Three months after the disappearance of Leslie Hoorelbeke and Kevin Trompat in Deux-Sèvres, an individual was taken into custody on Tuesday morning by investigators from the Poitiers research section.
A man was taken into police custody on the morning of Tuesday February 28 by investigators from the Poitiers research section in connection with the disappearance of a couple in Deux-Sèvres in November 2022, franceinfo learned from the Poitiers public prosecutor’s office. It is a man in his twenties, according to a source familiar with the matter. This custody was extended Tuesday evening, said the Poitiers prosecutor in a press release.
>> More than a month after the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin in Deux-Sèvres, their relatives do not believe in an “improbable” runaway
The man arrested and placed in police custody, Tom T., is a relative of the couple with whom they were to sleep the evening of the disappearance. The man in police custody was arrested on Tuesday morning in L’Aiguillon-sur-Mer (Vendée). The Poitiers public prosecutor’s office indicates that this measure was taken in execution of an ongoing letter of request, issued by the investigating judge in charge of the investigations. Leslie Hoorelbeke, 22, and Kevin Trompat, 21, have not given any sign of life since November 26, 2022. An investigation for “kidnapping or kidnapping” has been opened by the Poitiers prosecutor’s office since the beginning of January. The investigations are led by the research section of the Poitiers gendarmerie.
Substantial means
In this case, eight investigators from the Poitiers research section are working full time. Investigations are being carried out throughout France and as far as Portugal, where the gendarmes have checked a track linked to the voluntary disappearance of the couple, so far without success. Investigators describe Leslie as a serious young woman, who had no reason to leave.
According to the prosecution, 120 hearings have been carried out, dozens of checks are carried out throughout France, according to the prosecution. An investigator has been assigned to handle all reports related to the investigation. Dozens of technical and scientific police samples, on several motor vehicles and in several places were carried out, also indicates the parquet floor of Poitiers.
Unsuccessful searches
Kevin Trompat and Leslie Hoorelbeke disappeared after spending the evening with a friend in Prahecq, a town near Niort: the couple had to sleep in the neighboring house of another friend, absent. In December, divers from the gendarmerie carried out research in the Sèvre niortaise in the Marais poitevin. The gendarmes also launched an appeal for witnesses on social networks. Relatives of the two disappeared also organized on at least two occasions beats in the surroundings of the place of disappearance. The investigators exploited, without success, the result of these beats. In addition, two sweeps were carried out by the gendarmes. Three water points were surveyed.
The two vehicles of the missing were found in two different places: the utility of the young woman on the scene in Prahecq and the converted truck of her friend in Coulon (Deux-Sèvres). A final element reinforces the mystery surrounding this case: in early December, Kevin’s driver’s license and the couple’s belongings were found in a clothing recycling container in the town of Puyravault in Charente-Maritime.
Leslie Hoorelbeke is a house painter, described as hyperactive by her family. His companion, Kevin Trompat, is unemployed. They had met a few months ago and had been in a relationship for three weeks before their disappearance, according to their relatives.
For Leslie’s father, Patrick, and her stepmother, Émilie, the news of this police custody is “a relief”. “We see concretely the police investigation which is progressing, it is very important for us”they told France Bleu La Rochelle.