After several weeks of waiting, the suspicions were confirmed. Lucas, a 21-year-old young man reported missing on January 19, 2024, was found dead. As reported by BFMTV, his lifeless body was recovered in a lake located in Haute-Garonne, Wednesday January 31, 2024. From the first elements of the investigation, Lake Saint-André located in Fabas had been at the heart of the investigations. As is often the case in investigations around bodies of water, it took some time for investigators to finally make the macabre discovery, not far from where the victim’s vehicle had been abandoned. As a reminder, Luca’s charred car, a Volkswagen Golf 7, had been found by firefighters, called to put out a fire, in the Cardeilhac forest, located only about twenty kilometers from the point of discovery of the body. According to technical analyses, it was established that the car had stopped in several places, including this famous lake.
A drug dispute
Luca had not been found since the night of January 19, 2024. The young man would have joined two other boys, in Portet-sur-Garonne, before no longer giving any sign of life. These individuals were then arrested, Monday January 22, 2024, as well as a third person, identified as the driver of Luca’s vehicle. The three suspects have since been indicted for “organized gang murder”. A week later, Monday January 29, 2024, a fourth person was taken into police custody. “He is suspected of having participated in part of the events”can we read in La Dépêche du Midi. If the motives for the crime have not yet been verified, the trail of a drug-related dispute is emerging. “In all likelihood, [cela] could be linked to drug trafficking”, our colleagues explain.
According to the suspects’ first statements, it was more precisely a debt linked to drug trafficking. Two of the three suspects even confessed to having attacked Luca, who did not survive his injuries. As a reminder, the three individuals indicted are already known to the police for drug trafficking. One of the three young men even wore an electronic bracelet following a previous conviction. As for the fourth protagonist, he would have played a key role in Luca’s disappearance. He is currently suspected of helping transport her body. For now, the suspects named in the case remain presumed innocent pending a possible court decision.