The investigation into the still burning body discovered on Friday by a hiker in a Doubs forest is progressing rapidly. The man was killed by a bullet in the head His assassination is probably linked to drug trafficking, said Monday the public prosecutor of Besançon, Etienne Manteaux.
The victim, whose DNA analyzes were able to determine that he was a 26-year-old young man, was “killed by a bullet in the head (…) shot from the back to the front”, said he said at a press conference. His body, part of which “was in a very advanced state of carbonization”, was set on fire for “at least 180 minutes”, added the prosecutor. Prosecutor who however did not confirm the link, mentioned by the regional daily The Republican Eastbetween this investigation and the assassination at the end of February of a 51-year-old man shot dead in a car in Besançon.
A second individual has disappeared
According to Etienne Manteaux, the young victim had been seen Wednesday evening in a car with another 21-year-old man who has since vanished. The prosecutor considered this disappearance “particularly worrying”. On Saturday, Etienne Manteaux had already indicated that he had widened the investigation into the assassination “to include facts of possible kidnapping of a second individual”.
This second person was “convicted 11 times”, in particular for “drug trafficking” and his lifestyle does not correspond in any way to his official resources, “close to nothing”, continued the prosecutor. “This provides a backdrop that justifies the extension of the referral to the research section (of the gendarmerie) to criminal association in connection with the trafficking of narcotics,” said the magistrate.
“Some offenders are afraid of what is happening”
In this file, “in a completely new way, there is a lot of information that goes back to the investigation services”, he noted. In previous cases, “we never had information” because the victims, who believe that “it is up to the criminal network to settle accounts”, are reluctant to cooperate, explained the prosecutor. But “obviously, some offenders are afraid of what is happening in Besançon”, where “individuals do not hesitate to kill or even burn bodies”, estimated Etienne Manteaux, according to whom “there there is a feeling of fear that leads some offenders or some witnesses (…) to speak to the gendarmerie”.
As a reminder, the settling of scores has multiplied in recent years in the Franche-Comté capital, particularly in the Planoise district, the scene of several deadly shootings against the backdrop of a turf war between drug dealers.