A 37-year-old man was indicted for “murder” this Sunday late morning, following his custody. He is suspected of having beaten to death his partner found Friday afternoon in the room of the Hôtel de Paris in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. During a press conference held this Sunday, the Bayonne public prosecutor delivered the first elements of the investigation. Jérôme Bourrier describes a “drama with three layers”: marginality, fatal spiral and savagery.
“Blood to the ceiling”
The prosecutor returns to the crime scene discovered by the police this Friday, May 3 at 1 p.m. When the investigators enter this room, the victim is naked. “There was a lot of blood up to the ceiling.” The first findings on the body of the 33-year-old victim indicate “a scene of great savagery” in the closed doors of the hotel room.
The victim is lying on his stomach. His feet and hands are tied. “We notice an extremely significant bone fracture of the entire cranium”explains the prosecutor. “We also noted a mandibular fracture, a deep wound on the left elbow and whitish traces in the vagina which could be sperm.” On this last fact, investigations are still underway, specifies the magistrate. A hammer is also found “wrapped in a bath towel next to the victim’s leg.”
Stop the “laughter” of a “monster”
It was the victim’s companion who alerted the police. On the phone, he then talks about a simple “brawl with some injuries to his partner, nothing more”. Before this call, he took the time to call his mother, as well as go down to reception to announce to the hotel manager that the couple would be leaving after 1 p.m. “while his wife takes a shower”. He even drinks a “Orange juice” before going back up and calling the police.
During his 48-hour police custody, described as “complicated” by the prosecutor, the main suspect talks about a sex game “domination and submission” with his partner to justify the presence of links, which the victim would have made herself, according to him. “The knots were found upside down, which largely refutes this hypothesis”, notes Jérôme Bourrier. To the investigators, during his second hearing, the main accused ended up talking about a “break out”. During this moment, “he would have heard ‘a monster laughing’, he would then have grabbed the hammer that he kept on the bedside table to defend himself from the stalking to which he is convinced that he is the subject.”
More information to come...
