French police have now established that Schepp left Corsica — alone — by taking a ferry from Bastia back to Toulon on the French mainland later Feb. 1, Swiss police said.

Schepp, 43, had used his work computer to trawl the internet for information on firearms, poisons and suicide.

The girls were reported missing by their mother Jan. 30, when her husband didn't return them.

Roberto Mestichelli, a cousin of Irina Lucidi, the twins' mother, said the family was devastated.

"There was never a thread of hope. There is no hope," he said of finding the girls alive, speaking to The Associated Press from his home in Ascoli Piceno, near Italy's central Adriatic coast.

Swiss police said Friday that Schepp sent eight letters postmarked from Bari, Italy to his wife. Seven contained 4,400 euros ($6,000) in 50-euro notes. In the eighth letter, he said he killed the girls and would kill himself.

Italian police also found two more envelopes containing 1,500 euros ($2,000) that Schepp tried to send his wife but deposited in unused mailboxes.

French newspaper Le Parisien said Schepp's deadly plan was also contained in a will he left in his home in Saint-Sulpice, an affluent lakefront community within Lausanne, Switzerland. Swiss police said he wrote the will on Jan. 27.

Swiss news agency SDA carried a statement Friday from Schepp's family saying he must have suffered a breakdown. The family in Ettingen, Switzerland, near Basel, described Schepp as a loving and caring father whose family meant everything to him.

"We are united in the certainty that our son and brother could only have committed such terrible acts if he suffered a serious emotional breakdown," the family said.
© The Canadian Press, 2011

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/02/11/swiss-father-twins-missing-letter.html#ixzz1DfGlmtsN

Annabel wrote:

Thank you Annabel. I posted that intention, then had a phone call and had to go out! I'll do it now!

Why? Why kill the innocent children.
I'll never understand why parents do this!

http://www.thejournal.ie/missing-swiss-twins-last-seen-on-corsica-ferry-2011-2/


Missing Swiss twins ‘last seen on Corsica ferry’
09/02/11, 3:55 pm 855 Views No Comments Share Tweet 1 Image: InterpolMISSING SWISS TWINS Alessia and Livia Schepp were last seen on a ferry to Corsica with their father, according to a French prosecutor.

The six-year-olds were spotted by three witnesses on the ferry with their father Matthias Schepp, Jacques Dallest said.

Their father was found dead in Italy last week. It is believed he took his own life.

Before now, there has been no confirmation that the girls had boarded the boat with their father, the BBC reports. Dallest told reporters in Marseille: “We know since yesterday [Tuesday] from passengers on the boat between Marseille and Propriano that he was with the little girls.”

He added that a woman in a neighbouring cabin reported hearing “children crying in the evening and that shortly afterwards, she saw the little girls and was able to formally identify one”.

Another witness said that she had seen two children getting off the ferry in Propriano with an adult, but could not definitely say that it was the missing twins.

Meanwhile, Euronews reports that the hope of finding the girls alive has faded after their mother received a sum of money, which was sent by Schepp in the post before he died. Previously, investigators had uncovered evidence that the girls’ father had withdrawn the money – and were hopeful that he had given it to someone so they would take care of his daughters after he died.

Alessia and Livia were taken by their father from their home in the village of St Sulpice, where both Schepp and his estranged wife have homes, on 30 January.

The poor mother at least he could have told her where their bodies were.

She must be beside herself not knowing for sure if her children are dead or not.

So sad.

Not seen anything at all about this in any Potuguese or Brtiish media. Wonder why Madeleine generated so much attention and these children after the first inital have had no publicity?

fred, yes Sky News were reporting it on their site mid February.

First time I read about, such a tragic case.

Poor children.

Police cannot say whether two twin girls, whose father committed suicide, are still alive
By Andrea Vogt
LAST UPDATED 4:32 PM, FEBRUARY 16, 2011
SharePolice officials from Switzerland, France and Italy meeting in Marseille today to pool leads about the possible whereabouts of the missing six-year-old twins, Alessia and Livia Schepp, have been unable to offer their distraught mother any hope that they might still be alive.

The investigation remains active, but no recent witness sightings could be confirmed.

All this week, the girls' Italian mother, Irina Lucidi, has been on the island of Corsica, led there by a supposed sighting of the girls on a ferry from France.

Lucidi has been pleading with locals to come forward with any clues they might have as to the twins' whereabouts. She has also been flying with police investigators over the island by helicopter, pointing out the seaside locations where the family once spent their holidays in happier times.

Police have been scouring the 'U Stazzu' campground near Tamarone beach, as well as wells, woodlands and coves near Cap Corse, an achingly beautiful peninsula of rocky cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean sea.

The heartbreaking story has captivated the Italian and French public over the last two weeks as one gut-wrenching clue after another has surfaced, dashing hopes of ever finding the girls alive.

Only now is a clear picture emerging of the 43-year-old Canadian-born Matthias Schepp's last movements - a despondent four-day voyage to seaside locations in France and Italy where the family had vacationed together in the past, before throwing himself under a train.

The chilling story begins on January 28 when Schepp picked up the girls from his estranged wife's home in the Swiss village of St Sulpice, near Lausanne.

It had been a difficult separation for the couple, who both worked at the Swiss headquarters of the cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris. Each had moved into separate homes in the same village and had arranged joint custody. It was his weekend to have the girls.

According to Swiss news reports, Schepp had been seeing a psychologist. He was fearful his wife planned to move to Brussels where her brother is a surgeon and another close relative works as an EU functionary.

Until Sunday evening, January 30, all appeared to be in order. The girls were spotted playing with neighbouring children in St Sulpice.

But then, at 3.50 pm, Schepp sent Lucidi a text saying that instead of returning the girls that evening as planned, he would take them directly to school on Monday morning. According to police inquiries, he was still in the Lausanne area.

Lucidi texted him back at 6.20 pm saying she would prefer that he bring them to her house at 7.0 am before going to school. By this time, we now know, Schepp had actually driven across the border into France and was near Annecy. At 7.40 pm - by which time Schepp was already near Lyon - Lucidi sent him another message saying that next time they ought to organise it better. There would never be a next time.

When he didn't return the girls to their mother on the morning of January 31, Lucidi contacted local police, who began searching in and around Lausanne.

Then, three days later, on February 3, came the first blow: Schepp's body was found. He had committed suicide by stepping in front of a train in Cerignola in southern Italy. The town is near the Gargano National Park in Puglia where the family had once holidayed together.

What was he doing there? And where were the girls? Both spoke French and Italian so they could have easily asked for help had they been abandoned alone.

Their mother hoped they were still in Switzerland, since Schepp didn't have the girls' passports or car-seats with him when his body was discovered.

When Italian police found Schepp's car, a business management CD was still inserted in the stereo, but the keys and GPS unit had been taken out. They would later be found mangled and torn apart along the train tracks where he died.

An international police hunt for the missing girls was launched. Photos of the smiling six-year-old blonde twins began to appear in newspapers in Italy, Switzerland and France. Then came a new break in the case.

Five days after Schepp's death, police began discovering letters that he had posted to his wife on the day he died - eight in all ­ containing about 4,500 euros in total. In one of the letters, he complained he wanted to talk reasonably with his wife but had only received responses from lawyers.

Losing his head was bad enough, he wrote, but losing his daughters was too much. He said he was going crazy but it was too late for help. He told his wife he had always loved her.

Two more letters, containing another 1,500 euros, were later found in a post box that had ceased to be in service. In one of these letters, Schepp confessed to the worst case scenario. Italian newspapers printed the following portions of the letter, citing family sources:

"My dear, I wanted to die with my daughters," Schepp wrote, "but it didn't go that way... I will be the last to die." He wrote that he had killed the children. "You will not see them again; they did not suffer and now rest in peace in a tranquil place."

The word 'not' was written in capital letters and underlined several times. He also told his wife that he hoped she would not commit suicide.

Until this point, police and family members had held out hope that he had given the girls to someone to look after. Schepp's written confession made investigators fear the worst. But Lucidi insisted that her mother's instinct told her they were still alive.

But where are the girls or their remains? Police began the painstaking process of piecing together every detail of Schepp's movements between Sunday January 30 when he left Switzerland and his suicide in Italy on February 3.

Swiss police discovered from Schepp's computer records that he had studied suicide techniques, poisons and how to handle a weapon. He had also checked the ferry schedules to and from Corsica.

According to French police, Schepp withdrew €7,000 in cash in Marseille on January 31, sent a despairing postcard to his wife, then boarded an overnight ferry that evening to Propriano, Corsica.

One witness has reported seeing two girls who fit the description in the ferry's play area, yet sniffer dogs and forensic experts scoured the ferry and found no biological traces.

Schepp disembarked on the morning of February 1, but it is unclear whether the girls were with him or not. A witness in Propriano reported seeing the girls in a black Audi like Schepp's that morning. Another witness reported seeing the girls at a bar with Schepp in the company of a blonde woman. The mysterious blonde woman remains the only hope left that perhaps the girls were left with someone.

At 6:30 pm on Tuesday, February 1, Schepp purchased a ferry ticket back to France and sailed back to the port city of Toulon. He then headed east, crossing into Italy the next morning, February 2.

The next day he was spotted in Vietri sul Mare, on the Amalfi coast south of Naples. A restaurant owner has reported exchanging pleasantries with the man, who came in alone and spoke good Italian with a French accent.

Schepp - if it was him - ate a pizza, a piece of homemade cake and left a €12 tip. It was his last meal before he drove 100 miles across Italy to the Adriatic coast and threw himself under a train in Cerignola.



Read more: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/75214,people,news,the-last-tragic-journey-of-matthias-schepp-alessia-schepp-livia#ixzz1W3V8rFrq