Investigation into the Death of a Man Found in a Swimming Pool in Roanne Continues, with Alcohol in Blood Detected

The investigation opened by the prosecutor of Roanne, Abdelkrim Grini, following the macabre discovery, Tuesday April 11, in the Clermont suburb in Roanne, continues.

Suicide or murder? The man discovered in his swimming pool in Roanne died by drowning, according to the autopsy

If the autopsy carried out the next day had revealed that the death had been the consequence of drowning and that no blow had been struck at this 45-year-old man from Roanne, additional analyzes, in particular in toxicology, had been requested by the floor. The results are now known.

1.80 grams of alcohol in the blood

“There is no trace of drugs that could have been used to render him unconscious, reveals Abdelkrim Grini, this Wednesday, April 26. But a blood alcohol level of 1.80 grams in the blood was noted.” For the prosecutor of Roanne, “it is not a question of massive alcoholism”. Did this rate alter the victim’s discernment to the point that he managed to end his life by drowning? “Nothing can tell. It depends on the people. Some resist alcohol better than others,” confirms the magistrate.

Suicide or murder, no hypothesis neglected

The trail of suicide is therefore not ruled out. No more than that of a criminal act. It is in this sense that Abdelkrim Grini asked for comparative analyzes between the water found in the lungs of the forties and that of the swimming pool in which his body was discovered. This would make it possible to dismiss or give credibility to the hypothesis according to which he could have been killed elsewhere, then plunged into the swimming pool.Seals were affixed to the door of the victim’s home. The investigation is continuing.

Elements “more than disturbing”, according to the prosecutor, remain. Among these: how to explain the position of the cover carefully placed on the pool, and the concrete blocks to block it? “Technically, it is impossible, from inside the pool, to position them in this way. On the other hand, given his size, it is possible that he could have slipped under without moving them”, details the magistrate of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The hearings would not have brought any new concrete elements for the moment. They are continuing as part of this investigation, which is still open “in search of the causes of death”.

Pauline Michaud