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Search for missing child continues
Updated: 30-Jul-2010


Georgina Zito with 18-month-old Alexandra.

By PAULO SILVESTRE

paulo.silvestre@theresidentgroup.com

Gunnar Dorries, the German man suspected of killing his Angolan lover, Georgina Zito, is still being held by police in his homeland while PJ police in the Algarve are searching for the woman’s 18-month old daughter, Alexandra Zito.

Police believe that after he drowned his lover at Canavial beach in Lagos on July 10, he also killed the child.

They say Gunnar Dorries left Portugal on July 14 without the child and was detained on July 15 when he arrived in Germany.

Efforts to find the child are being hampered because Gunnar Dorries has refused to cooperate with the German police, say the PJ.

His lawyer says Gunnar Dorries claims that the child is alive but the PJ believe that Alexandra Zito is dead.

Gunnar Dorries told German Police that he left the toddler with two strangers and asked them to take care of her, but the PJ are convinced the child was killed and, if someone had the child, they would have delivered her to the authorities.

An autopsy on Georgina Zito showed she had injuries which indicated she had fought for her life and died in agony.

Authorities are considering the possibility that after killing Georgina Zito, Gunnar Dorries climbed a cliff and threw the child into the sea.

A reconstruction of the crime by the PJ has led them to conclude that Alexandra witnessed the death of her mother.

According to police, the child was alone at Canavial beach at the time that Gunnar Dorries drowned Georgina Zito and witnessed the crime. German police also consider that he killed his lover and daughter because he didn’t want his girlfriend in Germany, originally believed to be his wife, to know about the child and his affair.

Georgina Zito, who was married to an Angolan man, M. K. Zito, had allegedly threatened to tell Dorries’ girlfriend that he had an illegitimate daughter with her.

Frightened by the scandal it would cause if it became known that he had a double life for more than three years, police believe he planned the two deaths prior to going on holiday.

Meanwhile, German police have made an appeal for witnesses, particularly any tourists who were in Lagos and the surrounding area at the time, to come forward if they have any information regarding the case.

A statement by the German police said: “It is important to know if the suspect was seen on July 10 in Lagos or in the vicinities, with or without Alexandra, and if he was seen at unusual places.”
http://www.algarveresident.com/story.asp?XID=37321