The carcass of the car lay out of sight in a ravine, below a hairpin bend.
A location that explains why she's been there for so many years without anyone noticing.
She could have stayed there for a long time if, on Tuesday, December 21, chance had not led a walker looking for a shortcut to her.
Near the wreck of the white Peugeot 205, located at the entrance to the tourist village of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), the latter discovers human bones.
Undoubtedly those of the owner of the Peugeot according to investigators, even if the results of the analyzes sent to the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) will not be known for several months.
The vehicle has never been reported as stolen.
But his license plate is associated with a man who himself has curiously never been missing, said a judicial source to the newspaper La Provence.
No sign since 2008
Jérôme Della-Longa does not appear on any file of missing persons and is also not known to the courts.
However, he has not given any signs of life since 2008 and only his uncle had published a notice at the time on the site www.personnedisparue.com.
Nothing else for 13 years, until Tuesday and the discovery of his Peugeot by a walker.
An orphan, he actually lived with his uncle and aunt in Pourrières, in the Var, a town barely 75 km from the place where the carcass of his car was discovered.
"He wandered easily between several members of his family and obviously had no fixed address," said the source close to the investigation.
One day in 2008, when he was 20 years old, he left home without warning, according to La Provence.
"At the time, the procedures for the disappearance of adults, or at least of adults, were not necessarily always followed", explains the same source.
"Contacted recently, the family did not mention a suicidal tendency and confirmed that no steps had been taken at the time with the authorities and the police," she continues.
An investigation was opened by the Digne-les-Bains prosecutor's office to determine the causes of death.