A field after a fire.

Drawing.

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Mclean - Shutterstock - Sipa

  • The gendarmes believe they have put the mysterious arsonist who traumatized Villaudric and the surrounding villages all summer.

  • They arrested on Thursday a father from the town who was indicted on Friday.

  • He is suspected of having started 24 fires since July.

Investigators suspect this father of a family of being at the origin of the 24 fires which ravaged the fields and brushwood all summer long in Villaudric, north of Toulouse, and in the neighboring villages, sowing a real psychosis until these last days.

The man was arrested Thursday morning at his home in Villaudric by the gendarmes "mobilized massively and discreetly" for a month on the trail of the serial arsonist.

"He was indicted for all the facts that he recognizes only in part", announced Friday Dominique Alzéari, the public prosecutor of Toulouse.

"He has not yet given any constructed or coherent explanations, he seems to attribute the acts committed to the effects of certain medical treatments", added the magistrate.

A repeat offender well known to justice

“Since August 16, several dozen gendarmes have been involved full time every day in this investigation,” said Commander Louis Boquien, squadron leader of the Toulouse-Saint-Michel company.

DNA tests, verifications of testimonies and rumors, geolocation of telephones, helicopter flights over fires to identify suspicious movements ... the gendarmerie did not skimp on the means to gather concrete elements leading to the alleged arsonist.

The latter used a technique all his own: he caused most fires using barbecue lighter cubes that he planted on nails or screws, the better to throw them while passing, on foot or in the car.

The man is well known to the police and the courts.

Between 2002 and 2019, he pinned 17 mentions to his criminal record, from theft to the use of narcotics, through traffic offenses.

He was also arrested twice for arson.

"He incurs 10 years in prison, even 20, because he is in recidivism", underlines Dominique Alzéari "for these dreadful facts which could have been dramatic with fires sometimes in residential zone".

This Friday afternoon, the prosecution requested the detention of the suspect "in particular for his own safety" so much emotion is great in Villaudric.

The father of the family was awaiting his passage before the liberty and detention judge.

Miscellaneous

Haute-Garonne: In less than two months, the village of Villaudric, the scene of 17 voluntary fires

Toulouse

Toulouse: Police get their hands on a car park arsonist

  • Investigation

  • Pyromaniac

  • Toulouse

  • Gendarmerie