Murder in Grenoble: 40 investigators tracked down the suspect

PublishedNovember 22, 2024, 6.38pm

It took more than two months, and a massive mobilization, to find the alleged perpetrator of the murder, who had fled and was hiding in Portugal.

Significant resources have been implemented to find the man suspected of the murder of a municipal agent in Grenoble (F) in September, the prosecution and the police indicated on Friday the day after his arrest in Portugal, after 74 days of detention. run away.

“More than forty investigators” worked to “track down” the suspect and this case mobilized “maximum human and technical resources”, underlined Damien Delaby, zonal director of the judicial police during a press conference.

This file was “major” in view of “its sensitivity, the emotion which was caused in Isère and the facts of this particular seriousness”, he insisted.

Early Sunday, September 8, Lilian Dejean, an agent of the city's cleaning service, was shot in the chest while trying to restrain a man who caused a traffic accident, at the wheel of a powerful rental car registered in Poland.

Identity papers in the name of the suspect, residing in the suburbs of Grenoble, were found in the car abandoned by its driver who had fled on foot. The victim, a 49-year-old father, died shortly after in hospital.

The suspect was arrested Thursday in Póvoa de Lanhoso, 70 km north of Porto, prosecutor Eric Vaillant said during the press conference, welcoming the “excellent collaboration” deployed with the Portuguese authorities.

He is currently detained in Portugal under the European arrest warrant issued by the investigating judge in Grenoble but could be quickly extradited: “If everything goes normally, in 5 to 6 weeks, he could be in France” , he noted.

Aged 25, the man “was first imprisoned by the Grenoble children’s judge at the age of 15. He has 19 convictions on his criminal record, many for acts of violence but also for drug trafficking. In total he was sentenced to 6 years in prison over the last ten years,” according to the prosecutor.

Asked about the techniques which made it possible to locate the suspect in Portugal, where “he undoubtedly thought he was safe”, the police were less forthcoming, referring to the “secret of the investigation”.

Investigations are continuing into possible accomplices who helped him in his escape.

The death of the municipal employee caused immense emotion in Grenoble. The residents paid him vibrant tributes the day after the murder, then during a white march.

The drama had all the more resonance as it took place in the middle of a black series for the metropolis, where according to the authorities a “gang war” between drug traffickers is being played out. At the end of October, the prosecution counted around fifty gunshots linked to drug trafficking over the year, which left six people dead.

The announcement of the arrest of the alleged murderer brought “relief” to his loved ones. “We had been waiting for this for weeks so that we could move forward with our mourning and get a glimpse of the trial,” one of his brothers confided to “Dauphiné Libération”. Today, those close to him “have a prospect of obtaining explanations.”