Girl Hid for 8 Hours Under Bodies in Alps Killing Spree

A horrific story out of the French Alps: Four adults were found shot to death in or near a BMW yesterday, and beneath the legs of a dead woman cowered a 4-year-old, terrified but alive. She apparently spent some eight hours tucked beneath the body of her mother and next to her grandmother in the back seat of the car—while French investigators stood nearby, unaware, reports the AP. The car reportedly belonged to a British family vacationing at a nearby campground; the camp's owners said the girl's father was also killed, and police say a dead cyclist unconnected to the family was found dead nearby.

Also injured: a 7-year-old girl, found near the car with skull fractures and three gunshot wounds, reports the Independent. She has been hospitalized, along with the 4-year-old. Police say the younger child likely went unnoticed by the firefighters, technicians, and doctors who peered into the car's windows because she was "completely immobile among the bodies." But as soon as they opened the car door, she came out, smiled, and reached out her arms. She is talking, but is unable to explain what happened. The Independent reports that police speculate it was an attempted robbery or hijacking gone wrong, with one officer noting a handful of such attempts on tourist cars have happened in France this summer. (More French Alps stories.)