On the evening of Tuesday, a funeral home’s vehicle departed from the forest area south of Döbeln, carrying a body for an autopsy. The search for missing 9-year-old Valeriia had reached its provisional end. Earlier that day, police had discovered a lifeless person in the woods, but they were unable to retrieve it immediately due to the thicket and undergrowth.
To aid in the investigation, a vehicle from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief was deployed at the site as darkness fell. Police are currently verifying if the deceased individual is indeed Valeriia, with an official announcement to be made at a press conference the following day.
The search operation for Valeriia began in the morning and intensified in the area south of Döbeln after reports of cries for help in the dense forest were received. The body was found near “Knollensteine” just a few hours later. The forest where Valeriia’s body was discovered is only 2.5 kilometers from her parents’ home.
Valeriia, an Ukrainian girl who has been living in Germany since 2022 with her mother, was last seen on her way to school in Döbeln the previous week. Despite extensive efforts to locate her, including searches of rivers, meadows, fields, and forests, she never returned home. Her father serves as a soldier on the Ukrainian front, adding to the complexity and urgency of the search operation.
