In the Basque Country, Laure Zacchello, 43, disappeared without a trace on June 21. While her ex-husband has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and searches continue around her home, the chances of finding the mother alive “are slim,” according to the prosecutor.
A week after the disappearance of Laure Zacchello, this 43-year-old mother who has not given any sign of life since June 21, excavations in the Bayonne region continue. More than 150 police officers combed the area around his house this Friday, June 28, to no avail.
Although many uncertainties still remain, “serious and consistent evidence leads us to believe that she is probably dead, possibly the victim of intentional homicide by her spouse”, assured Jérôme Bourrier, public prosecutor in Bayonne. In the absence of a body, “no hypothesis can be excluded.”
A possible staging?
Since February, she has been in the process of getting a divorce. A separation “obviously badly experienced” by the husband, a 43-year-old teacher, former gendarmerie reserve officer practicing sports shooting and hunting, presented as a survivalist. The latter was indicted for homicide of a spouse and imprisoned.
It was the accused’s sister who alerted the police after discovering, on June 21, the body of her brother unconscious in the garden of the family home, a wound to the head, a concrete block next to him. On his body, “bruises and scratches”. In the House, “no traces of struggle” but Laure Zacchello’s personal belongings were still at the scene: her two phones, her wallet, her handbag and her car.
A “possible staging” According to the prosecution, in light of the testimonies of relatives and writings of the mother of the family, who appeared “terrorized” by the ex-spouse, to the point of sleeping on the couch with his children “and to arrange objects around her to hear her approaching”.
A survivalist husband with a cold and mute personality
An automatic pistol and a submachine gun, kept in safes in the master bedroom, “open but not forced”have disappeared, stressed Jérôme Bourrier.
In police custody, the suspect, “cold and mute personality” according to the prosecution, assured that he did not remember anything. Searches continue to find the forty-year-old and a call for witnesses has been launched. Investigators are seeking in particular to trace the movements of the suspect’s vehicle, a bright red 4×4 with blue stripes on the sides, on June 20 and 21.
“He is a survivalist, sportsman and hunter who knows the backcountry perfectly, we welcome any testimony”, declared Karim Fillali, head of the interdepartmental judicial police service. According to information from BFMTVjustice then suspects him of having hidden his wife’s body in one of his hiding places or a remote place of which he might have knowledge.
