3rd December 2022. New article about Marion.
De nouvelles preuves cruciales dans l'enquête sur la disparition de l'Australienne en 1997 mènent à un homme intimement lié au Grand-Duché.
www.wort.lu
I used Google translate to translate a bit of it
Crucial new evidence in the investigation into the Australian woman's 1997 disappearance leads to a man with intimate ties to the Grand Duchy.
(Yannick Lambert with Tom Rüdell) - An 82-year-old man with an obscure criminal record, who spent part of his life in Luxembourg, found himself at the heart of an investigation into an Australian woman who left her family there. 25 years old and who has not given any sign of life since.
An investigation by a court in New South Wales (NSW) has established multiple links between Marion Barter, who disappeared on June 22, 1997, and the octogenarian, who ran a business in the Grand Duchy. He used dozens of pseudonyms and admitted to having been arrested at least three times in his life.
Luxembourg's public prosecutor's office said it had no way of verifying arrests that took place so long ago. The Luxembourg National Archives explained that they could not find any information relating to an arrest in Wiltz, the city where, according to the evidence provided in Australia, Ric Blum was apprehended.
While Remakel is a common surname in Luxembourg, the TV crew's investigations focused on Fernand Remakel, a former Luxembourg football player. The former athlete does not wish to speak to the press and demanded an apology from the television team, which had visited his home when they came to Luxembourg, to confront him with the facts.
A furniture store in Noertzange
However, testimonies collected during the investigation revealed that Ric Blum had adopted the name Remakel as one of his many aliases. He also claims to have been romantically involved with Remakel's ex-wife, in the early 1980s. Ric Blum, possibly as Fredy David and possibly his brother, opened a furniture store called "Européenne du Siege" in the village of Noertzange in August 1980, next to an electronics store called "Electricité en Gros", according to evidence given during the inquiry hearing.
Ric Blum said he met Fernand Remakel and his ex-wife through the store in Noertzange in the early 1980s. The footballer said he did not know Ric Blum, denying any link between him and Australia to authorities and in the press. Ric Blum spent three years in Luxembourg between 1980 and 1982 more or less continuously, he told the court. The store, which declared bankruptcy on December 1, 1983, was run from Belgium by his current wife, Diane de Hedervary, according to court and commercial register information.
A person from the village confirmed that there was a furniture store next to an electronics store, run by a person with the name David. Later, there was another store in the nearby town of Schifflange, the villager explained, adding that the person who ran the store was known to use more than one name.
The Luxembourg Trade Register lists a store named “L’Européenne du Meuble (Mobigros)” as the first result when searching for “l’Européenne du Siege”. It says the store was founded in 1980, but the records have been deleted.
Other websites, such as
opencoroporates.com , show that Mobigros' address matches that mentioned in the Australian exhibit.
www.dhnet.be
