A couple was presented to court on Thursday February 8 the day after the discovery of
“
human bones
”
buried in the garden of their house in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) as part of an investigation into a mysterious murder of child 20 years ago, according to police sources cited by AFP.
This singular case began in January 2021 when, following a complaint for domestic violence against her husband, a mother with a large family indicated that he allegedly killed her 5-year-old son in 2004, whom she had brought back from Togo.
A preliminary investigation is then opened to try to determine the existence of this ghost child and to find a possible corpse.
The research then yields nothing but a judicial investigation, entrusted to an investigating judge from Bobigny, is opened in 2023.
After an accumulation of investigations, the couple, whose man is 65 years old and the woman 54 years old, were arrested on Tuesday.
They were placed in police custody on the charge of murder of a minor under 15 years old at the territorial security, responsible for the investigation since 2021.
“Based on the elements previously accumulated, statements made it possible to target the location where the child was likely to have been buried
,” a police source told AFP.
No trace of legal existence
At the end of the day on Wednesday, searches were carried out in the garden of their house in Pantin where they lived at the time of the events.
Around 7 p.m., the searches
“enabled the discovery of human bones likely to correspond to the age group of the victim”
, estimated at
“5-10 years”
, continued this source.
Expertise must now establish whether these bones, which would have remained underground for around twenty years, are indeed those of a child and whether the DNA corresponds to at least one of the parents.
If necessary, they will also have to try to determine the circumstances of the death, the accused not giving
“any details on how he died”
, indicated a police source.
The investigation has not yet made it possible to find any trace of the legal existence of the alleged victim, whose name is Virgile according to the initial 2021 complaint. The suspects were presented at the end of the day on Thursday to a judge in instruction, according to a police source.
Contacted by AFP, the Bobigny public prosecutor's office did not wish to communicate on this file due to the ongoing judicial investigation.