An emotional discovery using Google Maps brought closure to the two-year-old case of Paulette Landrieux, who vanished from her home.
The case involved 83-year-old Landrieux, an Alzheimer’s patient from Andenne, Belgium, who disappeared in November 2020.
Her husband and caregiver, Marcel Taret, described the heartbreaking circumstances of her disappearance.
Podcaster MrBallen shared the story in a recent video, explaining: “Paulette needed help remembering to eat or to take her medications on time. Sometimes she would just wander off without telling Marcel, and he would have to go and corral her and bring her back home.”
On the day Paulette went missing, Marcel had briefly stepped away to hang clothes on a line. When he returned, she was gone.
He had left her in front of the television with lunch, but this turned out to be the last time he saw her alive.
Despite a prompt response from authorities, including a search-and-rescue helicopter, Paulette could not be located.
Two years later, a neighbor browsing Google Maps made a startling discovery.
In a street view image captured outside Paulette and Marcel’s home, Paulette could be seen walking away, while Marcel was visible in the background hanging laundry.
The neighbor alerted investigators, who used the image to reconstruct Paulette’s path.
According to MrBallen: “Across the street was a steep hill that led down to a thick bramble bush.” Tragically, Paulette’s body was found in that bush.
“When that huge search for her was going on, very likely she was just trapped down there,” the podcaster explained.
“She didn’t understand what was going on, couldn’t necessarily yell up to communicate with anybody, and so she stayed down there and died.”
The case has sparked discussions online, with one viewer commenting: “Far as the first story goes, instant anxiety.
“I’m 32, almost been married 10 years, if my wife up and vanished I’d be afraid I wouldn’t last long. She does more for me than she will ever know every single day.”
Another remarked on the unusual circumstances: “The one thing that confuses me is how for nearly TWO YEARS nobody at the neighboring house realized there was a dead body in their yard. That’s insane.”
The story featured as part of a video on ‘disturbing stories’ shared by MrBallen, which included two other unsettling accounts.
