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The trial of Jean-Marc Reiser, alleged assassin of Sophie Le Tan, opened Monday afternoon before the Assizes of Bas-Rhin. A man already convicted of rape in 2003 and then acquitted for lack of evidence in another disappearance case in 2001.
The family of Sophie Le Tan reacted very quickly, the same day of the disappearance of the young student, who had not answered any call since 9:17 a.m. this Friday, September 7, 2018. A message via Facebook, indicating that she had gone to visit a studio north of Strasbourg. Immediately, two young girls come forward to say that they too have made an appointment with the lessor, that they find him strange, barely describing the place, seeming to care less about the deposit but is very interested in their private life. At the helm, commissioner Sarah Jamme details the investigation that will allow Jean-Marc Reiser to be arrested eight days later, on the 15th at 10:35 p.m. The two young girls provide him with the cell phone numbers they rang to reach the owner of the studio. They are different, but come from Lycamobile, one of the more anonymous carriers. “We determined a flotilla of eight mobile phones, used by a single individual,” reveals the commissioner. The names and addresses are bogus. Among others: Mrs. Agnès, Mr. Pierre or Mr. Henry. “Five of these numbers were used under fictitious identifiers and above all, the activity of this fleet ceased the day before and the day of the disappearance of Sophie Le Tan.
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It remained to find the true identity of the user, ”continues the investigator, in a tone that will put the audience in the Assize hall in suspense. She and her team will sleep very little for eight days. The entire “fleet” is posted on the Chemin des Pâquerettes and rue St Charles relay stations. It was necessary to sift through hundreds of bills, to cross-check as many calls, then to isolate little by little those who could correspond with those who moved between the two relays. “In the end, we isolated forty lines. We explored thirty-nine that came to nothing. The latest: an SFR line in the name of Reiser Jean-Marc”. All it takes is a click on the file to reveal the profile “of the individual”, in particular his conviction for rapes committed in 1995 which earned him fifteen years in detention; possession of weapons in 1997; robberies of veterinary practices in 2012 and 2016.
Read also: Sophie Le Tan case: Jean-Marc Reiser recognizes “deadly blows” but denies premeditation
“I do not claim to be a genius, but I am credited with a certain intelligence”
Jean-Marc Reiser might have escaped justice if he hadn’t kept his own laptop with him, in the summer of 2018, when he “organized ambushes”. Gross blunder on the part of a man who will declare, during his first audition: “You think I’m stupid enough to make the mistake of meeting young girls downstairs, when everyone knows? I do not claim to be a genius, but I am credited with a certain intelligence”. However, between August 31 and September 4, 2018, ten people are presented, including Katharina, Audrey, Johanna and Alicia, who found no one “because they were accompanied by a relative”, underlines Sarah Jamme. Sophie Le Tan was alone. His telephony? “She consulted the announcement on July 30, she continues, sent three unanswered text messages on August 13, 29 and 31. On August 4, she has a 6m52′ conversation with the lessor, who will never tell us anything about its content. At 7:15 a.m. she left the hotel where she works as a night receptionist, then googled directions.
At 9:17 a.m., his phone will remain silent. On September 15, at the home of Mr Reiser, we quickly understood that we were going to have to search for a body”. The apartment was “freshly cleaned, even the drain”. The studio window overlooks rue du Chasseur, and not rue Perle, where the entrance is, “which allowed Mr Reiser to have visual control over who showed up”. 1st audition: He no longer remembers his schedule, hasn’t made any announcements – “I have nothing to sell” – it’s all “chance, coincidence”. He refuses to look at the photo of Sophie Le Tan: “I don’t know her. You will have to settle for that. You can clearly see that she is not there”.
Dispatched to the scene, the scientific police found a number of traces of blood in the bathroom, Sophie Le Tan’s DNA on the cover of the washing machine, the radiator and the water heater “Impossible! then shouts JM Reiser. I’m not going to have fun kidnapping female students: I see them all day long”. He then speaks of contamination DNA. “Then he was walled in silence, concludes the policewoman, telling us that he wanted to read the file”. He is imprisoned for “abduction, forcible confinement and assassination”. The investigation will force him to adapt answers. Yes, Sophie Le Tan came to his house, he met her by chance downstairs while going shopping, she had hurt herself, was bleeding and wanted to take care of herself, he left her the bathroom. Sophie Le Tan, he knows her from university, he sees her during weight training. But two residents of the building came across him in good health on the morning of the 7th. Neighborhood merchants did not see Reiser that day. And the bodybuilding class schedules will prove that they never crossed paths. When the girl’s body was found by walkers on October 23, 2019 in the Grendelbruch forest, JM Reiser’s telephony study, again, located it at the scene on the Saturday and Monday following its disappearance.
“Mr Reiser refused to look at the photos” then explains police major Philippe Forens, who succeeds his colleague. “I see you coming,” Reiser will tell him. You think I buried her in this forest? It is inaccessible by car. Near a tumulus, eight meters from a passable dirt road by car, a hole of fifty centimeters. The body is partially covered with earth, branches and stone. The lawyers of JM Reiser, Mes Metzger and Giuriato are surprised by this coarse burial, while their client was very meticulous in cleaning the studio and transporting the body to the scene in two suitcases, after its dismemberment, in the Ford Fiesta of the accused, where no stains of blood will be found.
Before finally confessing, on January 19, 2021, and explaining that he had been drinking, that he interpreted a smile from the young student, that she screamed when he wanted to hug her and then that he “freaked out”, JM Reiser will question the reliability of the investigations of his telephony and the integrity of the designated investigator, of Vietnamese origin, like Sophie Le Tan. “An unwise choice” he will say.