On July 15, 2010, yet another feminicide was committed in France, in Saint-Martin-d’Ablois (Marne). Laurence Dromard’s husband was immediately suspected, and was even denounced by his mistress. Back to the murder of a woman without stories.
We are the July 15, 2010 in Saint-Martin-d’Ablois, in the Marne department. Panicked, a man called the emergency services at 10:11 p.m.: “Come right away, I’ve been robbed, my wife is lifeless, there’s blood everywhere!”, says Sylvain Dromard, 57, owner of a carpentry. Following his call, the firefighters and gendarmes arrive on the spot and find him in front of the bleeding body of his wife on the kitchen floor. Laurence Dromard dies 3 hours later. Her husband explains that he discovered her on his return from a professional meeting in Epernay, a town located about ten kilometers from his home. He first noticed that an envelope containing 1,200 euros as well as jewelry had disappeared. So he thinks of a burglar, who allegedly assaulted his wife. The gendarmes do not believe in this version, and rather follow the cheating husband trackwho killed his wife with the complicity of his mistress, Murielle Bonin, 52 years old.
The doubts of the gendarmes are confirmed from the autopsy of the body of Laurence Dromard. This was actually “victim of about ten blows, probably struck with a garden tool. The attacker had significant physical strength”. The expert speaks of a “relentlessness”, the victim was slaughtered. What does not coincide with the version of the burglars, who are not accustomed to killing, and even less with such violence. Neighbors also said they saw no strangers at the time, nor heard any suspicious noises: “If she had surprised someone, Laurence Dromard would undoubtedly have shouted”assures Me Olivier Carteret, the lawyer for his parents and his sister: “The behavioral analyst who scrutinized the crime scene indicates that she must have known her attacker. She was somehow killed in confidence.” did he declare.
An accomplice mistress, who denounces him
Subsequently, the investigators learn of the infidelities of Sylvain Dromard, and his relationship with Murielle Bonin since 2008. Laurence Dromard also went to her rival to tell her not to see her husband anymore. The mistress was then lodged a complaintclaiming to have been hit at that time.
After Laurence’s death, the gendarmes bugged the two lovers, because they see themselves hiding in hotels. The teacher then called her sister the November 9, 2010, and confessed to him that Sylvain Dromard murdered his wife. Following this, the two are placed in police custody, and the mistress breaks down and admits that they have decided to kill Laurence Dromard, following the events of April 24. She also confessed to having bought the murder weapon which is none other than a baseball bat. According to him, Sylvain Dromard would have killed his wife without his help between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. and would have gone to see a client in Epernay. He would then have discovered that she was not dead when he returned, and would have suffocated her with a towel, before calling for help. The mistress also assured that the husband would have hidden the famous baseball bat as well as Laurence’s bloody clothes in the false ceiling of his workshop. He would then burn them in his vineyards after the murder.
However, Murielle Bonin’s accusations are called into question, in particular because the experts had spoken of a garden tool after the autopsy, and in no case of a baseball bat. Sylvain’s daughters also support him tooth and nail, even if Laurence Dromard’s parents and sister do not believe in the innocence of the husband: “This couple had two businesses that were doing well, a nice property portfolio. In short, they had everything to succeed, explains Me Olivier Carteret. But before the tragedy, Sylvain Dromard had asked his notary what a divorce would cost him. He killed his wife for financial reasons.“
Today the mistress tries as best she can to minimize his confession and to clear himself as much as possible in this story.