The quiet village of Tr\u00e9molat nestled in the Dordogne valley is best known for its \u201ccingle\u201d, where the sinuous river forms an Instagrammable loop.<\/p>\n
Home to about 700 people, along with restaurants, a cafe, boulangerie and wine bar, it is a picture-perfect French idyll and a popular place for a getaway or even retirement.<\/p>\n
Karen Carter, a 65-year-old British-South African national, knew the appeal of Tr\u00e9molat well: she ran two gites in the village, a beautifully renovated 250-year-old farmhouse and neighbouring 18th-century stone barn collectively called Les Chouettes.<\/p>\n
Carter, who bought the gites with her 65-year-old husband, Alan Carter, 15 years ago, divided her time between the Dordogne and the home the couple shared in the city of East London, South Africa.<\/p>\n
But on 29 April, Carter\u2019s time in the charming hamlet was brought to a brutal end when she was murdered in a frenzied attack outside Les Chouettes, shattering Tr\u00e9molat\u2019s tranquil existence and triggering a hunt for a killer who remains at large.<\/p>\n
The tragedy has been one of the year\u2019s most intriguing crime stories, becoming the subject of hundreds of column inches and bringing journalists from around the globe to Tr\u00e9molat.<\/p>\n
An autopsy reportedly revealed that Carter died from severe blood loss after being stabbed multiple times, collapsing and dying next to her car.<\/p>\n
Eight serious wounds were reportedly noted in total, including to the \u201cchest, abdomen and forearm\u201d, as well as \u201csuperficial ones on the thigh, shoulder and thumbs\u201d.<\/p>\n
The home of Karen and Alan Carter in Tr\u00e9molat. Photograph: ANL\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Carter had reportedly been at a wine tasting party at Cafe Village Tr\u00e9molat, described on Facebook as \u201can association that wants to offer the people of Tr\u00e9molat and the surrounding area a meeting place\u201d, with about 15 other guests, including Eric Chassagne, the village\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\n
A few days after the attack a 69-year-old local woman \u2013 named in media reports as Marie-Laure Autefort \u2013 who was thought to have been at the wine soiree was arrested. She was released without charge shortly after.<\/p>\n
It has emerged that Carter was discovered by a 75-year-old businessman, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Guerrier, with whom she was reportedly in a relationship. The nature of their relationship has been seized upon and speculated over by tabloids during the last eight months.<\/p>\n
A number of reports cited the state prosecutor\u2019s office as confirming Carter was in a relationship with Guerrier, a former managing director for Fujitsu Services. Both Carter and Guerrier volunteered at Cafe Village.<\/p>\n
He is said to have found Carter after going to check on her when she did not return his calls. Finding her collapsed in a pool of blood, he tried in vain to resuscitate her.<\/p>\n
Guerrier was reportedly taken in for questioning but was shortly after excluded from the investigation.<\/p>\n
Carter\u2019s husband, a former London Stock Exchange worker who was in South Africa at the time of the murder, expressed his shock at the revelations that his wife had \u201cstarted a relationship\u201d with another man, saying he understood Guerrier was \u201cjust a friend of hers\u201d.<\/p>\n