Girl found alive in car with 3 bodies

• NEW: Three of the victims were shot in the head
• A young girl was alive and unharmed in the car where three adults were shot dead
• She was probably terrorized and paralyzed from fear, an official says
• Investigators are looking for a motive for the mysterious attack

(CNN) -- For hours the small girl hid, unnoticed, in a car where the bodies of two British women and a man killed in a mysterious shooting were discovered by police in eastern France.

About 4 years old and probably paralyzed by fear, she remained among the corpses as investigators waited for crime scene technicians to arrive so that the car could be opened, CNN affiliate BFM-TV reported.

Local prosecutor Eric Maillaud told reporters that investigators had failed to notice the young girl because she didn't move during the several hours that they waited for forensic experts to arrive.

She was hidden under the legs of one of the dead women. A thermal imaging camera failed to pick up her presence, Maillaud said.

The child was "probably terrorized, completely concealed, completely immobile amid the corpses," he told reporters.

Maillaud called the incident an act of "extreme savagery" by someone who wanted to kill, but he declined to speculate on a motive.

A 7-year-old girl who was wounded in the shooting had been found by police outside the car hours earlier and taken to a hospital. There was only one child car seat in the car, which led officials to believe that the 7-year-old was the only child present.

Maillaud said the younger girl was hospitalized and doing well.

"Her life is not in danger, but she has experienced something awful," he said.

A French cyclist was also discovered shot dead near the British-registered car, and many bullet casings were scattered around. The cyclist, Sylvain Moliet, had lived in the region for 20 years and was on paternity leave, BFM-TV reported.

Moliet and two other victims were shot in the head, Maillaud said. The cause of death of one of the women is not yet clear, he said. Autopsies will be carried out Friday.

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The drama unfolding in a remote, wooded area near Chevaline, in the Haute-Savoie area of eastern France, has gripped the media in France and Great Britain.

But police have said little yet about what may have been behind the grisly shooting near Lake Annecy, a popular tourist spot.

Details of the little girl's ordeal emerged a day after the bodies were discovered in and around the car parked in a lot commonly used as a starting point for short walks and picnics. It is not regarded as a dangerous area.

Besides the French cyclist, the other victims were all British, as are the two young girls who survived, BFM-TV reported.

The British Foreign Office said it was looking into the incident.