The 33-year-old father suspected of having killed his wife and their four children in Meaux, discovered dead Monday evening, was indicted on Thursday, December 28, for aggravated intentional homicide and placed in pre-trial detention, announced the prosecutor of the Republic of Meaux (Seine-et-Marne), Jean-Baptiste Bladier.
He was also indicted for attempted murder of his father, added Mr. Bladier in a press release, specifying that during his custody, the suspect had declared that he had the intention of attacking him before his arrest.
Earlier in the day, the father admitted the facts. He said he “heard voices” asking him to “do harm,” the prosecutor said.
According to the results of the autopsies carried out on Wednesday, the 35-year-old mother and her 10- and 7-year-old daughters "were victims of around ten stab wounds each", "administered with very great violence", said M .Bladier. The 4-year-old and 9-month-old boys “died of asphyxia following drowning,” he added. The modus operandi was confirmed by the respondent during the hearings.
The man also declared that he had “not been able to identify a trigger for his act,” the prosecutor wrote. “He clarified that, since the incident, he “felt nothing” and “felt empty”.” The question of psychiatric follow-up quickly arose for this man who was receiving treatment to treat psychotic and depressive disorders. According to Jean-Baptiste Bladier, he explained “that he was in the habit of taking his daily medication treatment to which he was required – in a non-judicial context – since 2019, but not having taken it on December 24”.
The precise date of the tragedy was not communicated by the prosecution. The police discovered the bodies around 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve in different rooms of the family home, located in a residence in Meaux, a “very violent crime scene,” according to the prosecution. The authorities had been alerted by neighbors worried about the lack of news from the mother.
The prosecutor requested the indictment and provisional detention of the father as part of the investigation opened for “intentional homicide of minors under 15” and “intentional homicide by spouse”. The decisions of the investigating judge and the liberty and detention judge will be known at the end of the day or in the evening.
