Morbihan: a fifty-year-old indicted for the rape and murder of Iris C.

A man in his fifties was indicted Friday night for the murder of Iris C., a young woman whose naked body was discovered on May 27 in Lanester (Morbihan), and incarcerated, AFP learned from a source close to the investigation.

The fifty-year-old is indicted for kidnapping and intentional homicide preceded or accompanied by rape, and placed in pretrial detention, the same source said. The body of Iris C., 23, had been found by walkers in the waters of the Blavet, in Lanester, bearing traces of beatings and "strangulation".

" READ ALSO Voluntary departure or kidnapping: the mystery Karine Esquivillon, the "disappeared of Vendée"

It is "a man of fifty years and from the country of Lorient", had indicated at the time of custody the prosecutor of the Republic of Lorient, Stéphane Kellenberger. The suspect's girlfriend had also been taken into custody, according to another source close to the case, without specifying the motives. The suspect was identified through CCTV footage, the source told AFP. According to Ouest France, the man is registered in the sex offender file and was identified on CCTV images taken by the sub-prefecture of Lorient, where the victim can be seen "lying on the public road.

White van

On the images exploited by the judicial police of Rennes, "a man approaches the victim, turns around her and moves his body. A few minutes later, a white van enters the road, "writes Ouest France. It is the crossing of people registered in the automated judicial file of perpetrators of sexual or violent offenses with the owners of a white utility that led to the arrest of the suspect Thursday morning, according to the newspaper.

The body of Iris C., 23 years old and totally unknown to the justice services, had been discovered by walkers in the waters of Blavet, in Lanester. The autopsy had confirmed the "criminal origin" of the death, the body presenting in particular "traumatic injuries and hematomas" and "traces of strangulation", according to the Lorient prosecutor's office. A judicial investigation against X for kidnapping, intentional homicide and rape was opened on June 2, said prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger.

" READ ALSO Voluntary departure or kidnapping: the mystery Karine Esquivillon, the "disappeared of Vendée"

The autopsy had also made it possible "to evoke the recent nature of sexual intercourse, without it being possible to affirm the existence of violence in this respect," added the magistrate in a statement. According to witnesses quoted by Le Télégramme, a few hours before the discovery of her body, the young woman was seen in the night in a bar in Lorient in the presence of three men. A witness reportedly saw them heading together to a hotel. A man in his thirties, described by the prosecutor's office as "close to the family circle", had been placed in custody shortly after the facts "for the purpose of verification". He was released without any charges against him.