A 15-year-old mystery that has baffled a small village in eastern France may finally be solved after new homeowners stumbled upon the body of a man who disappeared more than a decade ago.
While renovating their recently purchased home in Erstroff, a village near the German border, the homeowners discovered the remains of Aloïs Iffly, who disappeared in 2009 at the age of 81.
Local prosecutor Olivier Glady confirmed the identification on November 4, stating that the scene suggested suicide.
There was still a rope hanging in the attic where Iffly’s body was discovered on November 2.
The previous owner’s wife continued to live in the house until her death in 2020, apparently unaware of her husband’s remains in the attic.
A 15-year-old mystery that has baffled a small village in eastern France may finally be solved after new homeowners stumbled upon the body of a man who disappeared more than a decade ago (Photo: Erstroff, Eastern France)
While renovating their recently purchased home in Erstroff, a village near the German border, the homeowners discovered the remains of Aloïs Iffly, who disappeared in 2009 (stock image)
The house was sold in 2023, leading the new owners to begin a series of renovations and repairs.
During their efforts to locate the source of a roof leak, the homeowners found Iffly’s “skeletal remains” tucked away in a cubby, according to Glady.
Regional newspaper Le Republican Lorrainwho first reported the discovery, described extensive but unsuccessful efforts to locate Iffly after his disappearance.
Now that the remains have been sent to Strasbourg for an autopsy, authorities hope to confirm the cause of death, potentially closing one of the region’s longest-standing mysteries.
It comes after a man who disappeared almost three decades ago at the age of 17 after an alleged kidnapping was found alive in his neighbor’s home, in a hole in the ground in a sheepfold under piles of hay.
Named as Omar Bin Omran (or Imran) and reportedly one of nine children, he is believed to have disappeared 27 years ago in the town of Djelfa in Algeria.
His family believed he had been killed during the civil war between the North African country’s government and several Islamist rebel groups, which raged for a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Now that the remains have been sent to Strasbourg for an autopsy, authorities hope to confirm the cause of death, potentially closing one of the region’s longest-standing mysteries (Photo: Erstroff, Eastern France)
The truth was much closer to home: the missing man was found in his neighbor’s house, less than 200 meters away from that of his own family.
A 61-year-old was arrested after Omar, now 45, was rescued on May 12.
Footage was shared on social media and broadcast on Algerian television networks of the moment he was found in what appeared to be a hole in the ground, described by authorities as a sheepfold, in the home of his alleged kidnapper.
The blurry video shows torch lights shining into a pit surrounded by hay, as Omar looks up furtively, seemingly in shock at the searchers around him, with loose bits of straw in his hair.
Since then, other images have circulated of the bearded man emerging from the hole, believed to be a sheepfold, and of him as a teenager, sitting with a dog and with young children before he disappeared.