Never Quit Looking — Case File
Unidentified Person
Case ID#: 0240
VICTIM’S PHOTOGRAPH
Closed Case
Hakima Boukerouis
May Also Be Known As: Woman with the Richmond Dental Crown, The Woman in the Rainwater Butt, Jane Doe
Unidentified Person Notice: In English, unidentified individuals are often known as “Jane Doe” or “John Doe.” This means the victim’s true name is currently unknown.
Biological Sex: Female
Age at the Time: 35
Country: France
Date Recovered: January 7, 2005
Brief Overview: In 2005, a mutilated woman was found near Saint-Quirin, France, hidden inside a Harcostar rain barrel. Dental forensics linked her to Germany, possibly Eastern Europe. She was identified in 2026 as Hakima Bourkerouis.
Public Awareness Notice: This case file is provided for public awareness and responsible information sharing. If you have relevant information, please contact the appropriate law enforcement agency.
Victim Description
Physical Description
Birthdate
April 1970
Birthplace
Sidi Ayad, Algeria.
Age
35
Age Group
30s
Biological Sex
Female
Hair Color
Dark chestnut brown, wavy, short
Skin Complexion
Fair or Light
Ethnicity
Arab (Other)
Nationality
Algeria
Physical Build
Height (ft’ in”)
5'3"
Height (cm)
160 cm
Distinguishing Features
Dental Condition
Her dental care included a Richmond dental crown and had been handled recently. Such work was expensive and may have been done in Germany. A Richmond dental crown is a specialized restoration consisting of:
- a metal post inserted into the tooth root
- fused to a single-piece porcelain or metal crown
It is durable, custom-made, and relatively expensive. Because it requires advanced dental equipment and skilled fabrication, its presence often indicates recent, high-quality dental treatment—a detail that can be significant in forensic identification.
Other Descriptors
Earlier investigators believed she might have been from Eastern Europe, partly because of the number of Russian women living in the region at the time. This theory was later disproven after her identification as Hakima Boukerouis, an Algerian woman.
Clothing & Accessories
Clothing
Description
- Pink Tank Top (Brand: Baba Nuki BnK)
- Red Bra (Brand: Hechter Studio)
Description of Events
Discovery / Recovery
Date Recovered or Discovered
January 7, 2005
The Incident
On the morning of 7 January 2005, the mayor of Abreschviller made a grim discovery along secondary road RD44, the route leading toward the Col du Donon in the commune of Saint-Quirin, in the Moselle department of northeastern France. Concealed inside a Harcostar-brand rainwater butt, wrapped tightly in black plastic rubbish bags and bound with cord, lay the mutilated remains of a woman. The body was already in an advanced state of decomposition, dismembered, partially undressed, and with the face crushed beyond immediate visual recognition.
Gendarmes determined fairly quickly that the victim had not died recently. Forensic estimates placed her death sometime between September and October 2004, several months before the barrel was found roadside. Investigators later established that the same distinctive container had been sighted floating in the Sarre Rouge, or Red Saar River, in mid-October 2004. A forestry worker reportedly moved it out of the water and toward the roadside in November of that year, which explained how a barrel that had entered the water upstream ultimately came to rest near the mountain road where it was discovered two months later.
At the time of discovery, the victim was wearing a pink tank top from the brand Baba Nuki BnK and a red bra from Hechter Studio. Among the most distinctive forensic details recovered was her dental work: examiners identified a Richmond crown, a restoration technique requiring considerable skill and expense, and one that investigators believed had been fitted relatively recently, quite possibly in Germany. This detail became so central to the case that INTERPOL later catalogued the file as “FR02, the woman with the Richmond dental crown” within its Identify Me campaign, which publicizes unidentified victims in the hope that members of the public might recognize distinguishing features.
At the time, without a confirmed identity and with no missing-persons report matching her description, investigators speculated the victim might have origins in Eastern Europe, given the number of women from that region working in the area during the period. A judicial investigation was opened against an unknown person for murder. Despite sustained effort, the case went cold, and by 2009 it was formally suspended for lack of new leads.
The investigation lay dormant for well over a decade. In July 2023, eighteen years after the discovery, the case was reassigned to the gendarmerie’s research section (section de recherches) in Metz. A newly conducted bone sample analysis produced a complete DNA profile of the victim, something not achievable with the technology available in 2005. That profile was entered into INTERPOL’s Identify Me campaign in 2024, and investigators pursued familial DNA searching comparing the unidentified profile against relatives who had submitted DNA in unrelated contexts.
The breakthrough came when investigators found a match connecting the victim’s profile to a young man named Abdelhak Lalaouna, born in 2000, whose genetic profile suggested he could be her son. Working outward from that lead, investigators finally identified the victim as Hakima Boukerouis, born in April 1970 in Sidi Ayad, Algeria. She was thirty-five years old at the time of her death. The identification was confirmed in the spring of 2025, and prosecutors in Metz opened a new judicial investigation on the basis of this newly discovered evidence.
As investigators built a profile of Hakima Boukerouis’s life, a disturbing pattern emerged. She had, in fact, been missing for more than twenty years, yet her husband had continued to declare her to French tax authorities throughout that entire period, creating the false impression that she remained alive. Witness accounts also surfaced describing the disappearance, around the same time in 2004, of her husband’s son from a previous relationship, a young man born in 1974.
On 24 June 2025, gendarmes arrested the victim’s husband, Saïd Lalaouna, then seventy-eight years old and also originally from Algeria, along with several other family members. During an initial round of questioning, Lalaouna denied direct responsibility, claiming instead that he had arranged for a third party to “harm” his wife. However, during a subsequent interrogation on 9 June, he changed his account and confessed to personally killing both his wife, Hakima Boukerouis, and his son from the earlier relationship, whom prosecutors identified as Yaël. According to the prosecutor of the Republic in Metz, David Touvet, Lalaouna told investigators the double killing stemmed from what he described as an adulterous relationship between the two victims.
A niece of the suspect was also placed under formal investigation (mise en examen) and put under judicial supervision for complicity in murder, after Lalaouna implicated her in his account of events. According to reporting on the case, Lalaouna had at one point been placed in pretrial detention following his initial round of questioning, but was released for medical reasons before the later interrogation in which he confessed.
At the time of the most recent reporting, authorities had not detailed whether Saïd Lalaouna had been returned to pretrial detention following his confession, and the judicial investigation, including the examination of the niece’s alleged role, remained ongoing.
Multiple Victims?
No
Time of Death
Estimated between September and October 2004.
Cause of Death
The remains were mutilated, but it is unclear if this was related to the immediate cause of death.
Suspected Homicide?
Yes
Excluded via DNA Testing
Yes, a match was made in 2025 to Hakima Boukerouis
Places of Interest
Discovery / Recovery
Street Address
Near the Secondary Road D44 (The road from Saint-Quirin, Moselle to Col du Donon)
City
Saint Quirin
State or Province
Moselle
Country
France
Latitude & Longitude
48.5469375,7.1734876
General Location
Wild Outdoors
Photo Gallery
Contact Authorities
Police, Relevant Agencies, & Other Useful Personnel
Important Notice
This page is not intended for emergency use. Contact details may change over time, and the information listed below may be outdated or incomplete. If you notice an error or have a correction, please let us know.
To the best of our ability, we have provided contact information for the national police agency or, where that is not available, the police agency serving the capital city. Our hope is that these agencies may be able to direct readers to the proper office, even when a matter falls outside their immediate jurisdiction.
For the most accurate guidance, please contact the relevant embassy in your country or your own country’s embassy or consulate in the country involved.
Contact Information — France
Agency 🏢
French National Police (Gendarmerie Nationale)
Emergency Phone Number 🚨
17 or 112
IDD Prefix
00
Country Code
+33
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