A Belgian national confessed to having killed with a rifle bullet in the back, before burying the body, his ex-companion reported missing since Monday in Mont-Saint-Martin, in Meurthe-et-Moselle near the border Belgian.
This is what the public prosecutor of Nancy François Perain said Thursday.
The 68-year-old man, already convicted in 2003 for violence against an ex-partner, was presented to an examining magistrate for "kidnapping, kidnapping or arbitrary detention, and murder," said the magistrate.
A warrant of committal should be required against the accused, suspected of feminicide.
The body of the missing woman was found Thursday afternoon by the Belgian authorities, near Arlon, according to the Belgian daily Vers l'Avenir.
He was buried a few hundred meters from the place indicated by the detainee, said François Perain.
She hadn't come to pick up her daughter from school
On Monday, the Longwy police had been informed of the disappearance of France Gérard, 54, born in Belgium.
She left in the morning by car with her dog to drop off her daughter, Fanny, 14, at school in Arlon (Belgium).
She was scheduled to return afterwards to find the teenager.
Which she hadn't done.
According to the testimonies of his relatives, in the morning, France Gérard, who had visited his son in Aubange (Belgium), feared for his life: "If something happens to me, take care of Fanny", had -she confided during a conversation.
She had confided her concern to her son
According to the testimonies of his relatives, in the morning, France Gérard, who had gone to his son in Aubange (Belgium) a few hundred meters from Mont-Saint-Martin, feared for his life: something happens, take care of Fanny, ”she confided during a conversation.
⚠🇫🇷🇧🇪🇱🇺 Residing in Mont-Saint-Martin, France Gérard has not given any sign of life since Monday.
His ex-companion who lives in Belgium would have confessed to the murder.
Research is being carried out close to #Luxembourg https://t.co/D04JA7kU5W
- The Essential (@lessentiel) November 19, 2020
The investigation opened by the police immediately turned to his former companion, who initially denied before admitting the facts, especially when the forensic analyzes revealed blood on his clothes.
His version is that of an accidental shot.
He thus told of having gone to the victim in Mont-Saint-Martin, to have waited for her in his garage because she was not there, garage where he found a rifle "loaded and provided with a silencer. », Explained the prosecutor.
"The gunshot went off by itself"
According to the defendant, on his return the woman got scared and started to run.
It was by following her that the defendant claimed "to have slipped" and that "the shot went off by itself", hitting the victim fatally in the back, explained the prosecutor.
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Then the detainee admitted to having "panicked", to having "rolled up the body in a tarp to go and bury it in a clearing" in Belgium "in a hole" that he "dug".
He assured to have acted alone, added the magistrate.