A 64-year-old woman withdrew more than 43,000 euros from the bank accounts of her lover, abandoned dead in his bed for sixteen months in Besançon (F), according to public prosecutor Etienne Manteaux. The sixty-year-old was to be presented to a magistrate this Saturday after her custody. She will be judged for “failure to assist a person in danger”, “theft” of a bank card and “fraud”, to the detriment of the deceased’s daughter and the pension fund, which unduly paid a pension during all this time, said the prosecutor.
On August 5, 2023, the corpse of a 62-year-old man was discovered in a state of mummification on his bed, in Besançon, after his neighbors became concerned about no longer having any signs of life from him. The forensic doctors estimated that the death occurred “several months ago” and “excluded the occurrence of a traumatic event, favoring a death of natural origin”, according to Etienne Manteaux.
The neighborhood investigation established that this man, who “lived particularly alone” and drank a lot, had been seen for the last time “at the end of spring 2022”, it is specified. However, when his only daughter, with whom he had no contact since 2005, approached the notary and accessed her father’s accounts, she was surprised to discover numerous bank withdrawals, until October 2023.
Between June 2022, the supposed date of death, and October 2023, “43,000 euros were withdrawn” from the deceased’s account, notes the prosecutor. Video surveillance images from the ATMs made it possible to identify a 64-year-old woman who was using the bank card.
“She explained to the police that she had an emotional relationship with this man,” indicates Etienne Manteaux. One day she found him drunk on the ground.
“She left him in his bed, in a very difficult situation, before leaving. When she came back, she found him dead.”
“She did not warn anyone, saying she was afraid of being accused, and she left with her bank card,” added the prosecutor. She admitted to having used it to buy numerous scratch games, to which she is addicted.
