They would have liked to “make him confess” to the theft of video game consoles. Three adults and a minor were indicted Tuesday for the murder in Châtellerault (Vienne) of a man they allegedly kidnapped and beat to death, a tragedy against a background of alcoholism and drugs, announced the prosecution.
The alert had been given last weekend by the mother of the 31-year-old disappeared, John, worried about not having any more news and not to find him at his home, the prosecutor of the Republic of Poitiers Michel Garrandaux told the press.
Telephone bounding
A worrying disappearance procedure was open and the boundary of John’s phone directed the police to a pavilion in Châtellerault, inhabited by a man who had filed a complaint in May against the disappeared, suspecting him of having burgled it and stealing from him. children’s game consoles and a game bag.
Sunday, a woman who knows one of the suspects, came to find the police, telling them that he had confided to her having killed a man before burying him in the forest. The police then took over the pavilion and arrested a 15-year-old minor, two men aged 44 and 35, known to the courts for acts of theft, damage or narcotics, and the companion of one of them, aged 30 years.
Strapped to a chair and kicked and punched
The four “participated to varying degrees in the commission of the facts”, according to Michel Garrandeaux. The couple are suspected of kidnapping John, punching him and then driving to their friend’s house where, in the basement, he was strapped to a chair, kicked and punched regularly.
“They say that they did not want his death, that they wanted to make him confess”, added the prosecutor who spoke of a context of “alcoholism and drug taking”. The victim died Saturday from head trauma and chest trauma that resulted in suffocation.
Judicial information for arrest, kidnapping and forcible confinement followed by death
Two of the suspects are suspected of having buried the body the next day under 50 cm of earth in the forest, towards Saint-Genest d’Ambière, 15 km from Châtellerault. Investigators found the body there on Monday, based on indications from one of the suspects.
The Poitiers prosecutor’s office opened a judicial investigation for arrest, kidnapping and forcible confinement followed by death. The three adults were remanded in custody. The minor, who is suspected of complicity, and of having helped clean up the crime scene in particular, was to be placed in a secure environment.