Katrice Lee: how the disappearance of the two-year-old unfolded

Police to excavate site near shop where
British toddler vanished 36 years ago

In Depth

Who is Katrice Lee?

Katrice and her sister Natasha lived with their parents in
Paderborn, West Germany, where their father served in the 15/19
King’s Royal Hussars. 

On 28 November 1981, Katrice’s second birthday, “the family
decided to go to the Naafi in nearby Schloss Neuhaus to buy things
for her party”, says The Daily Telegraph.

How did she disappear?

“Katrice wouldn’t sit in the trolley, so I carried her all the
way around in my arms doing my shopping,” Katrice’s mum, Sharon,
now 64, told The Sun.

“When we got to the checkout I realised I’d forgotten crisps. I
put Katrice down and said to my sister Wendy, ‘Just keep an eye on
her while I go back to the crisps stand.’ It wasn’t far away. It
took me about 40 seconds, a minute at most.”

When she returned, Katrice was gone. “My sister said: ‘I thought
she was with you. She ran and followed you.’”

At the time, “a major search for the child was undertaken by the
RMP, German police, British troops and volunteers”, says Sky News.

But the initial investigation produced little results. Police
dredged the River Lippe, near to the Naafi, and conducted
house-to-house inquiries, but no trace of Katrice was found.

Why was the case reopened?

The case was reopened in 2000, when police issued an image of
what Katrice might look like 19 years on, and then again in
2012.

The Lees have been critical of the initial investigation, which
focused on the River Lippe, and RMP chiefs admitted that mistakes
were made. The family says it took too long to interview witnesses
and that they felt “brushed over” by the authorities.

The latest investigation is considering the theory that the
toddler was abducted and possibly taken to the River Alme.

In a statement, the British Ministry of Defence said: “This is
an extremely distressing case and our thoughts remain with the
family of Katrice Lee.

“The Royal Military Police are reinvestigating and it would be
inappropriate to comment further while these efforts continue.”

What is happening this week?

The possibility “remains that Katrice is still alive”, says
HuffPost. She would now be aged 38, and would
have little memory of her early years.

She was “born with a distinctive eye condition in her left eye
which would have required two medical operations to correct”, the
website adds.

Warrant Officer Class 1 Richard O’Leary, the RMP’s senior
investigating officer in the case, told The Guardian that his team would be
carrying out a dig at the River Alme’s banks in Paderborn, after
identifying the site as important.

“In February 2017, the case featured on BBC
Crimewatch,” said O’Leary. “As part of the feature, a
photofit was released of a man seen at the Naafi on the day Katrice
disappeared, holding a child similar to Katrice and getting into a
green saloon car. We are keen to hear from anyone who could help to
identify this person.

“A green saloon car was also seen on the river Alme bridge near
the Naafi the day after Katrice disappeared. It may or may not be
the same car, but we are very keen to identify it.

“We are appealing to members of the public and the military
community, including veterans and retired civil servants in both
Germany and the UK: do you know what happened to Katrice?”