The gendarmes dug up bones in the Pyrénées-Orientales on Monday. The information, revealed by RTL, was confirmed by the deputy public prosecutor of Perpignan, Philippe Latgé. These are most certainly the remains of Hélène Sanchez-Parra. This mother of three children suddenly disappeared from her home in Sournia, a town located about fifty kilometers west of Perpignan, in June 2017. An autopsy and an examination of the bones by a paleontologist are scheduled for next Monday.
Why did the investigation resume, six years after this woman’s disappearance?
In April 2022, information reached the social services of Hérault, reporting “new elements”, relating to the circumstances of the disappearance of Hélène Sanchez-Parra (also called Hélène Buoniconti, named after her husband, during his disappearance). Elements “reported by several members of the family”, underlines the prosecution, without us knowing what it was precisely and if the children of the couple were at the origin. But they were sufficiently precise and important for a judicial investigation against X on counts of murder to be opened at the Perpignan judicial court.
Who is “the second man” who took the police to the victim’s remains?
This individual, now aged 56, is presented by the courts as someone close to the couple. So much so that he lived under their roof. On Monday, the gendarmes of the Montpellier research section, acting on letters rogatory, placed him in police custody. Quickly, the man would have confessed to the death of Hélène Sanchez-Parra. He then led the soldiers into the undergrowth. There, bones were found, but also parts of a firearm. It could be the murder weapon. The bones were discovered at the entrance to the village, near an old quarry.
What is the role played by the husband?
The man, who led the police to the remains of the victim, was indicted. Not for murder, but for “concealment of a corpse, alteration of the scene of a crime and failure to denounce a crime”. He was placed under judicial supervision. For the investigating judge, he is therefore not, at this stage of the investigation, the main suspect in the death of Hélène Sanchez-Parra. On the other hand, her husband was also arrested in Corsica, where he now resides. It would be, according to RTL, the main suspect in this investigation. At the end of his custody, the investigating magistrate issued a warrant for his arrest. He will be transferred to Perpignan, with a view to his first appearance interrogation, which should take place on Sunday. A third man, arrested on Monday, was released without prosecution after his custody.