Friends of missing Laura Trappeniers (66), who was found murdered on Tenerife, can barely comprehend the news. “Nothing made us suspect that something this bad could happen,” it said. Trappeniers’ body was found in the sea last Saturday. Local media reported that a bag had been put over her head and that both legs and one hand were missing. Marc Olbrechts (71), the husband of Laura Trappeniers, is still missing.
“We could never have suspected this. There is nothing to indicate such a dramatic outcome,” said Guy Devos, a friend of the couple. “I still can’t believe that Laura was found in such a gruesome way. Horrible. Those two were very happy, enjoying life here in Tenerife. They were good, warm-hearted people who had no enemies at all. The Belgian community here is dumbfounded. And not just us Belgians, the news has the entire island in its grip.”
“It’s hard to process. The circumstances are especially difficult to bear: one reads that half a body washes ashore and that it could be Laura’s body. As a friend, that hits hard.” Moreover, much remains unclear. “Who would want to harm the couple? Where is the car? And where is Marc? There are so many questions. We don’t know and we don’t understand.”
The couple was loved in the community, he said. “They weren’t the most outgoing people. Marc likes to paint and is also an artist in his mind. Sometimes he seems confused and speaks gibberish. But inside he is a good, loving person.”
“There are many theories going around. But let’s wait for the investigation for now. That can take weeks to produce results here in Tenerife. Everything runs smoothly here, including the Guarda Civil.”
Without legs and hands
The body of 66-year-old Laura Trappeniers was found last Saturday in the sea near the municipality of Arico. It is located about 50 kilometers from Adeje, where the missing Flemish couple lives. A fisherman found the badly damaged body of a woman. “The body was apparently in bad condition. It was missing several body parts,” an eyewitness said on television.
Sources told ‘El Dia’ that both legs and one hand were missing. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition, indicating it had been in the water for several days. Spanish media talk about two to four days. The woman had been dead for several days when she was found. The victim’s head and face were covered with a yellow plastic bag.
An autopsy on that body showed on Tuesday that the woman found had certainly died as a result of violence. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms that it concerns Laura Trappeniers (66). The woman’s family has been informed.
“A strange feeling”
Laura Trappeniers (66) and Marc Olbrechts (71) disappeared on April 22 after the alarm went off in their home in Adeje, in the south of Tenerife. Their dark blue Opel Mokka with Spanish license plate also appeared to have disappeared. An outside door in their house was wide open, the key and a mobile phone were still inside. People around the childless couple got a strange feeling and reported the couple missing.
According to the website of the Spanish National Center for Missing Persons (CNDES), the wanted notice for Marc Olbrechts (71), the husband of Laura Trappeniers (66), is still in force. “The FPS Foreign Affairs in Brussels and the Belgian Consulate in Tenerife continue to closely monitor the file relating to the disappearance of the Belgian couple,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
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Tags: Friends shock death missing Laura Trappeniers Tenerife news entire island grip
 on Tenerife: ‘The news has the entire island in its grip’ | Abroad){kind=link}