Four days after the discovery of the lifeless body of an infant in a garbage bag in Mably (Loire), an investigation was opened for “murder” by the Roanne public prosecutor’s office in an attempt to shed light on the death of this baby, said the public prosecutor, Xavier Laurent, in a press release issued this Thursday, January 2.
On December 30, shortly before 1 p.m., a jogger, who was running along the Roanne-Digoin canal in Mably, discovered a black plastic bag at the edge of the greenway which runs along the canal, containing the inert body of an infant.
The child born viable
The police, alerted by the jogger, immediately went to the scene to make initial observations. An investigation was opened to “search for the causes of death” and a team of divers was mobilized to probe the canal. Initially, the child was declared “female and of undetermined identity”, according to the death certificate mentioned by the public prosecutor of Roanne.
Transferred to the Saint-Étienne forensic institute, the infant’s body was autopsied the next day, Tuesday December 31. The examination determined that it was in fact a little boy. According to the first analyses, the child was “of a size and weight compatible with a full-term birth”, explains the prosecutor, who adds that he “did not present any malformation indicating that he was not born viable”.
But this first autopsy did not make it possible to determine the date and cause of his death, additional analyzes were ordered, says Xavier Laurent. On the other hand, the autopsy made it possible to establish “that the body had been hidden in the bag and submerged”, adds the magistrate.
-A call for witnesses launched
Due to the “discovery of the body of this newborn, abandoned in a waterway”, the investigation into “search for the causes of death” was reclassified as “murder of a 15-year-old minor”. specifies the prosecution. The investigations were entrusted to the interdepartmental direction of the Loire national police (DIPN42). The prosecution hopes for “the identification of the child victim”, as well as the “determination of the circumstances and responsibilities involved in his death”.
In an attempt to shed light on the facts, a call for witnesses has been launched. “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 note the presence of the child’s body or at least the black bag in which it was found,” explains the public prosecutor.
“All testimonies that may be useful to the investigation, in particular in order to determine the time and circumstances of abandonment of the body, all people with information” are invited to contact the investigation service at 04.77.93.52.98 or by electronic message on [email protected], says Xavier Laurent.
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