A lifeless body, bearing the identity papers of a student who disappeared in February, was discovered Thursday in a river in Moncoutant-sur-Sèvre, a commune in Deux-Sèvres where the young man was last seen. announced the Niort prosecutor’s office.
“Identity papers in the name of Erwan Blais were found in the clothes worn” by the body discovered by a fisherman on Thursday “shortly after 4:15 p.m.” in an arm of the Nantes Sèvre, said Julien Wattebled, the prosecutor of the Republic in Niort, by press release.
An autopsy to confirm identity
The magistrate ordered that an autopsy be carried out to determine the causes of death, as well as a genetic expertise “to confirm the identity” of the corpse, which “cannot be formally identified at this stage”.
Erwan Blais, 18, a student at the University of Poitiers, has been missing since the night of February 10 to 11, after spending the evening with friends in a nightclub in Moncoutant-sur-Sèvre near which this river flows. A judicial investigation is underway in this case.
According to the investigation, the young man left the establishment around 1:45 a.m. and video surveillance images revealed his presence in the parking lot later that night. His phone buzzed until 2:50 a.m. A call for witnesses was sent out after a raid that involved 120 people.
Dozens of gendarmes, including divers, dogs, a drone and a helicopter, also participated in the search in the days following the disappearance, without success.