There are four bodies, one suspect, and suspicions of homophobic crimes, but the motive remains uncertain. Eleven days after the four corpses were discovered in the Seine river at Choisy-le-Roi, in the Paris suburbs, a homeless man in his twenties was charged on Sunday, August 24, with “multiple murders.” The rare charge under French law refers to serial killings and has opened up the daunting prospect of a serial killer who may have committed four murders in just 16 days in the same area.
The identity and rationale of the man, a marginalized, destitute migrant, remain unclear. While in police custody, he identified himself as a 24-year-old Algerian national named Ahmed, born in Oran, who had been living in France illegally for three years, working odd jobs at markets and in construction. However, investigators found an Arabic document with his photo in his squat, suggesting his real name was Monji H. and that he was Tunisian. A person close to him confirmed this identity, a source close to the investigation told Le Monde.
Regarding the acts he was suspected of committing and his possible motive, the suspect was uncooperative. During his 96 hours in police custody, conducted with the help of an interpreter due to his limited French skills, he either denied having committed the acts or remained silent when confronted with overwhelming evidence. In its latest statement, published Sunday, the Créteil prosecutor’s office did not propose any hypothesis to explain the killing spree. Prosecutors did not include in the indictment the aggravating circumstance of being motivated by the victims’ sexual orientation.
You have 78.92% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
