Body found in Alice Gross search: Timeline since teenager's disappearance

Jose Gross and Rosalind Hodgkiss, Alice's parents, seen making an appeal for her return last week. Credit: PA

Here is a timeline of the disappearance of 14-year-old Alice Gross:

August 28: Alice leaves her home in Hanwell, west London, at 1pm, telling her mother Rosalind Hodgkiss she will be home by 6pm.

CCTV footage captures her walking along the Grand Union Canal towpath and at 3.45pm is spotted on cameras at Brentford Lock, south of where she lives.

The last sighting of her was at 4.26pm, again by CCTV, walking along the canal under Trumpers Way, a bridge crossing the canal, heading towards Hanwell.

Police released this map of Alice's last known movements. Credit: Police

September 1: Alice's family make an emotional appeal for her to get in touch with them, saying they "desperately miss her".

The Metropolitan Police say officers have spoken with her friends, carried out house-to-house inquiries and searched parks and open spaces in their efforts to trace her.

September 4: Police release CCTV of the last time Alice was seen and reveal they have found a rucksack she was carrying, with the shoes she was wearing at the time inside.

CCTV shoes Alice Gross (far right) walking along the Grand Union tow path. Credit: Police

September 11: Police say they are searching for Alice's missing iPhone, which they believe may have been taken from her rucksack and could hold key information to help find her.

Police use a boat to search the Hanwell locks. Credit: PA

September 16: Detectives say they are searching for 41-year-old Latvian builder Arnis Zalkalns in relation to Alice's disappearance. He was last seen at his home in Ealing, west London, on September 3.

Zalkalns is known to travel to work along a similar route to that which Alice took on the day she disappeared, police said.

Arnis Zalkalns seen on CCTV cycling along Brentford Lock. Credit: Police

It is later revealed he was convicted of murdering his wife in his home country in 1998, for which he served seven years, and was also arrested on suspicion of indecent assault in the Ealing area in 2009, though no further action was taken.

Arnis Zalkalns, a 41-year-old Latvian builder, disappeared from his home in Ealing a week after Alice vanished from her home in nearby Hanwell. Credit: Police

September 23: Detectives travelled to Latvia in their search for Alice and prime suspect Zalkalns.

A knife recovered during a search of waterways is sent for forensic analysis.

September 25: Alice's family make another emotional plea for her to return home as police stage a reconstruction of her final movements four weeks after she disappeared.

Jose Gross and Rosalind Hodgkiss, Alice's parents, make a plea for her return. Credit: PA

September 29: Detectives trying to trace Alice move their search to a National Trust-owned estate near to where she was last seen more than a month ago.

September 30: Search teams find a body in the River Brent.