The investigation into the causes of the death of the infant found on Monday December 30 in Mably along the canal has been reclassified as an investigation into the murder of a 15-year-old minor, announced the public prosecutor of Roanne in a press release. transmitted Thursday morning. This decision follows the autopsy carried out Tuesday at the Saint-Etienne medico-legal institute on the infant. This revealed that the child was not female as initially announced but male, and was visibly viable.
“No malformation indicates that he was not born viable”
The prosecution announced that he was “of a size and weight compatible with a full-term birth, and did not present any malformation indicating that he was not born viable”, indicates the public prosecutor. “As the date and cause of his death could not be determined by the autopsy alone, additional examinations were ordered. However, it was established that the body had been hidden in the bag and submerged.” The murder investigation was entrusted to the interdepartmental direction of the Loire national police (DIPN42), “for the purposes of implementing the necessary means to identify the child victim, as well as to determine the circumstances and responsibilities involved in his death.
The infant was discovered on December 30, 2024, shortly before 1 p.m., by a jogger running on the towpath bordering the Roanne-Digoin canal in the town of Mably in a black plastic bag between the greenway and the canal.
Call for witnesses
In order to advance the investigation, the Roanne public prosecutor's office is calling for witnesses. “The circumstances of the discovery of the body are such as to presume that people other than the witness who reported the facts were able to notice the presence of the child's body or at least the black bag in which it was found. All testimonies that may be useful to the investigation, particularly in order to determine the time and circumstances of abandonment of the body, all people with information and who have not yet reported to the police are invited to contact the police service. investigation: by telephone on 04 77 93 52 98 or by electronic message on [email protected].
