• The body of Evelyne K., 77, was found Wednesday evening at her home in Agde (Hérault).

    The victim, a retired teacher, was beheaded and her head placed on a table near her body.

  • Thursday evening, investigators from the judicial police arrested a suspect.

    He is a 51-year-old man, a former professional boxer who was a candidate on an FN list in the municipal elections in 2014 in Hautmont, in the North.

  • Unemployed, the suspect lives on odd jobs and had already done odd jobs for the victim.

    He suffers from neurological disorders and is followed by a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

He declared himself a Christian, praying every day and sometimes going to mass. Twenty-four hours after the discovery of the body of a retired teacher in Agde, a suspect was arrested. Aged 51, Jean-Michel M. was taken into police custody Thursday evening, around 9 p.m., for the murder by investigators from the Montpellier judicial police who suspect him of having killed and beheaded Evelyne K., 77 years old, at home. The man, "who knew the victim", could have premeditated his gesture, said in a press release the public prosecutor of Béziers, Raphaël Balland.

Several elements allowed the police to identify and find the suspect in such a rapid period of time.

First, there are the images of surveillance cameras installed outside and inside the pavilion where the victim, widowed for two years, lived alone, far from her two children who live in the Paris region.

They show a man wearing a surgical mask, latex gloves and a large knife.

Investigators noted that he looked like Jean-Michel M. whose car was parked in the area on the evening of the incident.

On the other hand, shoes identical to those worn by the man in the videos were found in a search of the suspect's home.

Stolen credit card

And there are the images of the cameras installed above three ATMs, where money was withdrawn with the septuagenarian blue card on Wednesday evening. Finally, analyzes are underway to compare his DNA with elements found at the crime scene.

The suspect was arrested in Vias, a town near Agde.

This man from the North of France, who suffers from psychological disorders, has been separated for 18 months from the mother of his two children whom he married in 1998. At the time, he had just ended his career professional boxer, started in 1991. A fighter in the welterweight category, he won 17 games, lost 19 and made two draws.

He then trained as a pastry chef, was a security guard, mason, electrician, sports educator, and set up a boxing club in 2008 in Hautmont near Maubeuge.

Failure in municipal elections

In 2014, he ran for municipal elections in the same city on an FN list, “Hautmont Bleu marine”. It's a fail. He left to live in the South, in Perpignan, with his wife and children, then in Agde. Recognized as a disabled worker, he has lived on undeclared odd jobs. His wife, she worked as a cleaning lady for the victim who fired him during the year 2020. According to the prosecution, Evelyne K. suspected the husband of her employee of having stolen money from her while 'he also did "odd jobs" at her house.

In police custody, he explained to the police that he was undergoing drug treatment due to neurological disorders resulting from a head trauma which would have plunged him into a coma for a week in 2017. Having no short-term memory, the 50-year-old claims to be followed by a psychiatrist and a psychologist in Agde.

Sentenced twice in the past, he had already been noticed by the police at the Béziers police station in 2019 after slapping an 11-year-old child who had sent his soccer ball into green plants.

He then explained that he was suffering from "neurological disorders which could negatively influence his behavior," indicates the Béziers prosecutor's office, which extended his custody for a maximum period of 24 hours on Friday evening.

Miscellaneous

Hérault: A decapitated woman found at her home in Agde

Society

Agde: A woman found beheaded at her home, a man arrested

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