The teenager “confessed to the murder of his parents”, according to the Grenoble prosecutor’s office. He disappeared after the family home burned down, before being arrested on Saturday after launching an appeal for witnesses.
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New elements emerge. A 15 year old boy “confessed to the police to be the author of the murder of his parents”found “almost completely charred” in the fire of their family home in Châteauvilain (Isère), announced the Grenoble prosecutor’s office on Sunday December 3. A call for witnesses had been launched to find the missing teenager, arrested on Saturday in Montpellier (Hérault). The prosecution had opened a judicial investigation for assassinations. Here is what we know about the case.
Two charred bodies with gunshot wounds
During the night from Sunday to Monday, a fire ravaged a barn and an adjoining house in the village of Châteauvilain, between Lyon and Grenoble. It usually housed three people: a 58-year-old engineer, a 52-year-old woman who worked from home, and their 15-year-old son.
Two bodies “almost completely charred” were found in the rubble, Bourgoin-Jallieu prosecutor Nathalie Hermitte announced in a press release on Wednesday. The analyzes did not make it possible to formally identify them, but the autopsy established that these two bodies were “probably those of a man and a woman, each presenting gunshot wounds to the skull and, for one, to the thorax”.
The bodies are “presumably those of the parents”then indicated the Grenoble prosecutor, Eric Vaillant, in a message to the press on Friday.
Judicial investigation for “assassinations” opened
The Bourgoin-Jallieu public prosecutor’s office (Isère) announced on Wednesday the opening of an investigation into “assassinations”. He relinquished the case on Friday in favor of the Grenoble public prosecutor’s office, which immediately opened a judicial investigation for “assassinations” and “destruction by fire”.
The youngest son “confessed to being the author of the murder”
Questions quickly surrounded the fate of the couple’s youngest son, aged 15, who usually resided at the family home, but had not been found since the fire. The Isère gendarmerie launched a call for witnesses on Thursday to find the teenager. On Saturday, the Grenoble prosecutor’s office finally announced his arrest in Montpellier, and his placement in police custody.
On Sunday, the Grenoble prosecutor’s office announced that the teenager “confessed to the police to be the author of the murder of his parents”. “I won’t say any more at this stage.”specified the Grenoble prosecutor in a brief press release.
The family also has an eldest son aged 17, who had left home the day before. “to get to your place of study”as well as “two adult half-sisters no longer living in the region”. All are “today safe”according to the prosecution.
According to the mayor of Châteauvilain, Daniel Gaude, the family had lived in this village of around 800 inhabitants for around fifteen years, had renovated an old farm there and was “very well integrated”. The father had been a municipal councilor during his previous mandate. “For me, it’s incomprehensible (…) I knew them well, I can only say good things about them”reacted the councilor, questioned by AFP.