The lifeless body of an infant was found in a canal in the Gard on Friday.
His father, who had disappeared Thursday with the baby, hanged himself in a hotel in Auxerre in Yonne, leaving a letter of apology.
The public prosecutor of Nîmes evokes the hypothesis of a "delirious puff" of the latter.
A five-month-old baby was found dead Friday in a canal in the Gard and his 41-year-old father hanged in a hotel in Auxerre (Yonne), said the public prosecutor of Nîmes.
It is the nanny of the child who had reported the disappearances while the father was to drop the little boy at her home Thursday morning in the Vauvert sector (Gard), Eric Maurel said at a press conference.
An investigation for "worrying disappearances" was opened Thursday.
The nurse and the mother had not succeeded in reaching the father, who had left without his cell phone, without a bottle but with some effects for the infant.
Hypothesis of a "delusional puff"
A vast research device, in particular with helicopters, had been activated on Thursday.
But on Friday morning, the father was found hanged in a hotel room in Auxerre.
And at the beginning of the afternoon, walkers saw a baby seat floating on a canal near Gallargues-le-Montueux, on the border of Gard and Hérault.
The child's body was found nearby.
The man's mother and those around the man did not report any known marital or psychiatric problems.
"It is a completely normal family", commented the prosecutor, specifying that the man was "not described as violent and not known to justice".
The autopsy of the child will be carried out on Monday and the prosecution has opened an investigation for "murder of a minor under 15".
The man left a letter in which he "apologizes" to his companion and writes "I will go to hell", said Eric Maurel, referring to the hypothesis of a "delusional puff".