Nicolas Zepeda is in France. The plane on board which was extradited the Chilean suspected of having murdered his Japanese ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki in Besançon (Doubs), in 2016, landed this Friday at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Roissy .
Nicolas Zepeda "has just been taken care of by the French authorities" when he left the plane from Santiago, the Chilean capital, which landed at 11:12 am, said an airport source. The 29-year-old man, the sole suspect in the student's murder and who has always denied being the perpetrator, must now be notified of the execution of his international arrest warrant. He will then be taken directly to Besançon, where he will be questioned by the investigating judge in charge of the case.
PODCAST. Narumi, the crime without a corpse
"The speed with which the Chilean justice, in addition in a context of Covid, responded to our extradition request is exceptional," said the prosecutor of Besançon, Etienne Manteaux. This extradition "is an exceptional decision, it is the first time that Chile extradites one of its nationals to France and without reciprocity", he added.
A jealous suspect
Narumi Kurosaki, a 21-year-old student, lived on the Besançon university campus, where she was last seen on December 4, 2016. Nicolas Zepeda, son of a wealthy Chilean family, was her former boyfriend. They met in 2014 in Japan, where he was studying. This son of a telecoms mogul had fallen head over heels in love with her and even introduced her to his family.
According to the investigation, shortly before the disappearance of Narumi, the two young people had however distanced themselves and the Japanese student had started a new relationship, arousing the jealousy of the Chilean, who was then in his country. Etienne Manteaux went to Chile in April 2019 with an examining magistrate and two investigators. Seven months later, he announced that the investigation was "closed" and justified "the request for extradition of Nicolas Zepeda to appear before the Assize Court of Besançon for the assassination of Narumi Kurosaki".
According to investigators, Nicolas Zepeda went to Besançon in early December 2016 to see the young woman. On the evening of December 4, they returned together to Narumi's accommodation. That night, according to the prosecutor, several students heard "screams of terror, cries". But “no one told the police”.
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According to the geolocation of his rental car, on December 6, 2016 at dawn, the suspect went to a wooded area east of Dole (Jura), where investigators believe he was rid of the body. A few days earlier, the young man, who will be defended by Me Jacqueline Laffont, former lawyer for the former President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012), had bought matches and a can of flammable product. Despite extensive research, the body has never been found.
"They were still in love", according to the suspect
The former prosecutor of Besançon, Edwige Roux-Morizot, had evoked at the time of the facts an "intrusive and disturbing profile" about the suspect. The latter, in a letter sent to the Chilean authorities, had recounted having gone to see Narumi in Besançon at the beginning of December 2016 and that they had then "realized that they were still in love". He said he spent part of the night of December 4 to 5 with her, but then said he left alone.
Narumi's family "hope he has a different line of defense." "Finding Narumi's body is all that matters to them," declared their lawyer, Sylvie Galley, when the Chilean's extradition was announced in May.
