A suspect will appear before the assizes on Monday, as the trial for the murder of Catherine Burgod opens. More than thirteen years later, the mystery remains.
Who killed Catherine Burgod? The body of this postwoman, a 41-year-old mother who was expecting her third child, was found on December 19, 2008 at his workplace. The victim had been larded with twenty-eight stab wounds and the facts had taken place in Montreal-la-Cluse, in Ain. As the trial for the murder of this discreet and uneventful woman opens on Monday, March 28, the mystery concerning the person who took his life remains intact.
While, for a long time, the investigators suspected an ex-hope of French cinema, it is another suspect who will appear before the assizes of Ain, relays 20 minutes : Mamadou Diallo, a paramedic whose DNA was found at the crime scene. So the identity of the stranger at the post office, as the journalist Florence Aubenas dubbed it in her book devoted to this affair, has still not been revealed. According to the indictment, the motive for the murder would be villainous and the loot to the tune of nearly 3,000 euros.
Catherine Burgod: a long-suspected actor
This case has been in the news for more than ten years. The appearance of Mamadou Diallo before the assizes of Ain is the latest twist in this case. Gérald Thomassin, a former hope of French cinema, has long been the number one suspect. Only a few days after the events, the investigators took a close interest in this former drug addict. A man who had his moment of glory in 1991, after being awarded the César for best male hope for his role in The Little Criminal by Jacques Doillon.
If the investigators have no evidence against him – his DNA does not match any of those taken from the crime scene – the Caesarized actor, marginal and overwhelmed by the neighborhood, was quickly perceived as the ideal culprit. “In Montreal, he lives right across from the Post Office, and that’s enough, at that time, to make him the number one suspect”explained our colleagues from RTLlast fall, in The Voice of Crime. Taken to the scene of the crime shortly after the murder of his daughter, her father, furious, wanted to avenge her : “I drove around Montreal every night, I had what it took in the car. […] I quickly accused Thomassin”he had, for his part, confided in an interview with the Progress.
Catherine Burgod: the never-arrested murderer
In the neighborhood where the facts took place, two residents of the town had also assured that they had come face to face with the actor “on the grave of the postmistress”. Still according to information from Progress, the man had started talking to them about the crime between two shots of beer, mimicking the scene of the murder as he imagined. Also, Gérald Thomassin seemed obsessed with this murder which had taken place almost under his windows.
Placed in police custody before being heard, the comedian, who kept claiming his innocence, was finally released, for lack of evidence. If he benefited from a dismissal, Gérald Thomassin however never went to the courthouse, where he was expected on August 29, 2019 for a confrontation. Since then, the man defended by Éric Dupont-Moretti has not given any sign of life. More than thirteen years after the events, the murderer of Catherine Burgod has never been found.
Even if she appreciates being able to deal with extremely diverse subjects, passionate about travel, Charline is particularly interested in themes related to society, climate, environment, psychology…