The mystery remains intact. The two bodies found on Wednesday evening in a canal in Saint-Saulve, near Valenciennes, in the North, “correspond” well to those of the two octogenarians from Roubaix who have disappeared since January 1, the Lille prosecutor said on Thursday. , in a press release. 20 minutes takes stock while gray areas remain around this drama.
When and how did the two octogenarians disappear?
Marie-France Dumortier and Richard Di Gennaro, aged 79 and 83 respectively, had spent New Year’s Eve with one of Marie-France Dumortier’s daughters, in Mairieux, a village near Maubeuge. They had taken to the road again on Sunday, at the end of the afternoon, to return home, to Roubaix, in their vehicle, a gray Citroën C3. The 96 km route took the D649 and the A2 and A23 motorways. They had vanished towards Valenciennes.
An investigation had been opened “as soon as the worrying disappearance of the couple was reported to the Roubaix police station on January 5” by the spouse’s sister. And the search warrant launched by the police, a few days later, had given nothing. Until the discovery, Wednesday, of the two octogenarians inside their vehicle immersed in the Scheldt canal, at the level of the river port of Saint-Saulve, near Valenciennes.
Why did the couple go through this river port?
The place where the car was found is outside the route between Mairieux, where the retirees had left, and their destination, Roubaix, where their home is located. How did they arrive in this river port, the largest in the North? “It is possible to get here by getting lost, but there are many checks to be made”, indicates the prosecutor of Lille, In The voice of the North.
The director of the river port is also formal: the public wharf, where the vehicle was recovered, is in an area difficult to find. “In my opinion, we don’t get there like that”, he testifies to the regional daily which specifies, moreover, that a diversion had been put in place for heavy goods vehicles at the exit of Marly, at 6 km from the river port. And it was in Marly that the couple’s telephone was last stopped.
What else should the investigation determine?
“Numerous investigations have been carried out (telephone, banking, SDIS, hospitals, home visits, etc.), hearings of the couple’s entourage carried out, checks carried out after the call for witnesses launched on January 9 and searches carried out ( reconnaissance of routes and aerial searches)”, detailed the Lille prosecutor, Carole Etienne, at the end of January.
“Technical and scientific police findings are continuing and autopsies are scheduled for Thursday afternoon,” the prosecutor said in a statement on Wednesday. The autopsy must confirm whether or not Marie-France Dumortier and Richard Di Gennaro died of drowning. Knowing that the prosecutor also indicated that “all the hypotheses were considered at the present time” on the disappearance of the couple.
Investigators must also determine if the place where the car was found corresponds exactly to that of the fall. The place being frequented by barges, it is possible that the vehicle could have drifted. But the question that arises today is how the couple was able to find themselves in this area normally protected by a barrier.