the essential
Two years later, Tuesday January 14, the reconstruction of Vanesa’s kidnapping took place in Tonneins, in the early morning.
Macabre coincidence. A few weeks ago, at the end of rue Gambetta, in Tonneins, William Lacoste was tortured to death in his apartment at the Résidence des Tabacs. The main suspect is one of his neighbors, a certain Tarik Boujraoui, an accomplished repeat offender. However, it is for a completely different story, but just as sordid, that around thirty gendarmes were deployed in this street in Toninquaise, in the early morning of Tuesday January 14. It is here that Vanesa was kidnapped by Romain Chevrel before suffering rape, strangulation and losing her life in November 2022.
It was in a thick mist that the soldiers carried out the reconstruction of this sinister November 18, 2022. From 8 a.m., the area was cordoned off, the perpendicular streets closed by barriers and soldiers posted on the bridge. Mobile police vans were positioned on either side of the track in order to block access to this busy Tonneins artery.
Photo – VALENTINE LIFE
At the entrance to rue Gambetta, the gendarmes redirected several people wanting to take the street on foot or by car where the teenager would have met her tormentor for the first time. Others, wishing to reach their homes or workplaces, were escorted by blue uniforms. Surprised passers-by wondered about the reasons for such mobilization. A heavy atmosphere, amplified by the thick fog which enveloped the street this Tuesday morning
Reconstructing the first phase of the affair
The objective of this setup was to understand how the events unfolded during this fateful Friday in November 2022. That day, shortly after 12 p.m., Romain Chevrel, in his car, saw the young girl which is about ten meters away. After the events, he mentioned, before the investigators and then before the judge, “a sexual urge” at the sight of the schoolgirl. Taken by force, the victim will experience hell for several hours.
In the car, she suffered two rapes and three strangulation attempts before her ordeal ended. It was in an abandoned house, in Birac-sur-Trec, about fifteen kilometers north of Tonneins, that Romain Chevrel left the body of the tortured woman. The suspect was arrested the same evening. A reconstruction of the sequence of events could take place in the weeks or months to come.
Photo – VALENTINE LIFE
A morning to lighten up the gray areas
The sedan used to kidnap the young girl was also brought to the scene: a Volkswagen Passat, which was sealed at the start of the investigation. The thirty-year-old arrived at around 9 a.m. from a detention center in Gironde, in a white vehicle with tinted windows. He was expected by the investigating judge, a magistrate from the Agen public prosecutor’s office, and members of the criminal identification team. Also present, the central criminal intelligence service (SCRC), straight from the Paris region.
The defense lawyers, Mes Alexandre Martin and Emmanuelle Franck, were present to witness the reconstruction. In all, around fifty people were present. At 9:30 a.m., the reenactment began. It lasted all morning.
