A 22-year-old man suspected of killing Philippine, a student found dead in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, was arrested on Tuesday, September 24 in Geneva.
A 22-year-old young man of Moroccan nationality, suspected of having killed Philippine, a student found dead in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris last Friday, was arrested this Tuesday, September 24 in Geneva, learned from concordant sources BFMTV, confirming the information of Actu17. “A request for extradition will be sent to the Swiss authorities without delay,” indicates the Paris prosecutor’s office.
The mystery of the murder of Philippine, 19, found buried in the Bois de Boulogne
The young woman’s lifeless body was discovered in the Bois de Boulogne, in the west of Paris. She had not given any news to her relatives since Friday afternoon, after having lunch at the Crous of her university, Paris-Dauphine.
According to information from BFMTV, the exploitation of video surveillance cameras shows the student walking towards the Bois de Boulogne after her lunch at the CROUS. That same day, in the evening, a withdrawal from an ATM was made with the victim’s bank card, in Montreuil-sous-Bois in Seine-Saint-Denis.
A suspect already known to the courts
The man arrested is called Taha.O and is of Moroccan nationality. The motive and possible link with the victim, Philippine, are not known at this time. Since June 18, he had been under OQTF, a police source told BFMTV. When the obligation to leave French territory was pronounced, he did not file any appeal to oppose it.
The suspect arrived in France from Spain in 2019, when he was 17 years old. The man was able to enter the country legally with a tourist visa valid from June 13, 2019 to July 27, 2019. Due to his minority, he was taken into care by the Val-d’Oise child welfare service.
He was quickly identified by investigators from the Val-d’Oise Departmental Security thanks to his DNA and arrested. After the trial, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
After the first rape and his arrest, he was remanded in custody on September 5, 2019, at the Nanterre penitentiary center. The individual was transferred to the Joux-la-Ville detention center on March 15, 2022, after his conviction. Then he was released on June 20, 2024, to go directly to a detention center. The suspect has therefore served almost 5 years in prison out of the seven.
On September 3, a judge of liberties and detention ordered him to leave the detention center where he was being held with an obligation to check in and a house arrest in a hotel in Yonne, a place where he would never report. On September 6, Morocco had sent a consular pass, allowing his expulsion, but at that time, the man was already outside.
The application for a pass to Morocco was issued on June 18, 2024, but not by the right department. Thus, on June 24, the authorities of the kingdom responded that the application should be issued by the General Directorate of Foreigners in France (DGEF). The DGEF is therefore contacted and issues this application for a consular pass on July 18, 2024.
On September 19, the day before Philippine’s murder, he was placed on the wanted persons file, in particular because he had not complied with his reporting requirement.
Alexandra Gonzalez and Stéphane Sellami with Sylvain Allemand
