An investigation was entrusted to the judicial police after the suspicious death of the principal of a college in Lisieux (Calvados), found dead Friday morning in his establishment, we learned this Saturday from the prosecution.
It is a “suspicious death” and the judicial police of Caen have been seized, told AFP the public prosecutor of Lisieux, Delphine Mienniel. The autopsy of the body will be performed on Monday, said the prosecution in a press release sent in the middle of the day.
A trace of burglary
“The first observations made it possible to identify a trace of break-in on a secondary door of the college. There is no disorder within the establishment”, the Pierre-Simon de Laplace college, according to the prosecution. No weapon was found at the scene, a police source said.
In its press release, the prosecution retraces the course of events. “Notified at 5:59 a.m. (Friday) of an alarm corresponding to an intrusion into the establishment”, the principal, Stéphane Vitel, 48, “decided to make a detour on his journey for verification, accompanied by his wife and of their two minor children, ”explains the prosecution.
The principal “was preparing to go on vacation from his personal home (and not from his official apartment located in the establishment)”, according to this source. Stéphane Vitel then entered the establishment alone.
The intervention of the emergency services will not have been enough
“Not seeing him return, his family tried to contact him; then her daughter came into the facility looking for her. She found her unconscious father in the entrance hall of the college administration building,” the statement continued.
Called by the family, the firefighters and the SAMU intervened quickly but could not resuscitate the forties, “in cardiac arrest on their arrival”.
“I’m sure he was attacked, a blow to the head I think,” said on BFM-TV Jeanne Mailhos Vitel, the victim’s wife, also explaining that she saw a car “go with a bang” before entering the college.
“There was light in a college window so there was an intrusion,” she continued.
Many expressions of sympathy from students
“He was a very friendly, smiling and empathetic person. Always listening to students, parents of students and teachers. He was in the compromise”, declared to an AFP correspondent the mayor of Lisieux, Sébastien Leclerc, recalling that the victim was “very invested in public life”.
A tribute will be paid to the deceased in agreement with his family, he added.
Students spontaneously went to the school on Friday to pay tribute to their principal. In the evening, teachers, college students and parents of students gathered, according to several local media. Bouquets of flowers were placed on barriers installed in front of the entrance to the college, according to an AFP photographer on the spot.