The case has not finished shaking the small town of Forbach, a former industrial city in Moselle located a few steps from the German border. This Monday morning, a woman who says she has been kidnapped since 2011 was discovered. Her husband was subsequently arrested. 20 minutes make the point.
What happened this Monday in Forbach?
A 53-year-old woman kidnapped since 2011 in an apartment in Forbach (Moselle) was discovered on Monday by the police who arrested her 55-year-old husband, we learned from a police source, confirming information from RMC. In view of the first findings, the woman was probably tortured, according to the same police source.
The 50-year-old was found in a bedroom, naked, with a shaved head, malnourished and with fractures “both legs and fingers”, according to RMC. The public prosecutor of Sarreguemines, Olivier Glady, did not specify the state of health of the victim, examined by the medico-judicial unit of Metz, explaining only that it is “not good”.
Where and how was the victim found?
According to a police source, the woman was found in a screened room in the couple’s apartment. A police source had indicated the presence of “a torture bench”, which was denied by the prosecutor. As for the fence, it clearly served “to prevent” the dozen cats who lived in the couple’s apartment from escaping, he added.
The 50-year-old “called a German association for the protection of victims who called the police in Wiesbaden”, confirmed the latter who then contacted the French police. According The Lorraine Republican, she would have made the call Sunday at the end of the day “from the accommodation where she was held by her spouse in sordid conditions”. The presence of a “notebook” in which the man would have, according to RMC, “noted his facts, and the times when he fed the victim”, was also not confirmed at this stage by the magistrate.
Who was this couple?
The man, currently unemployed and who previously worked “in industry in Germany”, is of German nationality. According to RMC, the woman is also of German nationality. The couple lived in the center of Forbach, on the second floor of a building which has three, close to the town hall. “I never saw the lady [en six ans], for me she never left the home, ”testified to journalists Alicia, who did not wish to give her last name, and presents herself as a direct neighbor of the couple. “My landlord told me she had general cancer[isé]That’s what [son compagnon] said to everyone in the building, ”she added, elements also mentioned by two other neighbors. “Sometimes I heard screams but we thought it was screams of pain” related to cancer, Alicia further explained, according to which the screams were not very regular, “I heard it five/six times in three months “.
The man was “very polite, nice”, but neighborly relations stopped at “Hello, goodbye”, Alicia said again. Erika, who wished to remain anonymous and lives in an adjacent street, says she has lived in the neighborhood for fifteen years. “The woman, I saw her maybe 10 years ago”, she was “bald”, she explains. Erika even thought “she was dead” or “gone” and that her husband “lived alone”. “He’s someone we saw very little,” continues Erika, saying he saw her “taking care of her flowers” a fortnight ago on her balcony.
Is the husband still in custody?
The husband was arrested at 6 a.m. Monday at the couple’s home. He was immediately placed in police custody by the criminal brigade of the Metz judicial police for acts of kidnapping, aggravated rape and acts of torture and barbarism, said Olivier Glady. If these facts were to be substantiated, the Sarreguemines prosecution would have to relinquish the file in favor of that of Metz, which has criminal jurisdiction, explained the magistrate.
“At the end of the afternoon”, Monday, the police custody was extended.