Katrice Lee: Suspect Behind The Then Missing 2-Year-Old Held After 37 Years Of 'Hell'

Police have arrested a suspect behind the disappearance of the 2-year-old Katrice Lee, who was kidnapped in 1981. Katrice was reportedly snatched from the British Army base and her parents were traumatized.

To the grieving parents, it seemed like coming back from hell after the military police on Sept. 23 held a suspect in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Katrice was deemed snatched from a barrack shop in Paderborn, Germany, on her 2^nd birthday in 1981 where her soldier dad was deployed, The Sun reported.

A forensic team did hair-splitting investigation into the matter and found out an item from a back garden at a row of terraced houses in Swindon which helped them navigate in the right direction. The officers dug up the patio and found something which looked like a bag of some sort.

“Forensic teams in white suits started in the middle of the garden and then began taking up the patio slabs. Around 2pm they found a small black package. It looked like some kind of bag. They stopped for an hour and then continued to dig using tools until late into the night,” A neighbor of the Swindon house told The Sun.

“We all want answers, we’ve been to hell and back over the past 37 years. This arrest of course brings it all back and makes it feel raw.” He further remarked, “As with parents in all cases of missing children, we want a happy ending but that might not be the case and we just hope that we will get answers,” The Mirror quoted 69-year-old retired sergeant major Richard Lee, Katrice's dad as saying.

At the time of going missing, Katrice was out shopping with her mother Sharon Lee for birthday tea treats around Schloss Neuhaus NAAFI supermarket. 37 years have passed since and the parents weren’t remotely hopeful about this breakthrough.

An army spokesperson confirmed the arrest saying, “An arrest was made on 23 September by the Royal Military Police in connection with the disappearance of Katrice Lee in 1981.” He refrained from commenting further as the investigation is still ongoing, The Sun reported.