On October 29, a 49-year-old woman lying bleeding in the bathtub at her home was discovered in Ruffey-les-Echirey, about twenty minutes north of Dijon. “Seriously injured in the neck” and with “several injuries to the throat”, the forty-year-old died a few hours later in hospital, according to the Dijon public prosecutor.
The victim's daughter-in-law who lived in the house and who was present called for help, saying she had “discovered” the body. The teenager explained that she was sleeping when she heard noises in the house, then discovered her stepmother.
But the use of telephones, nearby surveillance videos and interviews with neighbors and relatives allowed investigators to establish the presence of the stepdaughter's boyfriend, also 16 years old, at the scene. at the time of the injuries.
It was he who allegedly delivered the fatal blows. The weapon, a pocket knife, was discovered buried in a wood, on his instructions. The minor “does not dispute” the facts but says he was “in a daze”, added the prosecutor.
The daughter-in-law admitted in police custody “to having discussed the criminal plan with her boyfriend and facilitating his escape”. But the latter had been recovered from the scene of the crime by his mother who had come to pick him up.
However, the origin of the crime remains unknown for the moment. However, theft or fraudulent interest seem to be excluded. On the other hand, the “significant disagreement” between the victim and her daughter-in-law, due “probably to difficult cohabitation”, was known, according to the prosecutor.
The boyfriend was indicted for murder and the daughter-in-law for complicity. The two minors were placed in pre-trial detention, said the public prosecutor in Dijon, Olivier Caracotch.
