Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credits: Loic Venance/AFP 15:42 p.m., September 25, 2023

In 2001, the body of a woman, aged 55, was discovered along a path in the Drôme. Twenty years later, the alleged murderer was arrested thanks to the DNA that was present on a cigarette butt, it would be Raymond Touillet, a man with a chaotic life course.

The trial of a 58-year-old man, accused of murder and rape of minors, opened Monday in Valencia, more than twenty years after the fact. The hearing, which is to be held until Thursday, opened at 14:00 before the Assize Court of Drôme in the presence of the accused, told AFP the lawyer of a civil party, Me Caroline Jean-Meire.

The file emerged in 2019

>> READ ALSO - Police officers killed in Magnanville: seven years later, the trial of a possible accomplice opens this Monday

Raymond Touillet, a man with a chaotic life course, is on trial for the murder and rape of a woman in her fifties in 2001, but also for the rapes between 1998 and 2000 of her sister and her ex-daughter-in-law, then aged 14 and 16. On August 2, 2001, the partially naked body of Chantal de Chillou de Saint-Albert, 55, was found along a path in Chatuzange-le-Goubet (Drôme), with deep wounds to the skull and traces of burning to the thighs. She had been seen the day before at Valence-TGV station, where she had missed a connection. At the crime scene, a cigarette butt and a cup reveal the presence of unknown male DNA. Samples are registered in the National DNA Index (FNAEG).

But the investigation stalled despite numerous investigations and a dismissal order was issued in 2012. In 2019, the unit specialized in unsolved cases of the gendarmerie revived the file by exploiting an old track with new technical means. The Valencia prosecutor's office reopens the murder investigation. The analysis of the DNA found on the cigarette butt near the body, but also on the t-shirt and in the vaginal samples of the victim, confuses Raymond Touillet. He was arrested in June 2020 and partially admitted the facts.

This resident of Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme) was already "since 2008 registered in the FNAEG" after a conviction for "intra-family violence", according to Me Jean-Meire. "Has justice given itself sufficient and necessary means to resolve the investigation as soon as possible?" she asked ahead of the trial. The investigation into his personality has also brought to light accusations of rape of his relatives, which he must answer this week. The verdict is expected on Thursday.