Letter told of death of missing twins

The missing twins Keystone

The father of missing Swiss six-year-old twins wrote about killing the girls and himself before he was found dead in southern Italy.

Swiss police and a family member confirmed on Friday, that a letter, one of eight sent from the southern Italian city of Bari, laid out the man’s intentions.

The letters were handed over to police on Tuesday. Seven of them contained money.

Jean-Christophe Sauterel, spokesman for canton Vaud police, said the father had declared that he had killed his daughters and was planning to kill himself in Cerignola, where he later threw himself under a train.

“I can confirm that he wrote they did not suffer and were resting in peace,” the spokesman added.

Despite the revelation, searches continued on Friday in France, Switzerland and Italy for the girls, Alessia and Livia, who were reported missing by their mother on January 30 when her estranged husband didn’t return them to her home.

A cousin of the mother said Friday that she and other family members in Switzerland were informed about the father’s written plan to kill the girls and himself.

“The concept was that he communicated that he had killed them, that he would be the third one to die,” the cousin told The Associated Press from his home in Ascoli Piceno, near Italy’s central Adriatic coast.