The deceased couple was wronged by several tens of thousands of euros.
Three people, including a couple from Sarthe who hosted an octogenarian and her companion who recently died in suspicious circumstances a few weeks apart, were indicted for murder, the Le Mans prosecutor's office announced on Wednesday.
The three suspects, a couple in their fifties and the son of the woman indicted, were arrested after the beneficiaries of the deceased 85-year-old lady informed the courts of their suspicions about the causes of this death, specifies the public prosecutor of Le Mans Delphine Dewailly in a press release.
Several tens of thousands of euros
A judicial investigation is opened for an alleged double assassination.
Gendarmerie investigators quickly suspect “the intervention of a third party” in the death of the elderly woman which occurred in mid-January, around two weeks after the death of her companion at the end of 2023, in the house where they all lived in the village from Chahaignes (Sarthe).
Investigators also suspect “appropriation” by the hosting couple of the financial values of the two victims, estimated at several tens of thousands of euros.
“Testimonies collected suggested that these two people did not have their freedom of movement and could not move away from the house, in which they were sometimes locked up,” details the magistrate.
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The three suspects, aged 53, 50 and 19, were indicted for murder or complicity, violence against a vulnerable person, fraudulent abuse of the ignorance or weakness of a vulnerable person, concealment of a corpse and arbitrary confinement .
They were all placed in pre-trial detention.