The grandfather ... Ronny Ron, the man accused of killing four-year-old Rose (inset) and throwing her body in a river / AFP
FLOWERS, candles and stirring notes adorned the site where a tiny body was fished out of a Tel Aviv river, which was positively identified today as that of a French girl allegedly murdered by her Israeli grandfather.
As the autopsy was conducted on the remains found in a suitcase, residents paid tribute to the four-year-old whose fate has transfixed Israel, setting up improvised memorials on the banks of the Yarkon River.
One note, in what appeared to be a child`s handwriting, said in French: "Rose, I love you, I miss you. God Bless you."
Nearby, flowers, chocolates and small dolls were laid out in memory of the sad-eyed girl.
After five weeks of intensive and frustrating searches, divers yesterday pulled from the murky waters of the polluted river a red suitcase fitting a description given by Rose`s Israeli grandfather Ronny Ron when he confessed to the gruesome killing.
"Final confirmation of the DNA tests show that the body is that of Rose, the young girl who has been missing," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
"Samples were taken from both the mother and the father."
Rose`s French mother, Marie-Charlotte Renaud, 23, and Israeli grandfather, Ronny Ron, 45, who are lovers, are under arrest near Tel Aviv. The father, Benjamin Pizen, lives near Paris.
Ms Renaud also wrote an emotional message, telling her lawyer she wants it placed on her daughter`s grave, local media reported.
"I am so sorry I failed to understand your distress, your suffering, that I could not tell you how much I loved you," she said.
Mr Ron is a taxi driver who was living with Rose`s mother. He had told police that in a momentary outburst of violence he hit the girl who kept crying as he was driving. Realising she was dead, he stuffed the body in a suitcase which he hurled into the river.
A Tel Aviv court on Tuesday remanded Mr Ron and Ms Renaud in custody for 10 days even though Rose`s grandfather retracted his confession, claiming it had been made under duress.
Rose`s maternal grandmother, Betty Sghaier called for the little girl`s remains to be flown to France.
"I want her body to be repatriated - she has no reason to be out there," Ms Sghaier told AFP today, her voice shaking with emotion.
"I want Ronny and Marie-Charlotte to be punished. They should languish in prison... they have no heart," she said, charging that the couple were "monsters, murderers".
"They don`t deserve a death sentence, but they must pay."
The case is also under investigation near Paris, where several relatives of the victim live.
Rose`s parents moved to Israel in 2004, but divorced the following year after Mr Pizem discovered his wife was having an affair with his father. Mr Pizem moved back to France but the mother stayed behind with Mr Ron, and obtained custody of her daughter.
Mr Ron and Ms Renaud now have two children of their own.
Described by police as "one of the most shocking in the country`s history," the grisly case has dominated headlines in Israel for weeks.
Police suspect the murder was committed in May, but the girl`s disappearance was brought to their attention only last month, when her great-grandmother contacted welfare authorities.
The drama has stirred outrage in Israel, fuelled by screaming headlines and pictures of an angelic Rose with a sad smile.
"Why did nobody see anything? Why hasn`t anybody heard anything? Why has nobody testified, and if they did why were alert signals not set off?" the Yediot Aharonot newspaper asked today.
