For the family of Sophie Le Tan, it is an appointment that is both difficult and of which she hopes a lot. Jean-Marc Reiser’s trial opened on Monday June 27, 2022 in Strasbourg before the Bas-Rhin assizes. The man, now 61 years old, appeared for murder. He admitted to having killed the student on September 7, 2018, the day of her 20th birthday, when she came to visit her apartment in Schiltigheim. The man partially admitted the facts, but denies premeditation.
On the set of the France 2 program It starts today Laurent, cousin of the father of Sophie Le Tan, had come to confide in 2021. He had entrusted the pain of his family who, after learning of the disappearance of the young woman, had to wait a year before the body was found. Faced with Faustine Bollaert, he also addressed the heartbreak experienced by Sophie’s relatives: “PTo hide nothing from you, when I come to see them, the family is destroyed. Everyone is on his side, there is no more life, there is nothing.“
The show’s psychologist, Natacha Espié, had rebounded on this painful remark, underlining the frequent outbursts of families in the face of mourning: “Grief does not necessarily unite. Everyone is isolated in their grief. We may not understand why the other reacts like that, we may blame him, we may not be able to accompany” Laurent had added: “That’s exactly it, the tensions are palpable within the family.”
A family decimated by the violence of the death of this young girl described as solar. Shortly after the announcement of his disappearance in 2018, the Le Tan family had gathered to send a message, which a relative had translated into French: “Our family lives in pain, a pain that lasts and will last for a long time. Madame Le Tan is not here today because she is so affected by the pain that she cannot be here. Only Monsieur Le Tan is there with this suffering in his heart. Physically and morally, the family is almost destroyed.“Three and a half years later, the wound is still open and the mother of Sophie Le Tan collapsed at the sight of the accused, Jean-Marc Reiser.