Investigators will try to “trace the route” of the suspect, already sentenced to nine years in prison in June 2015 for a rape committed in 2001.
By PM with AFP
© Lionel VADAM / MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/L’EST REPUBLICAIN/MAXPP
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Ihe investigations into the murder of Iris C. in Morbihan, for which a suspect already convicted of rape was indicted last week, will try to “trace the route” of the latter and identify other potential victims, investigators said on Monday. “In many ways, this investigation for us really begins (…) with the arrest of the number one suspect”, filmed by CCTV cameras on the night of May 27 prowling around the victim and then the carried on his shoulder, declared during a press briefing the chief commissioner Amaury Le Neel, of the judicial police of Rennes.
The suspect was sentenced to nine years in prison in June 2015 for a rape committed in 2001 in Morbihan. He was released from prison in July 2018 and complied with the five-year socio-judicial follow-up imposed on him. “There are a lot of things to do to retrace his itinerary since his release, we can ask ourselves a lot of questions”, underlined Commissioner Le Neel.
The suspect returned to his first version
The 49-year-old suspect, residing in Hennebont (Morbihan) near Lorient, is indicted on charges of kidnapping, forcible confinement and murder preceded or accompanied by rape, recalled the public prosecutor of Lorient, Stéphane Kellenberger. The man had started by claiming not to know Iris C., 23 years old.
Confronted with the traces of his DNA found under the fingernails of the young woman, he “modified his declarations and finally admitted that he had seen Iris, drunk and inanimate, that he had gone towards her, had picked her up, seized and loaded in his van, but according to him only in order to help him, reported Monday Mr. Kellenberger.
Similarities to other attacks in the region
“As she was not behaving well, still according to him, he would have told her to leave and would therefore have abandoned her like this,” continued the prosecutor. A few hours later, the naked body of Iris was found by walkers in the waters of Blavet, in Lanester. The autopsy revealed multiple traces of blows on the head and face as well as “traces of strangulation caused by a link”.
This case, according to local media, has similarities with other attacks that have allegedly been committed in the Lorient region. “Of course, there will be a whole process of cross-referencing and potential cross-checking with a certain number of victims already identified. Others are probably not yet, it is part of our lines of research in the months to come, ”explained Commissioner Le Neel.