The couple had disappeared on the night of November 25 to 26, 2022 in Deux-Sèvres. Significant investigative resources led to the arrest of three suspects and their hearings led to the discovery of the bodies. But their motive remains unclear.
On the shots of press photographers, we see small silhouettes bustling about under a winter sun, in a wooded area, in the middle of the countryside in the hinterland of La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime). This is where Leslie’s body Hoorelbeke was found on March 4. That of his companion, Kevin Trompat, was discovered the day before, five kilometers away, in a field in the town of Puyravault (Charente-Maritime), announced Tuesday, March 7, the public prosecutor of Poitiers, Cyril Lacombe, during a press conference organized to retrace the investigation.
In white jumpsuits, four members of theNational Gendarmerie Criminal Research Institute (IRCGN) exhumed the bodies: a crime scene coordinator, a archaeologist anthropologist, an expert in charge of digital imagery and finally a medical examiner. They orient the analyzes according to the state of the bodies. As Cyril Lacombe pointed out, the autopsies made it possible to complete their initial findings. “The death was probably caused by blows with a blunt object” (which crushes without piercing or cutting), did he declare. On Thursday, he confirmed the identities of the two exhumed bodies, following the eexploitation of the collected DNA.
These searches were not organized by chance: the investigators identified the places beforehand. They were guided by the indications delivered, during their police custody, by the three suspects arrested between February 28 and March 2. Their arrests, followed by their indictments and the discovery of the bodies of the young couple, constitute a turning point in the investigation into this disappearance. Kevin, Leslie and his dog Onyx had not been found since November 26, 2022, when, around 3 a.m., they left the home of their friend Nicolas R., in Prahecq, a town near Niort (Deux- Sèvres), where they had spent the evening. They were to sleep less than 50 meters away, in the house of Tom T., one of the suspects.
A dedicated group of investigators
Without news of his daughter for several days, Patrick Hoorelbeke gave the alert to the authorities on December 3. The same day takes place the first hearing of Tom T. It is also on this date that Leslie is registered in the file of the wanted persons and that the mother-in-law of Kevin Trompat is auditioned. Neither the latter nor Leslie’s parents believe To “a voluntary departure” or a runaway. They quickly mention, in an interview granted to the Western Mailthen to franceinfo, the hypothesis of a kidnapping and a sequestration. December 5a procedure for worrying disappearance is opened at the Niort Research Brigade and two days later, a call for witnesses is launched.
The investigation is progressing little by little. In December 8, identity papers and photos of Kevin, as well as the couple’s belongings and four unfired 12 gauge shotgun shells were found in a clothing recycling container in Puyravault (Charente-Maritime). Four days later, the Niort prosecutor’s office opens a judicial investigation for worrying disappearance, so that all investigative means can be used. The investigations are entrusted to the Research Section (SR) of Poitiers (Vienne).
An investigating judge is appointed and a dedicated group, with six full-time seconded investigators, is set up. He is “active as of the same day, i.e. December 12, 2022”, said Tuesday, the public prosecutor of Poitiers. This national investigation unit allows the gendarmerie to rely on all the local units in order to verify all the elements reaching the investigators and, if necessary, to engage specific national means.
Several weeks of checks and observations
“Neighborhood survey”, “underwater investigations”, “dynamic research by a canine crew”… The investigations redoubled in intensity during the month of December. Twelve gendarmerie units are involved. Two sweeps are carried out and three water points, probed by divers from the gendarmerie, some of which are in the Marais poitevin. As the Poitiers prosecutor reminded us, dozens of checks are then carried out “dyears of stations, restaurants, shops in all points of the national territory”. And even beyond 😀The checks are carried out as far as Portugal, learned franceinfo from a source familiar with the matter.
The searches remain fruitless, but the more time passes, the more the investigators move towards a “disappearance at the disastrous outcome”. In view of these elements, the prosecution of Niort is divesting itself in favor of the pole of the criminal investigation of Poitiers. A new judicial investigation is opened, on December 27, this time for “kidnapping and sequestration without voluntary release”. Hearings are continuing: in total, nearly 120 have taken place in this case. Until “the fruit of the investigations” oriented “the lines of work on the entourage of the couple”according to the prosecutor of Poitiers.
When a search is organized on the initiative of the mother-in-law of Kevin Trompat, on January 5, the investigators remain in the background. But they observe each other’s behavior and then note any inconsistencies.
“Changes in behavior had been noticed, contradictions in certain schedules, changes in places, active participation in research while marking a certain distance.”
Cyril Lacombe, public prosecutor of Poitiersat a press conference, March 7, 2023
Through these remarks, the magistrate is, in all likelihood, Tom T.. Because the 22-year-old young man, close to the couple and now suspected of having participated in their disappearance, participated in the drive of January 5. That day he had even assured France Bleu Poitou that he had not seen his two friends after 5:30 p.m., the day of their disappearance.
Gray areas on “motivations”
Indicted for “kidnapping and forcible confinement not followed by voluntary release”, Tom T. is in pre-trial detention. Just like the two other suspects, Nathan B. and Enzo C., who were indicted on the same count and, in addition, for “murders” and “modification of the inventory of a crime to obstruct the manifestation of the truth”. But there are still many gray areas on mobile. “The motivations for taking action remain to be confirmed: sentimental disappointment and/or financial debt”, said prosecutor Cyril Lacombe, pointing out that “the facts seem[ai]have taken place in a reduced time frame”. The results of the analyzes and the interrogations of the suspects should make it possible to know more.
But first, the bodies will be returned to the families and the funeral of the young couple will be able to be organized. “When Leslie’s father and stepmother read the word ‘killings’, it rang in their heads for a good part of the night”explains to franceinfo Laurent Mercier, a former gendarme member of the association Assistance and search for missing persons (ARPD) in New Aquitaine, who told them offered his services shortly after the disappearance of the young woman.
Since then, Laurent Mercier claims to have them on the phone every day, to bring them “moral and technical support” because they “have never had to deal with justice”. “The prosecutor never made contact with the families!”, he laments. Relatives, however, were able to learn of the discovery of Leslie’s body Hoorelbeke by their new lawyer, Mourad Battikh, just before the information appeared in the press. Formed a civil party, they will have access to the file through it. Laurent Mercier will also try to accompany them: “I told them, ‘You have a staircase in front of you.’