In the Hérault, the disappearance of Aurélie Vaquier was reported on February 23 by her companion, who has just been placed in police custody on Wednesday afternoon.

The lifeless body discovered by the police was "hidden under a concrete slab", in the words of the prosecutor of Béziers.

The companion of a woman who has been missing for more than two months, Aurélie Vaquier, was placed in police custody on Wednesday after the discovery of a lifeless body under a concrete slab at the marital home in Bédarieux, in Hérault, announced the prosecutor of Béziers.

"The criminal investigation technicians of the Montpellier gendarmerie group are currently carrying out the meticulous extraction of the body which has not yet been formally identified," Raphaël Balland said in a statement at the start of the afternoon.

The body was discovered "hidden under a concrete slab" thanks in particular to a "search dog" and a "ground penetrating radar allowing the sounding of the floors and partitions", added Raphaël Balland, specifying that a forensic pathologist had to be go to the scene.

The 39-year-old companion of the 38-year-old woman who had not given any sign of life since January 28, was taken into police custody at the end of the morning.

He still resided at the couple's home, about thirty kilometers from Béziers.

Open judicial information

The disappearance had been reported by the companion himself on February 23 to the Bédarieux gendarmerie, more than three weeks after his companion gave sign of life for the last time, recalled Raphaël Balland.

On January 28, the latter would have left the marital home, without any means of payment or locomotion, with only her mobile phone and some clothes, the magistrate had declared in a previous press release.

A judicial investigation was opened on March 1 by the Béziers public prosecutor's office for kidnapping and forcible confinement and is now continuing for acts of murder.

On the sidelines of the research carried out by the gendarmerie which had notably launched a call for testimonies, several beatings had been organized by the family and friendly circle of the young woman.