what we know after the discovery of the bodies of a mother and her four children

The victim’s husband, father of the children, is considered the main suspect. Hospitalized, he was taken into police custody Tuesday morning.

“A very violent crime scene“, according to the magistrate. On the evening of Monday, December 25, the bodies of a mother and her four children, aged 9 months to 10 years, were found in an apartment located in Meaux (Seine-et-Marne), announced Tuesday the public prosecutor, Jean-Baptiste Bladier, during a press conference.

The father, the main suspect, was arrested Tuesday morning in the town of Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis) and placed in police custody, he said. Franceinfo takes stock of the first elements of the investigation.

A neighbor raised the alarm

The police intervened following a report from relatives, “worried about the lack of response from the occupants of the premises”explained the prosecutor. Neighbors claimed to have heard screams on Sunday evening, then Monday evening, according to the first elements of the investigation revealed by the magistrate. However, the latter were not worried at the time, because “the mother used to yell at her children”.

It was ultimately a neighbor who alerted the authorities, emphasizing to franceinfo that she “had no news since Sunday” of the family, even though she had invited her for New Year’s Eve. Other elements aroused his concern, such as a text message that did not correspond to the mother’s habits, or the blinds in the apartment, which had been left down for several hours. Taken aback, she ended up ringing the family home, discovering blood on the door handle.

A woman and four children found dead

The lifeless bodies of a mother and her four children were found around 9 p.m. in this apartment located in Meaux, the prosecutor said in a press release. The children were aged 9 months, 4 years, 7 years and 10 years, he said. According to the magistrate, the accommodation showed no signs of break-in. The police then actively searched for the father, who was absent when they arrived in the apartment.

On site, the police and the magistrate discovered “a very violent crime scene”, recounted Jean-Baptiste Bladier with emotion. Thus, the mother, aged 35, and the two little girls were victims “a very large number of knife wounds”. The 4-year-old boy and the 9-month-old baby did not present “no wound on the body”the prosecutor raising the possibility of a “suffocation”. An autopsy is due to take place on Wednesday in Paris.

The father arrested and placed in police custody

The main suspect, the father, was arrested near his father’s home, in the town of Sevran shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday. Injured in the hand, he is “still hospitalized, but in a legal framework of police custody”, said the prosecutor. The suspect, who “has not yet been heard”has “informally indicated knowing why he was in police custody, having attacked his family”evoking “his personal unhappiness and depression”added Jean-Baptiste Bladier.

This 30-year-old man has been followed since 2017 for depressive and psychotic disorders. Of the “medical and administrative documents” were discovered at his home, “which may suggest psychiatric internment”as well as “medical prescriptions for tranquilizers”detailed the magistrate.

Although this man’s criminal record is clean, legal proceedings dated November 2019 report violence involving stabbing of his wife when she was pregnant. Questioned about these acts, she claimed to have not received “just a slap”when the eldest of the couple “was small”, without giving further details, explained the magistrate. At the time, she refused to press charges. The procedure was dismissed, on the grounds of a deficient mental state.

An open investigation into intentional homicide

An investigation has been opened for “intentional homicide of minors under 15” and “intentional homicide by spouse”. She was entrusted to the Versailles judicial police. For these two crimes, the penalty incurred is life imprisonment, explained the prosecutor.

However, the judicial authorities will have to determine whether or not there was an alteration of discernment at the time of the facts. In this case, the penalty incurred would then be 30 years of criminal imprisonment. And if a complete alteration of discernment were to be pronounced, adds Jean-Baptiste Bladier, a safety measure “may be pronounced”.