On 16 April, passers-by found a thigh bone wrapped in plastic in the Heulebeek, a stream that passes through a park near the castle in the centre of the town. Extra police and officers of the Civil Protection Service were drafted in to search for more remains. The stream was dammed and pumped, and on the following Monday divers found a human head, which was soon identified as Vyncke. In the water purification station at Gullegem, about six kilometres away, searchers later discovered the "lower limbs" of a woman.

At the time of the disappearance, the area around the Heulebeek stream was searched, but the water level was higher than now and may have concealed the remains. Police are not, however, ruling out the possibility that the body parts were dumped later, after the area had been searched.

Vyncke, 42, was last seen leaving her home, only 300m from the Heulebeek, on 8 February to walk her dog. Local searches were carried out, with no result. Her boyfriend, with whom she lived, was detained for questioning on 19 February and confessed that he had murdered her. He later retracted that confession, saying it had been extracted under duress.

A court ordered his release from detention for lack of material evidence. He then told reporters: "I don't believe Caroline is dead. I think she went away deliberately. This is already the sixth time she's done something like this. I don't want to have any more to do with her."

After the discoveries, Geert V's whereabouts were unknown, both to police and to members of his family. According to reports by the Belga news agency, he admitted himself to a psychiatric institution. Last Thursday he re-appeared and, as Flanders Today went to press, he was being questioned by investigators.

"In the interests of the investigation, no further statements will be issued until there are new developments," a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said.