On February 28, 2008, a corpse floated on the surface of the sticky waters of the Seine, in the west of Paris. Katoucha’s body, silhouette of a vine and almond-shaped eyes, is fished out, covered in slime. At 47, the model of African origin, one of the first models in France, star of the 1980s and muse of Yves Saint Laurent, died of drowning. “She couldn’t swim”said a member of his family.
In charge of the investigation, the crime prevention brigade against the person notes that Katoucha had not given any sign of life for several weeks. His last appearance dates back to the night of January 31 at the 1er February 2008. She spends the evening rue Saint-Honoré, at the very trendy Hôtel Costes, in the 1er arrondissement of Paris, accompanied by friends. After a drunken dinner, one of them drops her off in a taxi, around 1 a.m., near The Low Speedthe barge she lives in with her companion, an artist-painter, absent that night.
The next day, only her handbag, containing her Ungaro glasses, her mobile phone and some papers, sits near the entrance to the boat. No theft is observed. No trace of attempted break-in. “We said a lot of things when she died: she was pushed, she missed a step, she voluntarily threw herself into the water… We extrapolated a lot”recalls Dominique Deroche, former press officer for Saint Laurent.
A bruised childhood
If the hypothesis of a kidnapping or a sequestration is quickly swept away, close and less close sketch scenarios: fall, suicide, homicide… Due to his notoriety, his strong personality, his career marked by intimate dramas, and his fiery temperament feeds all the interpretations, each one finding a thread to draw from his story.
The judicial inquiry lasted four years. Katoucha’s life is scrutinized, his bank accounts are peeled, his entourage is auditioned. From her real name Kadiatou Niane, she was born on October 23, 1960, into a family of Fulani intellectuals, in Conakry, under the reign of President Sékou Touré in Guinea (1958-1984). “The nickname Katoucha was given to him by our father, in reference to a rocket launcher that the Russians had just invented. In these years of the beginning of African independence, the intellectuals of the continent were mainly pro-Soviet. This was the case with our father, a Marxist activist and member of the African Independence Party”says a member of his family.
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