Already sentenced to 20 years of criminal imprisonment for the murder of Arthur Noyer by the assizes of Chambéry last May, Nordahl Lelandais will appear from January 31 to February 11 before the assizes of Isère for that of Maëlys, the court said on Friday. call from Grenoble.
On June 1, the investigating judges issued an indictment order dismissing the former soldier for "the crime of murder of Maëlys De Araujo, preceded by the kidnapping and kidnapping of the child", committed in 2017 when she was eight years old.
Nordahl Lelandais, 38, is also expelled for “the offenses of sexual assault on two cousins […] under the age of 15 and for the possession and recording of child pornographic images”.
A trace of Maëlys DNA in the car
Maëlys De Araujo had disappeared during the night of August 26 to 27, 2017 during a wedding in the village hall of Pont-de-Beauvoisin, in Isère.
Quickly suspected, Nordahl Lelandais, a former military dog handler, had confessed, six months after his indictment, to have "involuntarily" killed the little girl.
A trace of Maëlys' DNA had been discovered in her car and captures from a CCTV camera seem to show, according to investigators, that the suspect left the wedding party with the child, before returning without her during the night.
During the investigation, a connection was made with the disappearance, a few months earlier near Chambéry, of Corporal Arthur Noyer.
The hypothesis of his involvement in other cases of disappearance had led the gendarmerie to create a dedicated investigation unit but “no link” was established between him and other cases and it was dissolved in October 2020.
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Murder
Justice
Trial
Assize Court
Maëlys case
Nordahl Lelandais