A woman with Alzheimer’s disease vanished without a trace in 2020 – but the mystery was solved thanks to a Google Maps car that was taking photos in the area at the time
An elderly woman mysteriously vanished without a trace after her husband looked away for just moments, but the tragedy was solved two years later with help from Google Maps.
Marcel Taret was the only caregiver for his 83-year-old wife, Paulette Landrieux, who was living with Alzheimer’s disease.
Podcaster Mr Ballen revealed in a recent video that it was round-the-clock work for Marcel. “Paulette needed help remembering to eat or to take her medications on time,” he said.
“Sometimes she would just wander off without telling Marcel and he would have to go and corral her and bring her back home.”
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On November 2, 2020, Marcel left Paulette alone for just minutes while he hung some washing on his line outside. It proved to be the final time he would see her breathing.
Before stepping out to complete his chore, Marcel had settled his wife in front of the telly with a lovely meal. He expected she’d still be contentedly watching her beloved programme when he returned inside. But to his shock, she had gone.
With growing panic, Marcel searched room by room hunting for his wife. “He went outside,” Mr Ballen recounted.
“He searched the outside of the house but she wasn’t there. He even knocked on some neighbours’ doors but they hadn’t seen her.”
Marcel, a resident of Andenne, Belgium, was filled with anxiety as he dialled the police. Within an hour, a search and rescue helicopter was hovering over his home, providing some relief that he would soon discover what had happened to his missing wife, Paulette.
However, as night fell, there was still no sign of her. “Over the next few days and weeks Paulette didn’t turn up,” Mr Ballen shared.
“Nobody had any idea where she was, and weeks turned into months and then months turned into two full years that nobody had seen Paulette.
“By that point Marcel had basically resigned himself to the fact that he very likely would die without ever figuring out what happened to his wife.”
In a twist of fate, the mystery of Paulette’s sudden disappearance was solved thanks to an incredible coincidence. The day she vanished was the same day Google’s Streetview camera car visited their town.
In 2022, one of Marcel’s neighbours made the connection and examined photos of the street where the couple lived.
The images revealed Paulette walking across the street away from her home, with Marcel just visible in the background hanging up laundry.
Investigators followed the route Paulette appeared to be taking in the photo, leading them to finally uncover her fate. Mr Ballen explained: “Across the street was a steep hill that led down to a thick bramble bush.”
Paulette’s body was discovered inside the bramble bush. “When that huge search for her was going on, very likely she was just trapped down there,” Mr Ballen said. “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.”