Disappearance Of The Twins

On January 28th, 2011, 6-year-old twin girls Livia and Alessia Schepp are picked by their dad, Matthias Schepp (Canadian-born Swiss), in their hometown of Saint-Sulpice, Switzerland. It is scheduled for him to drop the girls back at their mother’s home two days later, on Sunday, January 30th.

Matthias, an engineer, and his spouse, Irina Lucidi (Italian), a lawyer, have been through a harsh separation after had been together for 6 years but had shared supervision of Livia and Alessia. Matthias was not accepting the divorce very well.

Despite the anger, Irina continued to allow Matthias to spend time with the twins, even letting them spend 3 weeks with him in the Caribbean over Christmas. According to Irina, the girls liked their father and wished to see him as often as they could.

On Saturday, January 29th, Matthias delivers a text message to Irina asking if it would be ok if he dropped the girls off at school on Monday the 31st instead of sending them residence to their mother on Sunday. Irina answers that she would like that the twins come home first.

Irina never saw Matthias or the girls again.

A will is discovered at his residence, addressed to his daughters, his ex-wife, and a few other close family members/friends. It was dated January 27th.

Irina shortly went to the police, who originally said to her not to worry, that Matthias would bring the girl's house soon, and then, after all, he was Swiss (as though that was thought to be a gauge of belief?)

On January 31st, Irina receives a postcard from Matthias, postmarked from Marseille, France. Note: nearly 520 kilometers (320 miles) separate the two towns. The postcard declares that he can’t live without Irina.

Matthias purchases three ferry tickets for the ferry leaving Marseille for the French island of Corsica on January 31st. The ferry is expected to come to the town of Propriano the next morning. Observers place Matthias and the twins on the ferry. No observers come forward to state whether or not Matthias left the ferry with the twins.

Inexplicably, Matthias came back - alone - to the mainland the next day (February 2nd), on the ferry leaving the French town of Bastia, coming in the southern French town of Toulon.

On February 3rd, Matthias is observed in Naples, Italy. He allegedly delivered many more letters to his wife, one of which included 8,000 EUR in cash.

On February 4th, Matthias commits suicide by throwing himself under a high-speed train in the Apulia area of Italy (southern Italy). The girls are nowhere to be discovered.

Matthias’ car, a black Audi A6 with Swiss plates, was discovered in the Italian town of Cerignola after his suicide. Evidence of one of the twins’ saliva was discovered in the trunk. Unfortunately, there wasn’t sufficient saliva to be utilized for toxicology tests, which would have let police better direct their investigation - for example, whether sleeping pills or poison were in their system. Police couldn’t rule out indirect touch for the saliva, so nothing could confirm that the twins spent any time in the trunk.

Investigations of his computer discovered that he had explored firearms and poison in the days leading up to the abduction.

One of the last letters sent to his wife noted that he was the final to die, at the train station of Cerignola, indicating that the twins already died. In another letter, he noted that the kids Rest In Peace, they have not suffered.

Police believe that Matthias may have had a mental breakdown during the separation from his spouse, but his activities seem also to point to quite a bit of planning.

Two main theories point to Matthias having murdered the girls to get revenge on Irina, or Matthias having brought the girls to live abroad with family or friends.

Alessia and Livia are still missing. They have been discovered neither dead nor alive.

About Alessia and Livia: - DOB: October 7th, 2004 - Blonde hair - Unsure of eye color (they look blue in photos) and height.