Woman who disappeared in 1986 in Toulouse: judged, the accused claims to be innocent again


The trial of Joël Bourgeon for the murder of a young secretary, Martine Escadeillas, who disappeared in 1986 in the suburbs of Toulouse, opened this Friday before the Assize Court of Haute-Garonne.

“Mr. President, I am innocent”, was limited to declaring the accused in a light blue shirt and navy blue pants, invited to intervene briefly at the start of a long day of hearing centered on testimonies from investigators. Joël Bourgeon made these first declarations in a firm voice, under the gaze of his partner and his two daughters, seated a few meters from him in the large hall. The brother, the two sisters, the brother-in-law and the former companion of Martine Escadeillas, who brought civil action, were also present.

He had confessed before retracting

In a sometimes tense atmosphere, this first day was largely devoted to the description of the various investigations carried out for more than 35 years on this case with twists and turns, and the difficulties encountered by the investigators. Several of them, including Gendarmerie Major Eric Carbonnel, director since 2016 of the investigation that led to this trial scheduled until July 6, defended with conviction the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused.

In uniform at the helm, he forcefully recalls the conclusions of the investigation: “a serious and concordant bundle” of clues leads him to consider that Joël Bourgeon, who could only act alone, killed Martine. The accused had confessed to the murder in 2019, without specifying where his body could be. Then he retracted, accusing the investigators of having dictated his confession.

A difficult investigation

Difficulties arise early on for investigators. The young secretary is last seen on December 8, 1986 at 8:30 am. At the beginning of the afternoon, the cleaning lady partially erases the traces of Martine’s blood left in the stairwell of her building. The police will only be notified afterwards. Then, the testimony of a neighbor of the disappeared guides part of the investigations at the start of the investigation. Years later, it will be judged not very credible.

But, in 1986, these declarations could have been “taken at face value by the investigators who may have neglected” other elements, recognizes Eric Carbonnel, after a tense exchange with one of the defense lawyers. The gendarmerie major, however, wishes to specify that he does not want to “give lessons” to his colleagues in charge of the investigation until 2016.

This neighbor had claimed to have seen in the morning a man in his forties with a bald head, squatting on a screaming woman. However, the investigators ended up concluding that she had not been able to see the scene clearly. At the time, this testimony had helped to exonerate Joël Bourgeon, then 23 years old.

Several abandoned tracks

Since 1986, several other leads, including the possible involvement of serial killer Patrice Alègre, have been considered, then dropped. For one of the defense lawyers, Eric Mouton, the loss of credibility of the testimony of the neighbor should have opened other investigations concerning other people and not be limited to Joël Bourgeon. But, whatever the difficulties encountered by the investigators, Eric Carbonnel strongly expresses his conviction that the accused could only act alone and is guilty.

In 2016, he recalls, a “particularly messy” letter from an acquaintance of Martine relaunched the Bourgeon trail. Arrested in 2019, more than 32 years after the disappearance, the accused admits in police custody to having killed her, without giving details of the whereabouts of the body. But he retracts a week later.

Asked, in particular by defense lawyers, about possible pressure from investigators during police custody to push the accused to confess, Eric Carbonnel categorically denies. He specifies on the contrary to have left all the time necessary for Joël Bourgeon to specify his confessions, finally remained incomplete because not allowing in particular to discover the corpse. The accused had asked the investigators to “help” him to put order “‘in this mess’, as he says, from his head” in order to advance in his confession, specifies the gendarme.

Questioned once again by the defense, Major Carbonnel, citing the medical examiner, deemed it impossible on Friday that Martine Escadeillas was still alive.



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