French police probing the disappearance of an 18-year-old woman discovered a physique on Thursday after the principle suspect confessed to killing her in a lovers’ quarrel, a prosecutor mentioned.
rench police probing the disappearance of an 18-year-old woman discovered a physique on Thursday after the principle suspect confessed to killing her in a lovers’ quarrel, a prosecutor mentioned.
The 39-year-old man led police to a website within the woods close to the southern city of La Grand-Combe the place the woman lived, after admitting to the crime on Wednesday night, prosecutor Cecile Gensac mentioned.
He mentioned he had “killed the younger lady throughout a combat linked to their romantic relationship”, she mentioned.
Investigators discovered the “physique of a woman that corresponds in all elements” with the outline of the lacking particular person, despite the fact that a forensic examination nonetheless wanted to substantiate her id, she added.
A supply near the investigation mentioned the physique bore traces of a “violent loss of life”.
Sihem, whose surname has been withheld, disappeared after leaving her dwelling in La Grand-Combe late at evening on January 25, “in all probability to satisfy somebody she knew”, the investigating Justice of the Peace had mentioned earlier.
Police deployed helicopters and sniffer canine to attempt to discover her with out success.
On Tuesday, police detained each the suspect, a person convicted for earlier offences together with theft with a weapon, and an ex-girlfriend of his, herself a cousin of the lacking woman.
The cousin has been launched.
The suspect “determined to confront his heavy accountability in Sihem’s disappearance and to finish the insufferable suspense for her kinfolk by guiding the investigators,” his lawyer Jean-Marc Darrigade mentioned.
“He is aware of that his crime is unforgivable, however his silence would solely have made it worse.”
Investigators had initially suspected a kidnapping.
Concern has grown in France over the variety of girls killed yearly.
As much as 122 girls had been killed by a associate or ex-partner in France in 2021, in comparison with 102 the earlier yr, the inside ministry has mentioned.
The nation recorded some 146 femicides in 2019.
