This Monday at 12:30 p.m., the gendarmes and the public prosecutor discovered in Gujan-Mestras, in Gironde, in their bedroom closed from the inside, “the lifeless bodies of a couple from Alsace who arrived in the town last summer”, specifies the parquet floor of Bordeaux. The 56-year-old man and his 48-year-old wife were in the process of separation, very poorly supported by the fifty-year-old who had attempted suicide in early January 2023.
A note left by the father for his daughter
The couple had a daughter, born in 2008, who entered the home first but “the bodies were discovered by a third party to whom the couple’s daughter sought assistance when she discovered, as she entered the house, a typed note from his father saying that he was “at the end of the line”, apologizing for the harm he was going to do to him and forbidding him to enter the parental room”, specifies the prosecutor of the Republic of Bordeaux Frédérique Porterie , in a press release.
Without having seen the scene, the young girl, in shock, was transported to the Pellegrin hospital and taken care of by the psychological unit. A provisional placement order was issued to the pediatric service, pending referral to a juvenile judge.
The hypothesis of a homicide then a suicide advanced
A 9mm pistol was found in the man’s right hand. “The first elements of the file militate in favor of a family drama which took place in the night, the man having killed his wife before turning the weapon against him”, advance the parquet floor. Since his arrival last summer, the couple had never been talked about. And, according to justice, there was no known history of violence against his wife.
An investigation was entrusted to the Arcachon research brigade for the murder of a spouse. Autopsies will be performed on Wednesday. “If these were to confirm the first elements collected, we will then move towards a classification without continuation of the criminal proceedings, forced to note the extinction of the public action”, specifies the prosecutor in her press release. However, investigations are continuing until then.