​Woman's blood-drained corpse is found in Italian church where she had been searching for ghosts: Victim, 22, was seen earlier 'dressed like a vampire' and resembling 'a walking corpse'

A young woman whose body was found in an abandoned church in Italy had been hunting for ghosts and looked like a 'walking corpse' before her gruesome death, police have said.

The victim, a 22-year-old Frenchwoman who has been named as Auriane Nathalie Laisne, may have been the victim of a 'consented murder' or sacrifice - theories investigators in the Aosta Valley village of La Salle are reportedly looking into.

A witness described seeing Laisne nearby with a male friend in the days before her death late last month, and claimed that the pair had been dressed in dark clothes 'like vampires'.

Her decomposing body was later discovered by a hiker on April 6, and it is believed she had been dead for some days, with her clothes soaked in blood. Some of the blood at the scene had been scraped off the floor and removed, police told CNN.

An autopsy revealed that Laisne had been stabbed multiple times in the neck and abdomen, and also had gunshots to her neck and body that police said could have been inflicted after she died.

The victim, a 22-year-old Frenchwoman who has been named as Auriane Nathalie Laisne, was found dead in an abandoned church overlooking the Aosta Valley village of La Salle

Investigators launched a manhunt for the man who was seen with her, and eventually tracked down the suspect in France late last night.

The 21-year-old Italian man, Teima Sohaib, was arrested in Lyon on suspicion of murder. He is now facing trial in the French city of Grenoble.

A witness described how they saw Laisne and a young man, now identified by police as Sohaib, together in the area in the days before.

They reportedly said that Laisne looked 'very beautiful, but suffering, emaciated.' 

They described the man as having 'black curls and an olive complexion', said he looked 'much younger' and added that he 'didn't seem like a violent guy, far from it.'

Laisne is from Saint-Priest, a town near Lyon, and her family are said to have travelled to Italy to identify her body. 

The young woman was found with a packet of pink marshmallows and groceries near her body, according to police, and had been wearing leggings, a jumper and dark coat. 

Pictures show the crime scene - a derelict church where police suggest Laisne might have been searching for ghosts

Investigators in the Aosta Valley village of La Salle are reportedly looking into a number of theories (file image)

Sohaib is said to be from the Marche region of Italy, and is the son of Egyptian immigrants. He had been living in Grenoble, in Val d'Isére, south-eastern France.

Sohaib had been wanted in France and Italy since the end of March for 'violation of judicial control', Sky Italy reports. 

Police reportedly said that Laisne's death could be related to a TikTok ghost hunting competition, which has become popular among young people in France.