On Saturday, September 14, a family meal in the presence of minors turned into a tragedy in Cormontreuil.
Alerted by the screams, the guests found the host couple, one dead and the other seriously injured, in the house.
The husband, suspected of killing his wife, ultimately did not survive.
It was a real scene of horror that rescuers discovered when they arrived Saturday at this house located in a quiet neighborhood of Cormontreuil, about ten kilometers from Reims in the Marne. That day, a family gathered for a Sunday meal in the presence of a couple, two of their three children aged 9 and 11, and the husband’s sister and brother-in-law.
Shortly before noon, the guests were alerted by screams coming from the bathroom upstairs. The sister and brother-in-law tried to enter the room, but the door was blocked. The two children, aged 9 and 11, were then taken in by their mother’s family, who were already looking after their 4-year-old brother, reports the Reims public prosecutor, François Schneider.
Contacted by the hosts’ niece, the emergency services intervened immediately. After freeing the man who was unconscious behind the bathroom door, they discovered his wife “curled up, bloody and lifeless in the bathtub”A kitchen knife of about 30 cm is on the ground and the victim has several stab wounds. The SAMU doctors tried to resuscitate her, in vain.
Husband rushed to emergency room, dies
Also injured in the abdomen and neck by a bladed weapon, the husband was taken to the room next to the bathroom where he did “three cardiac arrests before being rushed to REIMS University Hospital for surgery”, details the magistrate. Taken to one of the operating theatres at the REIMS University Hospital, he finally died there at the end of the day, Saturday.
On the wife’s body, the medical examiner found “at least seven stab wounds including a defensive wound to the left thumb, wounds to the face, neck and chest and in particular a large cut to the heart, this injury probably being the cause of death”adds the public prosecutor of Reims.
Convicted twice for illegal practice of medicine
Questioned by investigators, one of the accused’s brothers stated that the latter had attempted suicide by taking medication on Thursday, September 12, two days before the events, and that he had been hospitalized at the Reims University Hospital during the day. According to him, he was taking a powerful painkiller due to recurring back pain.
Furthermore, during the investigation, the police found a business card of a psychiatrist from the public mental health establishment of Marne. “The accused, aged 51, has been convicted twice for illegally practising medicine, and once for driving with an invalid licence. There is no history of domestic violence, nor any proceedings, nor any record,” said François Schneider. The latter has not given any details at this stage as to the motive and exact circumstances of the tragedy.
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“No third-party intervention could be demonstrated”
“In the current state of the investigations, no third-party intervention has been able to be demonstrated, the investigation is continuing, and in the absence of new elements, the public action having been extinguished by the death of the husband, the procedure will be closed without further action”informs the prosecutor. The autopsy of the two bodies will take place this Tuesday, September 17, morning and afternoon.
The three children were hospitalized for a psychological assessment to help them cope with this ordeal. They will be entrusted to relatives, after examination of their situation and accommodation conditions by social services.
