Human remains were found behind a house in Sint-Martens-Latem on Saturday. The court suspects that it concerns a woman who was reported missing thirty years ago.
The remains were found during excavations behind a house in Kerkstraat in Latem. Many details about who or how the remains were found are not known. Police and the public prosecutor arrived on the scene and closed off the street for several hours.
The Civil Protection and the Missing Persons cell were called in. It concerns the home of a woman, Annie De Poortere, who was reported missing thirty years ago. She was 48 years old at the time. In 1999, she was declared “absent” by a court, meaning she is considered deceased – important for inheritance issues, for example.
An autopsy is now being conducted to determine the cause of death. A DNA test must provide a definitive answer to the identity. “The investigating judge has been requisitioned, the investigation is being conducted intensively into all possible avenues,” the public prosecutor’s office said.
But the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office also clearly tells the VRT: “There are indications that it concerns a lady who disappeared in 1994.” Her family has now been informed.
