What did Cathy Rehner die of at 27? Of an overdose responds without hesitation the public prosecutor. On the afternoon of May 9, 2016, Cathy, Cédric’s ex-girlfriend, a resident of Vogüé called him. She now lives in Marseille. She explains to him that she wants to come to his house – she has, in the days following an appointment at Largentière – and asks him if he has any products. Products include drugs. Cathy, like her ex-companion, are drug addicts.
Cathy arrives at Cédric’s at the start of the evening. “We ate and we consumed”. They used heroin. Cédric indicates that then they had a sexual relationship and then Cédric went to bed. In the morning, he discovers Cathy curled up on her prayer rug (the young girl had converted to Islam). He leaves without notifying anyone at his work. In the evening, Cathy is still in the same position, dead. Cédric will bring the body down from his apartment in Vogüé then he will bury it in an isolated place in Sauveplantade.
For the public prosecutor, there is no doubt. Cathy after consuming heroin overdosed. It is all the more probable that Cathy had stopped using heroin and that she was taking in any case had taken a substitution treatment. Taking heroin again under these conditions was very dangerous: the body no longer had any pharmaco-tolerance. And Cédric, also on methadone and polydrug addict, knew it. By supplying him with heroin, he is guilty of manslaughter, says the prosecutor.
Expert assumptions
The problem is that in this file there is no certainty. Investigators will not find Cathy’s body until two years later. When Cédric is taken into custody and confesses to having buried Cathy. He will tell investigators where he buried the body. Analyzes are performed. “The analytical table could be compatible with an overdose” “write the experts. And Maître Alain Fort, Cédric’s advice picks up the ball again: death by overdose is probable, not certain. And that’s the whole problem of this file. The experts do not affirm anything: did Cathy receive blows for example? There are many traces on Cathy’s body, but two years after her death they could be due to animals and therefore post mortem .
The investigating magistrates also had trouble getting a clear idea of this case: some wanted to send Cédric to corrections for modification of the crime scene, the investigating chamber of the Montpellier Court of Appeal ultimately ruled for manslaughter.
The prosecutor requested 5 years in prison, including two years suspended against Cédric. The court has reserved judgment and will deliver its decision on November 17.