Saturday March 11, 2023, Chronique Criminelle broadcasts an issue devoted to the affair of the Spouses Saint-Aubert. The opportunity to dive back into this terrible murder that occurred in 2008.
It’s a murder which remains etched in all memories in the Aude. It all started on April 19, 2008. That day, Olivier Bommersbach alerted the gendarmerie to report that he had no more news from his mother, Jocelynean ex-accountant and her father-in-law, Jean-Claude Saint-Aubert, an aeronautical engineer. The couple who married two years ago have just moved into a subdivision of Argeliersnear the Canal du Midi, to sink a peaceful retreat.
Once there, the gendarmes discover that the breakfast table is set, that phone and purse of the 59-year-old woman is in the house, but no sign of them. However, a second search will rock the investigation. A notebook is found, hidden in the bathroom cabinet. Inside, a written word from Jocelyne’s hand: “We are taken hostage and robbed by Modeste and her friend Fouad. They want to kill us and put us in Modeste’s field in Cruzy“.
Jocelyne’s word made it possible to arrest the culprits
Thanks to his little word, leaving little room for doubt concerning the outcome of her disappearance, Jocelyne allowed the investigators to move forward with the investigation. On April 29 and May 5, the mutilated bodies of pensioners are found. Jean-Claude Saint-Aubert received a dozen balls, before one of his murderers finished him off by throwing a 15-kilo rock on his skull. For her part, Jocelyne was murdered with a shovelwhich practically decapitated her as well as a revolver bullet.
At the same time, the two murderers are found and arrested. It is Jean-Barthelemy Rathqueber said Modeste and Fouad Sellam. The two masons had been employed by the couple to carry out work. They would have acted after having heard Jean-Claude Saint-Aubert evoke a cash inflow of 20,000 euros. In January 2012, Jean-Barthélémy Rathqueber received a perpetuity with 22 years security. For his part, Fouad Sellam was sentenced to 30 years of criminal imprisonment including 18 years of security. He is finally death from cancer in prison at the end of 2022.
© Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash
3/6 –
Home
The couple who had married two years earlier had just acquired a house in Argeliers, in the Aude.
© Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
4/6 –
Word
While searching the house, investigators discovered a note written by Jocelyne, indicating that they had been abducted by two men to be killed.
© Photo by Guilherme Cunha on Unsplash
5/6 –
Masons
Thanks to this word, the investigators managed to arrest the two men, who were masons employed by the couple. They also discovered the mutilated bodies of the missing.
© Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash
6/6 –
Prison
In January 2012, Jean-Barthélémy Rathqueber dit Modeste and Fouad Sellam were sentenced to life imprisonment and 30 years’ imprisonment. Fouad Sellam died in prison in 2022 of cancer.