Saturday June 18, 2011, the Privas gendarmes were alerted to the disappearance of a minor girl who lives in the hamlet of Bombrun, in Tournon-sur-Rhône. Her name is Marie-Jeanne Meyer, 17 ans. She is in her first year at the local establishment, the Gabriel Faure high school. It is her boyfriend, worried about not being able to contact her, who called the police.
Marie-Jeanne left the house around 6:00 p.m. to go go jogging. Witnesses are heard. Monday June 20, at the end of the afternoon, a resident of Tournon reported on the heights of the city, at a place called La Fourche, the discovery of a recent pit filled with stones and branches. The next day, the police were on site. They come across a hole measuring 3 m by 2.50 m. And completely charred human body appears. An ax and a hammer without their handle are also cleared. The victim is indeed Marie-Jeanne Meyer, identified after DNA expertise.
“I have never seen photos like this in a file. It’s something that struck me. We will find a charred head and trunk. And we don’t find not the rest. We will see at least 7 to 8 marks of stab wounds in the thorax, she has a depression in her facial area, that is to say that his face was buried in his skull, mentions Me David Metaxas, lawyer for Marie-Jeanne Meyer’s family. The body was cut up with an axe, at the level of the limbs the traces are clear.”
Male DNA is found at the crime scene. It is that of a man on file for violence, Anthony Draoui, 19 years old. It has been many months since this young man, raised in a precarious environment, absent father, drug addict mother, cut ties with everyone.
Acts of cannibalism?
One year after the death of Marie-Jeanne Mayer, Spanish police officers hand over a man to their French counterparts. It is indeed Anthony Draoui. The latter is immediately indicted for the murder of the high school student.
Thursday June 21, 2012, Anthony Draoui tells the judge about his chance meeting with Marie-Jeanne Meyer. He says he came across her on the hill. He suggested that she visit his camp. Draoui then describes what he calls an “attempt at seduction”. Twice he tried to kiss her. “I was hurt by her pushing me away. I punched him, then three or four stabs in the stomach,” he explains.
“It is obvious that Draoui wanted to sexually assault Marie-Jeanne Meyer. What he calls an attempt at seduction is, for us, an attempted rape. I also remind you that in this vault, we found a pornographic magazine, an empty condom wrapper,” says the lawyer for Marie-Jeanne Meyer’s family. We even suspect a part of cannibalism, because There is members that were never found. In Anthony Draoui, ultra-violence is omnipresent.”
Tuesday September 30, 2014, Anthony Draoui, 22, is before the Ardèche Assize Court, in Privas. A psychiatrist said of the accused that he “few regrets and no remorse”. Despite worrying testimonies, Anthony Draoui indicates: “I don’t think I’m dangerous. It happened in a particular context, hunger, cold, loneliness. He now half-heartedly admits to having dismembered the young jogger. But Draoui will say no more. Monday February 1, 2016, after having appealed, he finds himself before the Gard Assize Court. He is condemned to life imprisonment.
Guests from “Hour of Crime”
– Me David Metaxas, lawyer at the Lyon bar and lawyer for the family of Marie-Jeanne Meyer.
– Frédéric Perruche, journalist and RTL correspondent in Lyon.
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