The trial of a 70-year-old pensioner accused of killing his partner, whose body was found dismembered and charred in a forest in 2017, opened in the Yvelines Assizes Court on Monday.
On August 31, 2017, parts of burned bodies were found on a pedestrian walkway in Vernouillet, about forty kilometers west of Paris.
It will be almost two years before investigators are able to identify her in May 2019: The victim is a 60-year-old woman who was reported missing by her companion on October 16, 2017.
Philippe Marchand made his first confession before his indictment and pre-trial detention in October 2019. He then recounted strangling his companion at home, affirming that she had been violent and jealous and had tried to strangle him as well.
He also admitted to using a knife and saw to dismember the victim’s body and cutting off the tips of his fingers to erase his fingerprints.
The accused then transported the dismembered corpse in rubble bags to a forest in Vernouillet at night, where he burned it.
During the investigation, he explained that between his death and the reporting of his disappearance, he had been texting himself and members of his family from the victim’s phone.
The pensioner is also suspected of using the victim’s bank accounts more than a year after his disappearance. According to investigations, more than 28,000 euros were debited from the deceased’s account.
Mr Marchand and the victim had been in a relationship since December 2015. As a former taxi driver, according to one expert, he had no particular pathologies. He was in a relationship with another woman before his girlfriend disappeared.
The victim’s son and grandson are civil parties.
The verdict is expected on Friday.