A 69-year-old retiree will soon be tried for having killed, dismembered and burned his partner in 2017. The remains of the body had been found on the edge of a road in Vernouillet (Yvelines), about forty kilometers from Paris.
The date of the trial is not yet known. But this is an “emblematic” case of feminicides, underlined Maître Anne Bouillon, lawyer for the victim’s son. “The family awaits, with great hope, a certain number of explanations from the accused”, prosecuted for murder of a spouse and attack on the integrity of a corpse.
In 2019, the retiree finally confessed to having strangled his partner, then 67 years old. He assured that she was violent and jealous and that she had herself tried to strangle him. He later admitted to using a knife and saw to dismember her body.
He transported his remains in rubble bags to Vernouillet, where he set fire to them. A walker discovered the bags a few days later.
Simulated evidence of life
It took investigators more than a year to identify the victim. The analyzes allowed them to make the link with another case, that of the disappearance of a woman in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine).
In reality, the pensioner is suspected of having simulated proof of life of his companion for more than a year, continuing to send SMS in his place, and to make bank withdrawals. More than 28,000 euros were thus debited from the account of the deceased.
The couple had been dating for just over a year at the time of the murder. The retiree, a former self-employed taxi driver, has no particular pathology, according to an expert. The victim is described as “depressed” and “impulsive” by this same expert.
Since the start of 2022, 37 women have been killed by their partner or ex, according to the feminist collective We All. In 2021, 113 feminicides were recorded.