The 60-year-old man taken into police custody after the death of a 72-year-old woman in Héricourt was indicted Thursday evening for murder. The suspect is the next door neighbor of the victim. He was placed in pre-trial detention until Monday, before a judge decided to continue his detention until trial. The 60-year-old, employed in a cleaning company, is already accused of an attempted murder in Valentigney, for which he will soon be tried.
Violent blows and traces of strangulation
The body of this Héricourtoise was found by her son-in-law on Tuesday, November 23 around 3:30 p.m. The autopsy carried out on Thursday showed that violent blows were worn on the victim’s upper body. Bruises and fractures at the cervical and cranial level as well as traces of strangulation were discovered. These injuries explain the death, which took place on the day of November 23, according to forensic expertise.
The autopsy also revealed that the victim had in his hand a handful of hair, which suggests that she would have struggled. Analyzes are underway to find out who owns this hair.
Blood found on the neighbour’s socks
During the observations made by the police, they also noticed that the apartment had been searched. “It remains to be determined whether these searches took place before the murder, or after, to create a subterfuge to put investigators on the trail of a heinous crime.“said the prosecutor of Besançon, Etienne Manteaux. A neighbor also told investigators to have heard noise at the beginning of the afternoon.
While researching this small building in Héricourt, traces of blood were found on the hallway wall, near the front door of the victim’s next door neighbor. According to investigators, his door appeared to have been washed. Inside this apartment, a 60-year-old man “extremely alcoholic and aggressive“according to the prosecutor.
The police found traces of blood on his clothes, including his socks, and a washing machine was running when they arrived. The analyzes showed that the blood taken from the socks was indeed that of the victim.
A dispute for a parcel delivery?
The first elements of the investigation show that the victim and his neighbor had good relations. “This man had become someone who came to the aid of this lady when she had worries, when she fell at her home. It was, for this woman’s family, a reassuring presence“underlines the prosecutor.
But this relationship probably deteriorated a few days before the events. “These two people were in conflict, apparently over a parcel delivery problem. The point of conflict is still something quite confused, but there has been a deterioration in the relationship between these two people.“said Etienne Manteaux.
While in police custody, the man denied the facts. When investigators observe that he has traces of blood on his clothes, the suspect has finally admitted having entered her neighbor’s apartment, which he said he found dead. It was on this occasion that he found himself with blood on his socks. A discovery that would have made him panic, and then close the door, without warning the emergency services.
However, during an examination with a doctor, the neighbor admitted having “saw red” and “beat someone up“ in the afternoon.
The prosecution wanted to place the sixty-year-old in pre-trial detention. He asked for a delay before an adversarial debate to determine his pre-trial detention, a debate which will take place on Monday. In the meantime, it was all the same imprisoned, until Monday. During his indictment, he continued to deny the facts.
Already charged with attempted murder
The 60-year-old man is already accused of attempting to kill someone in February 2017, to Valentigney, stabbing him six times in the abdomen and chest. An attempt that had already been made in a context of neighborhood conflicts, and during which the man was alcoholic. He will be tried at the Doubs Assize Court shortly.
For this case, the man is placed under judicial control, and is prohibited from appearing in the Doubs, which explains his move to Héricourt.
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