the essential
Since November 4, a 50-year-old mother, Fadila Bouafia, has remained untraceable. After a party with friends, in Biert, not far from Massat (Ariège), she disappeared. A week later, one of his relatives, a 47-year-old former soldier, was indicted for murder. Threatening words and an argument are at the heart of the investigation.
Three weeks of searching and still nothing. Despite the intense searches and the searches of recent days, in Biert, not far from Massat (Ariège), no trace of Fadila Bouafia, known as “Fafa”, this 50-year-old mother, missing since November 4 after a party between friends, in this upper Couserans where the mystery remains complete.
As the days and weeks pass, Fadila's determined relatives still maintain a tiny hope of finding her. There were still around fifteen of them, at the start of the week, crisscrossing the undergrowth, around the place called La Croue, in the middle of the mountains, to discover a trace, some clues. The area around the Col de la Crouzette is immense and very rugged.
Also read:
Disappearance of Fadila: “We left Fafa up there on the hill because we thought she was safe”
The intrigue of this disappearance really begins on November 7. After three days without news, Fadila's husband raised the alarm. It is not uncommon for this woman to spend a few days in the mountains with her friends before returning home. But this time, no sign of life from this mother living not far from Massat. It is all the more worrying because when the gendarmes from the Toulouse research section began to hear witnesses, they discovered the existence of a tumultuous vocal exchange between Fadila and one of her relatives.
This conversation, described as “threatening”, dated November 4, was recorded on the telephone answering machine of a friend of the missing woman who only became aware of it on November 8. At the time of the argument, Fadila voluntarily left her mobile on so that her interlocutor could hear the content of the heated conversation.
– “You’re not going to hurt me, François?”
– “Yes, I will hurt you”, we can hear, in part, on this 35-second recording.
A second message received seven minutes later by the same recipient also mentions threats. It lasts more than a minute, without any impact or detonation being heard. While the hypothesis of an accidental fall was initially considered, the criminal trail is now gaining ground.
She was coming back from a picking
Very quickly, the investigators turned towards this famous François. A man who can sometimes lose his temper and who tends to raise his voice. He is described as a friend of Fadila for around two years. François Perez, 47, a former Alpine hunter, lives in a cabin in the middle of the woods and took part in the party between Friday evening, November 1 and Sunday. This ex-soldier would be the last person to have seen the fifty-year-old when she was returning from mushroom picking, just before the argument, the day after the festivities.
Since November 11, this suspect has been indicted and placed in pre-trial detention at the Foix remand center, for the murder of Fadila Bouafia. Accusation which he strongly contests. “He says he has no reason to make an attempt on this woman’s life,” assures M.e Guy Dedieu, the lawyer for this man from Bayonne. He does not formally identify himself on the audio recording, claiming to have no memory of these threats.
During searches carried out in François' shed, investigators seized narcotics and all kinds of objects which could have a link to Fadila's disappearance. Analyzes are still in progress. In the greatest discretion, the gendarmes are continuing their investigations under the direction of the investigating judge, Inès Gharbi, and a second magistrate, Elodie Billot. Upset, those close to Fadila do not intend to give up. New research, at their initiative, could be undertaken in the coming days.
