The mystery of the "bloody cave" before justice in Montpellier

A

"burnt dummy"

.

This is what the Sétois believed to see when on July 4, 2014, they went to the cave located under Mont Saint-Clair (Hérault).

“We saw legs [...] It's true that the feet were very realistic, but as part of the head was missing, it looked like it had melted, we thought it was a mannequin, that people had put there to scare.

These witnesses left without asking for their rest.

But thirteen days later, it is indeed a corpse in an advanced state of decomposition, tied up, charred, that the investigators of the Montpellier judicial police service in charge of the disappearance of Patrick Isoird found.

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Widely publicized, this case was quickly nicknamed "the case of the bloody cave".

The trial which opens this Monday, January 18 before the Assize Court of Hérault should be very followed by the local and national press.

Rémi C., 51, and Audrey L., 39, are appearing for kidnapping, kidnapping and murdering Patrick Isoird.

Audrey L. claims to have served as bait to lure the victim into the cave at the request of her former lover Rémi C., who would then have executed the employee at the hospital in Sète.

For his part, Rémi C. claims his innocence.

Both defendants face life imprisonment.

A mysterious suicide

On June 23, 2014, Patrick Isoird, 49, told colleagues that he had an after-work date.

No one heard from him after this meeting, and his scooter - along with his cell phone and wallet - was found near a cemetery near the cave.

During her confession in August 2016, Audrey L. said that after finding Patrick Isoird, she had taken him into the cavity on the pretext of showing him the place where she buried her cat.

On the spot would have then appeared Rémi C., armed with a rifle.

Audrey L., who claims not to have witnessed the assassination, swears that she never knew the hairdresser at home intended to kill the hospital worker.

Investigators are convinced that Rémi C. murdered Patrick Isoird in revenge for an adulterous relationship that the latter would have maintained with his late wife Nadège.

The latter was found hanged at her home on July 5, 2009, just after having confided to her husband having cheated on her during a party with colleagues.

At the time, the hypothesis of suicide had been adopted, without the results of the autopsy completely ruling out the possible involvement of a third party.

The “bloody cave” affair led the prosecution to reopen the investigation, and Nadège C.'s family filed a complaint with a civil party.

Amorous revenge?

“Rémi C. is not on trial this week for having killed his wife, but the events of 2009 will necessarily be mentioned.

What happens in the cave in 2014 is the consequence of this evening between colleagues in 2009. The Isoird affair begins with Nadège C.

”, estimates Me Jean-Marc Darrigade, counsel for Nadège C.'s family but also for certain close to Patrick Isoird.

"This case is very interesting, but fundamentally frighteningly banal: a man does not accept that his wife has a relationship with a colleague",

adds Me Christol, one of Audrey L's lawyers

.

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For his part, Me Frank Berton, one of Rémi C.'s counsel, recalls that his client is not indicted for having killed his wife.

“If there had been serious elements, he would have been worried!

We bring that out because we must try to support the mobile that is advanced.

The prosecution is braced on this theory of amorous revenge which does not hold water ”.

During the investigation, Rémi C. repeated that he had “

no grievance

” against Patrick Isoird.

And

“if I had had any, why would I have acted five years after [the death of Nadège C.], when I had rebuilt my life?

", He often added.

"Obsessions can last a long time,"

slips Me Christol.

This term is not used at random: the expert reports carried out on the accused revealed an

"obsessive" personality

.

The accused released under judicial supervision

Specificity of this assize trial: Rémi C. appears detained, unlike Audrey L., released under judicial supervision in June 2020. Relations between the two accused are expected to be tense.

“Audrey L. is an extremely fragile woman.

She is afraid because she knows that everything she says will be called into question in an extremely virulent way by Rémi C. and his defense,

”says Me Eva Fournier, another counsel for the accused.

For his part, Rémi C. awaits the hearing firmly.

“He is a very combative person, who never ceases to proclaim his innocence and has a very good knowledge of his case.

He wants to explain himself, to express himself.

He is anything but passive ”

, describes Me Berton.

"The one and only element against my client are the evolving and contradictory statements of Audrey L. Are we going to be satisfied with it to condemn Rémi C.?"

, insists the lawyer from Lille, dismissing with the back of his hand what his colleague of the civil party Me Darrigade describes as

"bundle of inexplicable coincidences"

.

For their part, the civil parties

"do not expect much"

from Rémi C.,

"blocked in his position"

, underlines Me Darrigade, but

"hope that Audrey L. will take a step further on the path of confessions

”.

“I'm afraid they will be disappointed.

She said it all

,

”

concludes Me Fournier.

The mystery of the "bloody cave" is likely not to be fully clarified at the end of the hearing.