Laure Zacchello, 43, has been missing since June 21. Her husband, from whom she was in the process of separating, was indicted for intentional homicide of a spouse. Justice suspects him of having staged an attack and of having killed his wife, mother of three young children.
What happened to Laure Zacchello? A nurse by profession, retrained in “psychogenealogy”, this mother of three children, aged 43, has been missing since the evening of June 20 in Urrugne in the Basque Country. An appeal for witnesses was issued this Wednesday. Strong suspicions fall on her husband, from whom she was in the process of separating. This Thursday, June 27, while the forty-year-old remains untraceable, the public prosecutor of Bayonne gave an update on the investigation into this probable femicide.
If no hypothesis can be excluded, “serious and consistent evidence suggests that Laure Zacchello is possibly dead, possibly the victim of voluntary homicide by her partner” stressed Jérôme Bourrier.
“Given the complexity of this case, two investigating judges have been seized and a judicial investigation was opened on June 24 under the qualification of murder by spouse“, he added. Laure Zacchello’s husband was indicted at the end of his police custody.
A knocked out man lying on the ground
The mother of the family was in the process of divorcing. A separation “obviously badly experienced by the accused”, specifies the prosecutor, who details the lifestyle put in place since March. “This couple is separated and they take turns at the house they own, in Urrugne, to preserve the environment for the children who live there.“.
Friday June 21, the children were looked after by the grandparents to allow the father to go to the music festival with friends. In the afternoon, the latter’s sister tried to contact him, in vain. She then decided to go to his home, with the aim of collecting some of the children’s belongings.
She was the one who raised the alarm and called the police: she said she had discovered her brother’s body lying on the ground, outside the home, on his stomach.
Jerome BourrierDistrict Attorney
The man has a wound on the back of his head and is lying next to a concrete block. He is taken to the Saint-Jean de Luz hospital for examinations. On site, the police do not find any break-in or signs of a struggle. Was this a staged assault? The hypothesis is not excluded by the prosecutor.The accused presents lesions behind the head of no extreme severity, bruises, and multiple scratches, which are, for example, compatible with movements in bramble bushes.“, adds the latter.
He also presents a trauma which is certainly compatible with a real loss of consciousness, but also with a violent effort.
Jerome BourrierDistrict Attorney
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Other grounds for questioning: two safes in the master bedroom are open but not broken into. Inside, category A war weapons, namely submachine guns and automatic pistols, have disappeared. Weapons that belonged to Laure Zacchello’s husband. This teacher is himself a sports shooter and a former reserve officer in the national gendarmerie.
On the other hand, Laure Zacchello’s handbag, her two mobile phones, her car, locked but without the key, all of her personal effects are there. The hypothesis of a burglary, the intervention of a third party or voluntary disappearance therefore seem to be ruled out: Laure Zacchello had no means of payment or communication on her. She could therefore not communicate with her children, “which, in light of the hearings conducted in his entourage, is absolutely not like him“.
A context of violence and fear
Laura Zacchello seemed to live in fear. She had reported a first violent argument on February 7. During this, her partner would have tried to snatch her bag by force and she would have bitten him. Other elements: she had spotted bank transfers made from her account, the key to her business premises had been stolen, her email box hacked. Feeling threatened, the forty-year-old bought a small portable camera. “She was sleeping on the couch with her children, with her bag next to her. and had placed objects on the floor so that he could hear his companion enter the room.explains Jérôme Bourrier.
As for the accused, during his police custody, it appeared “cold, silent, without empathy, without ever worrying about the future or the fate of his wife”. The man offered no explanation,”highlighting amnesia and explaining not remembering anything“According to the prosecutor, he led investigators down the wrong path,”a sort of cache in which he has survival rations“.
The accused clearly appears to be following a survivalist line.
Jerome BourrierDistrict Attorney
“It is the responsibility of the accused to cooperate in the investigation and provide answers, even though he presents himself as a man who seems to stand on a stance of honor and principles.”, underlined Jérôme Bourrier.
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Even though the chances of finding Laure Zacchello are slim, investigations, searches and beatings continue. In the appeal for witnesses released, the authorities ask anyone with information about a red Suzuki Samurai 4×4, with blue stripes on the sides, which drove around the Urrugne area around June 20, to come forward.
Laure Zacchello’s three children, aged 5, 7 and 9, were entrusted to members of their family. A children’s judge as well as a victims’ support association were contacted to assist them in this ordeal.