She had been killed in Geneva, Switzerland, at her home, before being transported to the other side of the border, in a suitcase which ended up being set on fire and buried in a forest near Thonon-les-Bains, in Haute-Savoie. Three and a half years later, Soheil Sabet, one of the main suspects in the murder of this 34-year-old escort girl, will be tried before the Assize Court in Annecy for four days from Monday. This 21-year-old Frenchman is accused of “robbery with violence resulting in death” and “attack on the integrity of a corpse”. He faces life imprisonment.
On September 14, 2019, a man presented himself to the criminal brigade of the Geneva judicial police to declare the disappearance of Marlène Gournay, a Frenchwoman living in Switzerland, of whom he said he was the companion. He hadn’t heard from this escort girl since September 9, when he had access to all his telephone contacts and mailboxes.
In the apartment of the young woman, who held large sums of money in bank accounts, the man had noticed an unusual mess and multiple bloodstains.
Two men with a “very big and very heavy” suitcase
The investigation had made it possible to find a taxi driver who, on the night of September 9 to 10, 2019, had picked up at the exit of the building where the missing woman lived, two men carrying at least two suitcases, including “a very big and very heavy”, specifies the French investigating judge in his order of indictment. These two men had been dropped off at the Franco-Swiss border, after tipping the driver.
They had crossed the border on foot, with the two suitcases, then had taken another taxi, to Evian-les-Bains, in Haute-Savoie. They would then have decided to make the body disappear.
Two “mirror” investigations had been opened, one on the French side, the other on the Swiss side. The two suspects had been indicted on the French side, but only Soheil Sabet will appear before the Assize Court in Annecy.
His lawyer, Me Richard Zelmati, who will intervene with Me Fadila Tabani-Surmont, assures us that he was “in no way animated by any criminal intent”. The second defendant, Sonil Caboussat, 42 years old and of Swiss nationality, will be tried later in his country.