A 25-year-old man was arrested at his home on Wednesday morning on suspicion of having killed his former concubine and a neighbor in a fire in Nexon, a small town in Haute-Vienne. The facts happened shortly after 2 a.m. Neighbors, roused from their sleep by cries, come out of their homes and see flames ravaging a house. A 5 year old boy and two 8 and 13 year old girls are on the balcony calling for help. The firefighters save the children in extremis and transport them to the hospital. Once the fire was out, they discovered two bodies on the ground floor: that of Cécilia Peroux, a 33-year-old woman, and a 23-year-old neighbor.
Quickly, the ex-companion is suspected. On August 12, 2019, he was sentenced for domestic violence on a previous partner to one year in prison, including six months suspended and probation. The deceased thirty-something had also been the victim of domestic violence in the past, committed by another man. “Both have a past peppered with violence: one as an author, the other as a victim. But neither the police nor the gendarmerie were aware of acts of violence between them. No complaint had been lodged in this regard and no report made. In the eyes of justice, it is a couple that did not pose any difficulties, ”said the prosecutor of the Republic of Limoges, Baptiste Porcher. A judicial investigation was opened for aggravated murder, committed on his ex-partner, simple murder, on the neighbor,and for the triple attempted murder of the children.
The autopsy will be performed this Thursday at the Limoges University Hospital
According to the first elements of the investigation, the suspect would have taken the children upstairs and dismantled the door handles.
They could have perished in the flames.
"We could have had an even worse record," said the prosecutor.
Fortunately, the firefighters arrived very quickly on the scene.
Many gray areas remain to be clarified, including how the two victims died and why the neighbor was killed.
Valérie Lacorre, first deputy mayor of Nexon, was present on the scene this Wednesday morning. “It's a sad atmosphere. At first, neighbors thought it was just a fire, she explained. We're all in shock. It's complicated for elected officials from small towns, we have limited service. When you have to tell a mother that her 23-year-old son is dead, it's very complicated. She couldn't reach her son, so she came to the scene. The chosen one did not know Cécilia personally, but just knows that her two youngest children go to school in the village, and the oldest in college. She also had to warn the teachers of the school of the absence of the children. “For us, it's a sad day, it's very difficult. "
The autopsy, which will be performed this Thursday at the Limoges University Hospital, should make it possible to determine the course of the events, in particular to know whether the death was caused by inhalation of the fumes or if the two victims had been killed before the fire does not break out.
