The noose tightened on Friday April 1 around Nicolas Zepeda before the Doubs Assize Court where he answers for the assassination of his Japanese ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki, with a series of telephone, computer and geolocation to say the least disturbing that the defense of the young Chilean seeks to discredit.
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On December 6, 2016, when the young woman had not been seen for two days, “
a person will connect to Narumi's Facebook account and buy a train ticket with her card.
Nicolas Zepeda's laptop is located in the same place
, "a shopping center in Dijon, explained police commander Christophe Touris.
The investigator presented to the court all the telephony and geolocation elements, before and after the disappearance.
“
All this is not by chance, it is objective material elements which determine the active participation of Nicolas Zepeda in the disappearance of Narumi
”, he underlined.
From this December 6, according to the policeman, their internet accounts are connected from the same IP addresses and according to the same route: Dijon, Spain, then one last time Santiago de Chile, on December 13, when Nicolas Zepeda comes from to go back there.
Then no more virtual activity will be linked to Narumi.
"
These technical elements helped to explain why we favored the track of Nicolas Zepeda
" rather than another, summarized Me Randall Schwerdorffer, one of the lawyers for the civil party.
IP adress
A version strongly contested by Me Julie Benedetti, defense lawyer, who noted that "
in the investigation, a certain number of IP addresses of Narumi's accounts are not located with that of Nicolas Zepeda
", in particular in Japan.
According to phone data, Nicolas Zepeda also monitored his former girlfriend before her disappearance, spying on her on her social media in the previous months.
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The Doubs Assize Court is trying to understand if the Chilean pretended to be Narumi Kurosaki after his disappearance by sending messages to the young woman's relatives via social networks to suggest that she was fine and had left. In Lyon.
Extradited from Chile in the summer of 2020 and imprisoned since in France, Nicolas Zepeda is accused of having premeditatedly killed Narumi Kurosaki in Besançon and of having got rid of his body, never found, before fleeing to Chile.
"You are jealous"
The search focused on a 50 km2 forest area in the Jura, near Dole, where his rental car was located before and after the disappearance.
“
We searched in all the wooded places, the paths, the banks of the Doubs without finding the body of Narumi
”, regretted Christophe Touris, noting that this area had only been determined several months later.
"
From the moment this body has not been found, you cannot totally exclude that this body is not there
", insisted Nicolas Zepeda's lawyer, Me Jacqueline Laffont.
“
You observe him, you spy on his accounts.
You are jealous
, ”Advocate General Étienne Manteaux had launched on Thursday to the accused during a long and rough interrogation, leading him to show the first signs of nervousness.
“
Do you understand that we are trying to show that as you were jealous, you would have had a motive (to kill her, editor’s note)?
“, had then asked him, gently, his lawyer, Me Jacqueline Laffont, giving up questioning him when he showed signs of fatigue.
Read alsoAt the trial of Nicolas Zepeda, Narumi Kurosaki described as “solar and jovial”
"
I had the feeling that he was wavering (...).
These are very small conquests but I hope that things will eventually come to light at the end of this trial
, ”observed Narumi's family lawyer, Me Sylvie Galley.
Friday morning, the latter asked for the projection in front of the court of photos of Narumi Kurosaki smiling, child, with her two sisters or in traditional Japanese dress, bringing tears to the eyes of the mother of the student, who came from Japan to attend the trial.
Nicolas Zepeda's trial is due to continue until April 12.
