suspected killer remains in jail
Joël Bourgeon, the alleged murderer of Martine Escadeillas, who disappeared in Toulouse in 1986, asked for her release. He has been imprisoned in Seysses prison (Haute-Garonne) since 2019
The Toulouse Court of Appeal rejected on Tuesday the request for release of Joël Bourgeon, imprisoned in 2019 for the murder of Martine Escadeillas, a secretary who disappeared in Toulouse in 1986.
“35 years after the disappearance of Martine Escadeillas, after three years of investigation where nothing concrete has happened overall and while the trial is still not scheduled, it becomes frankly incomprehensible”, reacted the lawyer of the accused.
An indictment order for Joël Bourgeon has been issued by the Toulouse Court of Appeal, but the date of the trial before the Haute-Garonne Assize Court has not been set. He will probably be judged at the end of the year. “I remind you that we have no body, no motive, no DNA, and the only witness exonerates Joël. This man, who has never been convicted, is a father who, moreover, has always worked, ”said Mr. Mouton.
Confessions then backpedaling
The public prosecutor had requested detention to continue, pointing to a risk of the suspect fleeing. The alleged murderer of Martine Escadeillas had already made other requests for release before the investigating chamber of the Toulouse Court of Appeal.
The gendarmes of the Toulouse research section have long failed in their attempt to elucidate the case. It was following a reorientation of the investigation in his direction that Joël Bourgeon, former friend of the disappeared and of his companion, was arrested in January 2019. While in police custody, he confessed to the murder, before retracting a week later.
Martine Escadeillas, 24, disappeared on December 8, 1986. That day, she drove her companion to a bus stop in Ramonville, a residential suburb of Toulouse where she lived. Afterwards, she never showed up for work and bloodstains were discovered in the stairwell of her apartment building.