He has the same last name as his mother. little Fionasentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for murder, in Puy-de-Dôme. As Guerric Jehannosentenced to 30 years of imprisonment for the kidnapping, murder and rape ofAmandine Strabaud in Tarn, Joel Bourgeon will appear several years after the events before an assize court. And like Cedric Jubillarhe claim his innocence.

His body has never been found

What do these emblematic criminal cases have in common? The absence of the victim’s body. The Martine Escadeillas case even constitutes a forensic riddle which crossed the decades, before the accused was arrested in 2019 and dismissed, from 1^uh to July 6, 2022, before the Assize Court of Haute-Garonne, as indicated by AFP.

Go back. Monday, December 8, 1986, Martine Escadeillasa Secretary of 24 yearsdrop off her boyfriend at the bus stop, near their apartment in Ramonville-Saint-Agne (Haute-Garonne), near Toulouse, before returning home. It is between 8:15 and 8:30 when she suddenly disappears from this small four-storey residence.

Traces of blood, cold case and coup de theater

From traces of blood are found in the common areas. But from Martine, never again. In thelack of reliable evidencethe investigation stretched out in length and, for lack of certainty or a convincing track, ended up being closed in 2008. Becoming one of the the most emblematic cold cases From toulouse. Until this twist.

In 2016, the public prosecutor receives mail. It comes from a friend of the victim and means a potential suspect in this this murder without a corpse. Joël Bourgeon, a father now 57 years old, knows Martine. Maybe it was secretly in love. Did he react violently after being rejected by the young woman that morning?

A watch as the key to the enigma?

In January 2019, he was arrested by the PJ from Toulouse. In custody, he make a confessionbefore retracting before the examining magistrate. Indicted for murder and placed in pre-trial detention, he has since continued to claim his innocence.

Disturbing detail: after leaving the Pink City some time after the disappearance of Martine Escadeillas, he had settled in Lyon and had gave a watch to his new girlfriend. A jewel recognized by the victim’s family as belonging to him.

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