A man in France has been detained on suspicion of murder after four bodies were found in Paris’ River Seine earlier this month. The suspect, described as a homeless man in his twenties, was brought before a judicial court on Sunday, as confirmed by the Créteil Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The suspect is being investigated for multiple counts of murder in relation to the four victims, all of whom were men. The bodies of the four men were discovered in the Parisian municipality of Choisy-le-Roi on August 13, in varying states of decomposition.
One of the victims, a 48-year-old French national, was found relatively intact with injuries suggesting strangulation. The other bodies were in a very advanced state of decomposition, making it challenging to determine their cause of death.
Two of the victims were identified as a 21-year-old Algerian national and a 26-year-old Tunisian national, both homeless men who frequented the area where their bodies were discovered. The fourth victim, also a 21-year-old Algerian national, had been reported missing by relatives a week before his body was found.
Investigators were unable to establish whether the victims knew each other, but all were linked to the area where their bodies were found, known for homeless individuals and casual same-sex encounters.
The suspect came under scrutiny after being present in the area and was found in possession of documents belonging to one of the victims before the bodies were discovered. He was arrested and later taken into custody after a link was confirmed between him and each victim at the time of their disappearance.
Despite being accused of the crimes, the suspect refused to answer questions related to the case, providing only brief responses to other inquiries, according to the Créteil Public Prosecutor’s Office.
