Disappearance of Alessia and Livia Schepp

Alessia Vera Schepp and Livia Clara Schepp are missing persons from Saint-Sulpice, a suburb of Lausanne in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Mathias Schepp, their father, picked up his daughters from his ex-wife's home in St-Sulpice and they never returned. The body of Mathias was later found in Italy, where the authorities presumed that he had committed suicide.^[1] The fate of the six-year-old girls has remained unknown since January 30, 2011. Their disappearance led to a police hunt across Switzerland, France and Italy.^[1]

Background

Alessia and Livia were twin sisters, born on October 7, 2004.^[2] The girls were the only children of Irina Mayme Lucidi Schepp, an Italian-born Swiss lawyer,^[3][4] and Matthias Kaspar Schepp, 43, a Canadian-born Swiss engineer.^[5] They married on July 2004 in Ascoli Piceno, Italy.^[5] They both worked for the tobacco company Philip Morris.^[6]

One year previously the couple had split up, living in the same village but in separate homes.

Timeline

The following timeline is based on a Swiss Police publication:^[7]

• Friday 28 January: Matthias Schepp picks up his daughters to spend the weekend with them.
• Saturday 29 January: Schepp sends an SMS to his wife: "we are all right, we'll return on Monday".
• Sunday 30 January
  • at 12:00: The girls are seen for the last time with Schepp in Saint-Sulpice, Vaud.
  • at 17:04: Schepp crosses the border into France.
• Monday 31 January
  • at 12:30: Schepp withdraws money from several cashpoints in Marseille,
  • Schepp sends a postcard to his wife from Marseille;
  • Schepp and the girls take an evening ferry to Propriano, in Corsica.
• Tuesday 1 February
  • at 06:30: Schepp disembarks in Propriano, with or without his daughters.
  • at 21:00: Schepp takes a ferry from Bastia in northeast Corsica and arrives at Toulon the next morning at 07:00.
• Wednesday 2 February at 09:13: Schepp is photographed alone at a toll.
• Thursday 3 February
  • at 12:00: Schepp is observed by a witness in Naples, Italy.
  • at 22:47: Schepp throws himself under a train at Cerignola, in the south-east Italian region of Apulia.^[8]

Possible murder by Matthias Schepp

In February 2011 police investigators said that Schepp sent a letter to his wife suggesting that he had killed the children. The letter was not released to the public. According to CNN, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera was allowed to publish a single sentence from the letters which said "The children rest in peace, they have not suffered". A search of Schepp's computer showed that in the days leading up to the trip he searched for information about firearms and poisons along with the timetables for the ferry.^[9]

See also

• List of people who disappeared mysteriously

References

1. "Police in three countries hunt for missing Swiss twins Alessia and Livia Schepp". The Guardian. London. 7 February 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
2. "Campagne d'affichage 2011". APEV. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
3. "New search for missing Swiss twin girls". Herald Sun. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
4. "La follia di Matthias, l'amore finito con Irina e le due gemelline uccise". Il Sole 24 Ore. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
5. "Gemelle scomparse, i genitori molto legati ad Ascoli". il Resto Del Carlino. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
6. "Desperate search for twin six-year-old girls launched across Europe after 'kidnapper father committed suicide'". Daily Mail. London. 6 February 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
7. "Alessia et Livia, les jumelles de St-Sulpice (VD) qui ont disparu". 20 Minutes. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
8. Mexican news
9. CNN Wire Staff (11 Feb 2011). "Father's letter claims he killed missing Swiss girls, police say". CNN. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

External links

• News February 6, 2011 (Australia)
• Telegraph 07 Feb 2011 (U.K.)
• Global Post February 7, 2011 10:00 (Boston, U.S.A.)
• BBC news February 8, 2011 (U.K.)
• CNN February 11, 2011 (USA)
• SkyNews February 13, 2011 (U.K.)
• The First Post February 16, 2011

Interpol

• Notice
• Livia Clara Schepp
• Alessia Vera Schepp