A 32-year-old man admitted on Saturday that he strangled his 39-year-old ex-conjointe after she was found dead Thursday in an apartment in laval. He had been arrested the same day he got off a train in Paris after traveling from Laval and calling police to turn himself in.
Laval apartment death
The woman was the mother of three children, aged 5, 9 and 11, and the couple had been separated for several months. First medico-legal findings established strangulation as the cause of death, according to Anne-Lyse Jarthon, procureure de la République de Laval.
Jarthon said the first elements quickly led investigators to the victim's ex-conjoint. The suspect told investigators he had acted to defend himself during an altercation with her.
Parquet de Laval case transfer
Because of the criminal nature of the facts, the parquet de Laval recused itself on Saturday and transferred the file to the parquet du Mans. An information judiciaire was opened for meurtre par conjoint, moving the case into a judicial investigation on that charge.
The suspect had already been convicted of driving without a license and theft. No procedure related to intrafamily violence had been recorded concerning the couple.
Meurtre par conjoint probe
Official figures published in October counted 107 women killed by their husband or ex-husband between 2023 and 2024, an 11% increase over the previous period. In this case, the suspect is now attached to the judicial investigation in Le Mans, where the criminal file will proceed under the charge opened by prosecutors.
