The trial for the enigmatic murder of Housni N. begins this Tuesday, January 21. More than five years after the events, Stéphane Maraine and his partner, prosecuted for murder and criminal conspiracy, appeared before the Paris Assize Court.
It’s a case worthy of a Hercules Leek, over which mystery still hovers. On June 26, 2019, in an empty house in Courtenay (Loiret), investigators from the Hauts-de-Seine PJ made the macabre discovery of the corpse of a man riddled with bullets.
This man is Housni N., director of a luxury car rental agency living in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The latter had an appointment with a certain Stéphane Maraine, a mason, several days before, to make an estimate of work in the house.
His disappearance will be reported by his wife, worried at not having heard from her husband for several days and far from imagining what the investigators were about to find.
An almost perfect crime?
When it was discovered, the body was leaning against the wall of a room in the basement of the said house in Courteney, the door of which was locked. However, no key allowing it to be opened is discovered neither inside nor outside.
A single ammunition casing, from a 22 caliber long rifle, was found, placed on the left shoulder of the victim.
During the findings, investigators noticed that the floor leading to the room where the body was located had been cleaned. A strong smell of chlorine emanates from it. No traces of blood were found at the crime scene or elsewhere in the house.
-A crime but no motive
Suspected of being the last to have seen Housni N., Stéphane Maraine was quickly placed in custody and several elements were held against him.
Although no apparent motive emerged during the investigation, and the two men had never seen each other before the day of the murder, the suspect’s behavior quickly attracted the attention of investigators.
Stéphane Maraine’s version will change many times. On the day of his appointment, he did not take his phone, but asked his partner to use it to send a text message, to make it appear that he was not in Courtenay.
Also registered with a shooting club, the accused has several weapons, including a 22 long rifle. At the shooting range, impacted cases fired by the same weapon as the murder weapon were found.
Why would Stéphane Maraine have killed Housni N. when he did not know him? What motive lies behind this almost perfect crime? The answers to these questions may finally be revealed during the trial. The latter is scheduled until January 31.
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