the essential
A week after the disappearance of Fadela near Biert, in Ariège, the police intensified their searches around the site of the rave party. The body of the fifty-year-old has not been found, but we know more about the charges against the suspect.
The gendarmes from the Toulouse research section took over the place called La Croue, in Ariège, on Wednesday November 13 at 3 p.m. Helicopter, scientific unit… Investigators have deployed great resources to try to find the body of Fadela, missing in the Massat region (Ariège) for more than a week.
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INFO LA DEPECHE. Disappearance of “Fafa” in Ariège: a former soldier reclusive in a cabin suspected of the murder of Fadela, missing since November 4
So, following this weekend's raids, the searches were refocused around the location of the rave party. “We have not abandoned the searches. We are just determining a new starting point to be more effective,” confesses a gendarme present on site. These words will be the only ones the men in blue will speak. Mute, they act in the secrecy of a letter rogatory. After having crisscrossed the air for around twenty minutes, the gendarmerie helicopter turned around.
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Once again, the sound of branches caressed by the wind and the croaking of crows take possession of the place again. Around 4 p.m., one of the police cars followed suit. In the end, the police seized everything from François P. to analyze and find possible traces of DNA and blood. According to our information, investigators also asked the Massat grocery store to provide them with video surveillance recordings from November 2.
He lived as a recluse on the site
Overturned glasses and bottles littering the ground still bear witness to these two days of celebration which would have served as a backdrop to this disturbing disappearance. It is on this land that François P., accused of being responsible for the disappearance of the fifty-year-old from Castres, lived secluded in one of the caravans which abound on the site.
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Located a few kilometers from the Guirel plateau, you have to take a muddy and steep path, which winds up the mountain to get there. From the first meters of walking, car wrecks and abandoned caravans set the tone. After about fifteen minutes, a makeshift fence, supposed to prevent the horses from escaping, blocked the way to the private property.
Behind, three parked cars, a tractor invaded by brambles and a Yamaha Virago motorcycle which allegedly belongs to the suspect act as a welcoming committee. Moreover, while they were inspecting the scene, the gendarmes machine-gunned the two-wheeler with photos. A few meters further, two white horses graze peacefully while watching the gendarmes' ballet.
An open-air dump
On the rave party site, between the broken-down cars, the caravans which we cannot tell if they are inhabited or abandoned, the overturned chairs and the rubbish, it almost feels like an open-air dump. Away from the caravans, a cabin with the inscription “WC” and a maintained vegetable garden indicate that the place is inhabited. A setting that could serve as a filming location for a postapocalyptic film worthy of “The Walking Dead”.
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The only proof of civilization is an almost new ping-pong table and a converted barn in the middle, decorated with a solar panel. Inside, the furniture suggests that it serves as a common room for residents of the site or those passing through. But it's impossible to access it at the moment. On the front door, we can read “homicide” on a brown cardboard, taped with red adhesive tape flocked with the name of the gendarmerie. Placed under seal, investigators believe that this barn could be the scene of the crime.
But what went wrong?
According to our information, it was a voice message that put the gendarmes on the trail of the former Alpine hunter. Fadela allegedly triggered his phone, calling a relative during a heated argument with the suspect. The exchange was therefore entirely recorded and it is currently in the hands of the Toulouse investigating judge in charge of the case, Inès Gharbi. Another element brought to the attention of the gendarmes and the courts: a witness allegedly saw Fadela and François P. arguing. The two weren't lovers, but “had known each other for about two years,” we're told.
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François, this man unknown to the justice system for serious offenses, seems marginalized. However, he would not be isolated. He has a 16-year-old son who goes to school in Saint-Girons and is separated from his mother. The accused also allegedly participated in the famous rave party, during which many synthetic drugs were circulated. Did he consume it, as did Fadela? Is this one of the possible explanations for a possible homicidal act? The investigation will have to determine this. At this stage, the former soldier, defended during police custody by Me Guy Dedieu, still denies having killed the fifty-year-old.
