He was seeking refuge with an inhabitant of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (Drôme), knocking insistently on his door.
The man suspected of having beheaded his grandfather was arrested Wednesday in this town bordering Bollène in the Vaucluse, where the homicide had occurred, gendarmes announced Thursday.
He did not put up any resistance, the gendarmes said.
A hundred gendarmes had been mobilized since Wednesday afternoon to find him after a homicide of "unprecedented violence", explained Wednesday evening the prosecutor of the Republic of Carpentras, Pierre Gagnoud.
Psychiatric disorders in the alleged offender
"The terrorist trail is completely excluded, investigators favoring the family circle against a background of psychiatric disorders in the alleged perpetrator," added the prosecutor, indicating that the suspect sought was the grandson of the victim, a 37-year-old man.
The investigation for "intentional homicide" was entrusted to the search squad of the Orange gendarmerie, assisted by criminal investigation technicians from Avignon and the Marseille research section.
A week ago, on October 13, a septuagenarian was found beheaded in her house in the seaside resort of Agde, in Hérault.
A suspect was indicted for murder a few days later: the 51-year-old man was the former husband of the victim's housekeeper.
Miscellaneous
Vaucluse: Three new arrests in the case of the rapes of Mazan
Miscellaneous
Vaucluse: A man found beheaded and eviscerated at his home in Bollène
Miscellaneous
Homicide