Two days after the discovery of the body of a young 28-year-old graphic designer, at the Parisian home of her husband, a police officer, the manhunt is still ongoing. The alleged murderer, aged 29, is still actively sought this Sunday by investigators from the regional directorate of the judicial police. The point on what we know about this tragic affair.
What happened ?
It was Friday, around 8:55 p.m., that the tragedy was discovered. The victim’s body was found by police officers from the 19th arrondissement of Paris. They had gone to the home of a 29-year-old peacekeeper, Arnaud B., after being alerted by his colleagues from Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis), worried about no longer having his news when he was supposed to take up his post early Friday afternoon. “He had contacted his service to say that he would not come. But then he stopped responding to calls,” according to a source familiar with the matter. At his home, the man is absent. On the other hand, the police find the body of his companion in the bathroom. Aged 28, she was not a police officer. No alert had been given, neither by the neighbors nor by the relatives of the victim. The victim was found unresponsive in the studio bathroom, very messy. Several bottles of liquor were discovered on the bed and on a window sill.
Who is the victim ?
The 28-year-old was, among other things, a graphic designer and worked in digital marketing and social networks. She was also, according to our information, a photography enthusiast. At first, the medical examiner said he was unable to decide, during his first examination, on the causes of death. During the night, the body was taken to the medico-legal institute of Paris where an autopsy was carried out.
Who is the alleged attacker?
The policeman who entered the body in 2012 had been taken into custody in October 2019 for violence against his partner at the time, according to a police source. He was then sentenced to an alternative to prosecution for domestic violence, according to a judicial source. He “had been the subject of a summons for an awareness course on domestic violence”, indicated a police source. Administratively, he had been sanctioned with a warning, according to the same source. The warning is a disciplinary sanction of the first group, the lowest in the public service, and is not the subject of any mention in the file of the agent. He was also the subject of “social follow-up”, provided by psychologists, social workers and prevention doctors. In addition, in June, the suspect “had requested the intervention of the police for a dispute with his partner who would have been violent with him. He had a swollen face,” according to the police source.
Where is the investigation?
The investigation has only just begun, and to determine it, the police will first have to get their hands on this man born in 1992 and considered to be on the run. The Paris prosecutor’s office on Saturday opened an investigation into the “head of intentional homicide on a cohabiting partner” and clarified this Sunday morning that “the victim was strangled”. A new fact revealed by an autopsy carried out the day before and which therefore confirms the criminal trail. Arnaud B. was still wanted this Sunday, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Bearded, with a bald head, he would travel aboard a white Peugeot 208, and would probably be equipped with his service weapon.
What official reactions?
“Emmanuel Macron, Elisabeth Moreno you have the responsibility to protect these women. How is a police officer known for acts of violence still on duty? ! This feminicide could have been avoided “, had reacted on Saturday on Twitter the feminist collective #We all.
“We are doing everything to find this man who is dangerous because we must never underestimate the dangerousness of the perpetrators of domestic violence”, had for her part declared on BFMTV the Minister Delegate in charge of Equality between women and men Elisabeth Moreno.
According to a report from the Ministry of the Interior, 146 women were victims of feminicides in 2019, and 102 in 2020. The collective “We All” has counted 12 since the beginning of 2022. Femicides are the stage end of the violence suffered by more than 200,000 women a year.