A man was arrested as part of an investigation into rape and murder after the body of a little girl who had been missing since the previous day was discovered in the basement of his apartment building in Sedan on Wednesday evening, the public prosecutor’s office said on Thursday. from Charleville-Mézières.
“The tenant of the premises,” born in 1966, has been arrested, Charleville-Mézières prosecutor Magali Josse said in a press release, indicating that she would abandon the investigation in favor of the Reims prosecutor’s office.
AFP
Reims prosecutor François Schneider will give a press conference on Friday afternoon, he said.
The suspect made “contradictory statements” at the start of his interrogation, which continued into the evening, a police source said.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, he was known for traffic offenses and was sentenced to a one-month suspended prison sentence in 2017 for gang theft.
The body of the little girl Loana, 10.5 years old, was found “in the basement” of this man’s house, in a building in Sedan city center that consisted of “a drinking establishment on the ground floor.” – the “Bar sedanais”, permanently closed – and “adjacent accommodation on the upper floor,” according to the indictment.
AFP
A police source said the victim was wrapped in a sheet.
Scolded
In the afternoon, a search took place in the presence of the suspect, who was wearing a black coat, his head covered with a hood and whose face was hidden under a surgical mask. He was mocked by residents who had gathered near the building, an AFP journalist noted.
Those residents came by the dozens to pay tribute to the little girl, bringing with them lots of roses, stuffed animals and letters. Police blocked the street with a barrier barring them from entering the building, but an officer went back and forth to leave the flowers at the entrance.
AFP
The Charleville-Mézières public prosecutor’s office announced that the investigation into the “murder” and “rape” of a “minor under the age of 15” has been opened.
The Sedan police station had been searching since Tuesday evening for the little girl, whose disappearance was considered “worrying,” the prosecutor’s office said.
According to the same source, investigations were conducted “immediately” at his school, in his family’s neighborhood and throughout the city to determine his schedule and retrace his travels.
On Wednesday around 6 p.m., a dog team was mobilized and a call for witnesses was broadcast, which enabled the police to “intervene quickly” in the building, the prosecution continued.
“Psychological support”
According to a source familiar with the case, it was a neighbor who saw the student enter the building that put investigators on this trail.
The police stated in their appeal for witnesses that the 1.20 meter tall little girl was wearing gray trousers, a black coat and a pink jacket as well as sneakers, a backpack and a white headband in her hair when she disappeared.
She disappeared after getting off the bus that was taking her home from college, the police source said, saying she did not have a cell phone.
“We saw the little one passing by with her two brothers, it’s a terrible story,” said Lucas, 23, a resident. According to him, the suspect was “not particularly well known” in the neighborhood.
The left-leaning mayor of Sedan, Didier Herbillon, spoke on X (formerly Twitter) of a “shocking and unimaginable discovery.”
After the shocking and unimaginable discovery of little Loana’s lifeless body last night, I want to support her loved ones and the people of Sedan affected by this terrible tragedy. I count on the ongoing investigations to clarify all the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.
— Didier Herbillon (@HerbillonDidier) October 19, 2023
“Help and psychological support for the girl’s family have been activated,” the public prosecutor’s office said.
According to the Rectorate of Reims, “psychological units” have also been set up in her college, the school she attended last year and the college of one of her brothers.
The Reims criminal police and the Sedan police station are responsible for the investigation.