In France, a man has been detained on suspicion of murder after four bodies were found in the Seine near Paris at the beginning of the month.
The detainee is described by investigators as tailless in his twenties, and he appeared before a court on Sunday, the Créteil Prosecutor’s Office said.
He is being investigated for multiple serious murders of four men, all of whom were men, according to the prosecutor’s office.
On August 13, the bodies of four men were found in the commune of Choisy-le-Roi in various stages of decomposition.
The alarm was raised after a train passenger looking toward the river spotted a body on the surface of the water, France Info reported.
One man’s body, later identified as a 48-year-old French citizen, was found in a “nearly intact” condition. The autopsy revealed injuries indicating strangulation. He was wearing a T-shirt, but the lower part of his body was naked.
The other bodies were in a state of “very advanced decomposition,” making it difficult to determine the cause of death, according to the prosecutor.
The second body – a 21-year-old Algerian citizen – showed injuries characteristic of suffocation. His disappearance was reported by his relatives a week before the body was found.
Two of the other victims were homeless people who regularly visited the area near where the bodies were found. One man was a 21-year-old Algerian citizen, the other a 26-year-old Tunisian, the Créteil Prosecutor’s Office said.
Investigation and links between the suspect and the victims
Investigators have not yet been able to determine definitively whether all four men knew each other, but they are linked to the area where the bodies were found, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The area was frequented by homeless people, and it is also known as a site for casual same-sex encounters, the prosecutor’s office notes.
After reviewing surveillance footage and analyzing phone data, investigators focused on the suspect, who “was often in this area,” the prosecutor added.
Before the bodies were found, he was arrested while in possession of documents belonging to one of the victims. On the day the bodies were first found, police stopped him, and a week later he was arrested.
Investigators were able to confirm a link between the suspect and each of the victims at the time of their disappearance, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The suspect refused to answer questions about the crimes with which he is charged, replying briefly to other questions, according to the Créteil prosecutor’s office.
The investigation into these crimes will continue, the office says.